I worked for my Dad from aged 16 to 18. In his garage...
Aged 18 - I opened my own garage - 41yrs late I still trading out of the same premises.
I rented it at the start - then I bought it from the Landlord.
I had 41yrs of the bottom end - bargin basement - end of life car repairs.
I must be able to do it - as I would have starved to death trying if I could'nt....
But retirement cannot come quick enough - my patience is running out!
After 10 years of being employed the company I worked for went bust I decided to start up on my own, I did one job a clutch in a ford tractor, I never got paid and I thought sod this working for nothing so I got another employed job and have worked there ever since.I worked for my Dad from aged 16 to 18. In his garage...
Aged 18 - I opened my own garage - 41yrs late I still trading out of the same premises.
I rented it at the start - then I bought it from the Landlord.
I had 41yrs of the bottom end - bargin basement - end of life car repairs.
I must be able to do it - as I would have starved to death trying if I could'nt....
But retirement cannot come quick enough - my patience is running out!
with the exception of a couple of long term customers, the vehicle does not leave my possession until the work is paid for. never not been paid.
I guess I was young and naive and I thought everyone was as honest as myself.with the exception of a couple of long term customers, the vehicle does not leave my possession until the work is paid for. never not been paid.
I guess I was young and naive and I thought everyone was as honest as myself.
Dont dillydally, get it done!But retirement cannot come quick enough - my patience is running out!
With the small mammal farm it was usually 18 hour days and 365 days at a stretch . Great fun and plenty of time to do what we wanted in between required specific tasks when we mixed business with pleasure .will have to get the fiddle out for us poor self employed folk![]()
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You could do rent a room workshops and tools for those that don't have facilities .I worked for my Dad from aged 16 to 18. In his garage...
Aged 18 - I opened my own garage - 41yrs late I still trading out of the same premises.
I rented it at the start - then I bought it from the Landlord.
I had 41yrs of the bottom end - bargin basement - end of life car repairs.
I must be able to do it - as I would have starved to death trying if I could'nt....
But retirement cannot come quick enough - my patience is running out!

Just get a couple of big ex bank cash safes to store your tools in and only take cash in advance with a decent refundable cash deposit if everything is returned undamaged , clean and on time .Our whole maintenace crew were on call for Y2K in case there were any problems.%
" Please Sir that aeroplane is falling out the sky " .. Quick call Ghostbusters" Robostar 5 our flying fitter " .![]()

OoopsFitter?, I was a sparky, if we were having a dig at fitters we would call them a failed sparky or "knuckle draggers"![]()
.. Not an electro mechanical fitter then ?I was on call over that night, just in case…. Totally ridiculous as I was office based, hadn’t been on the tools for 20 years, what could I do! Standby payments bought me a holiday in Madeira though A WINOur whole maintenace crew were on call for Y2K in case there were any problems.
To be fair though, there are an awful lot of professionals/traders out there who are not nice either.Sadly they are not - the general public are just not nice...
Here I am after a few hours sleep to splain a bit more @Erie FredPlease 'splain some more.
Exactly as @Robotstar5 said.Due to the size of the building (900+ apartments) the mains intake will probably feed a 3 phase busbar chamber which will supply a number of something like Ryefield boards to provide a fused supply to each apartment.
Well I did stay late but only because I wasn't gonna dump the lad running the job in the shxt.I'll splain when I get back with a couple of beers in me.
We've just been knocked some hours, the **** hit the fan so I'm not staying late.

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy (very busy) schedule to add some more details.Here I am after a few hours sleep to splain a bit more @Erie Fred
Exactly as @Robotstar5 said.
Three busbars running up the riser feeding flats, landlords and penthouses.
The one feeding the 900+ flats got wet at level 7 due to a leaking toilet pod, we were going to cut it off at 7 and temporarily refeed the upper floors from the good bit of busbar and had got two 500kva generators in and run the cabling but nobody could get a new connection chamber in time so we got the job of supplying all the flats off of one of our temporary systems (we do construction site temporary electrics) to refeed all the 38 Ryefield boards.
A couple of hundred meters of cable ladder three 800 amp panels, twelve 200 amp panels and over 6000 meters of HO7 cable later we had about a third of the building back up and running last night at about 10pm.
Well I did stay late but only because I wasn't gonna dump the lad running the job in the shxt.
Pretty well had a mutiny and a couple of near punch-ups with the contracts manager who shafted us and said something along the lines of "if you don't do this it won't end well for you" he walked off almost in tears as we think he was getting shouted at by the director all week long, he even missed his daughters 1st birthday!
All the agency guys left and our apprentices finish early so it was only four of us to finish getting the 3 X 800 amp panels live last night.
I was going to work next Monday and Tuesday but that probably ain't happening now, the test certs won't be written up until next year so the client will be screaming about that but I don't give a **Language** now.
I think a few people will be looking for a new job early next year.
All in all a right **** show right before Christmas![]()
I've been retired ( medically ) since 4 Sept 1995 and other than enforce time laid flat I've never found I've got spare time . There is always something to do , be it sat at a desk typing , planning , out in the garden or playing in my mancupboard . The only down side is I don't get as much money as I was able to earn doing this . But having to pay tax on my pensions & two disabilities incomes and OA pension etc .it's far better than most folk end up with after being retired for 30 years .To be fair though, there are an awful lot of professionals/traders out there who are not nice either.
Retirement is great though. I don't seem to have any spare time at all !
