Mr Grey

Our next candidate was Mr Terry Grey of T & J Grey Construction. Could his partner be called Jerry? He arrived in a convertible Audi. He was dressed, possibly because it’s Sunday and he was on his way to church or because it’s Valentine’s Day, in his Sunday best. Best for him that is but not best for anyone with any taste. He was wearing the type of leather jacket, slacks and shoes that you only get in Westgate. I instinctively knew there was a gold chain beneath that pullover. He was quite quiet, as if he’d actually come to sell me insurance and didn’t like to correct me when I assumed he was a builder. Unlike John it took a team of men to generate a quote and he said his plumber, electrician and scaffolder would all need to visit to form an opinion. It hadn't previously occurred to me that much of the scaffolding for building our extension will surround Martin’s house. No doubt it hasn’t occurred to him either. Terry being so silent didn’t inspire me and when he said he could see no solution to the issue of Martin’s guttering apart from our garage being smaller he was talking himself out of the job. He was only with us for half an hour. Another candidate tomorrow.

Johnny English

Today we began interviewing builders. Obviously we’ve met with builders before. There was Bhupinder back in the summer and P.P. Stephens and that other bloke in November. However, this is the stage at which we should be meeting builders. We were subverting the form before. John England was due at 9am so we attempted to clean and tidy the house in preparation. It seemed quite pointless. It’s like Febreezing a land fill. There’s only so much Feng Shui you can achieve by rearranging carpets, mirrors and dust. John was extremely amiable, jocular and blokeish and had about 90% of a building site stuck to his clothes and hands. He asked many questions about what type of boiler, heating system, window frames etc etc etc we wanted. I recall that we didn’t know the answers when Bhupinder asked. We really have no excuses but still don’t know the answers and obviously it makes a difference when providing a quote. He was good enough to outline the costs and benefits of different types of window, heating system, boiler etc etc. It also seems that we need to decide if we want a classic or ultra-modern style to our décor. Do I care? Possibly not. Do I look like Leamington’s own Frank Lloyd Wright? I noticed that he soon moved the focus of his eye contact from me to Marianna since she had all the answers. I made noises occasionally so they knew I hadn’t slipped into a coma. He said we could choose from three types of boiler. He explained about type number one and then type number two and how it differed from type number one. He looked at me and, much like a school teacher, said “Are you following?”. I nodded like a Labrador rather than say “I am a fairly intelligent person. I think I’ll manage”. Why do I need to understand this anyway? I can figure out why robbers rob, why rapists rape and why murderers murd so why do I need to have this knowledge too? Why couldn’t he just look at the house and tell me what we needed? I liked that he had many ideas and solutions to the problems our house presents. After he’d made notes and looked at the plans we gave him a tour of the house. He was shocked that we’re living in it in the state that its in but did take it all in his stride and casually moved a shoe that keeps the curtain in place in the rear bedroom without comment to check on the window frames. He was with us for over an hour and a half and left us with the address of a house he's nearly finished work on that we can visit. I felt he was a strong candidate. However, if we gave him the job he wouldn’t be able to begin work until July or August which seems a long way off. The next candidate is due tomorrow.