This week has been one of those that proves life as the Cherrypicker Man is never dull. From pigeon battalions to washing-line mazes, a shortage of gutters, business meetings, and an unexpected wasp battle, here’s how it all unfolded, day by day.
Sunday – Mansfield Maintenance
The week started off in Mansfield at Hopkins Solicitors, where I teamed up with Dale from SBS Property Services. The job list was a neat one: unblock a downpipe and hopper, carry out a full roof survey, repair a couple of slipped soakers near the chimneys, fix some stray slates, and clear out the gutters.
All told it took about an hour and a half. A tidy job to ease into the week, but little did I know, the next few days would be anything but straightforward.
Monday – Toothill Pigeon Army
Monday kicked off the big job of the week at Toothill in Loughborough, Leicestershire: stripping out the old grey plastic gutters and downpipes on three three-storey blocks of flats, and replacing them with new black deep-flow gutters.
When I arrived, I was greeted by what looked like a pigeon army, thirty or forty of them lined up on the roof glaring down at me like I was trespassing on their fortress.
It set the tone for the week nicely.
Tuesday – Pigeon Buffet & Cub Chaos
By Tuesday the pigeon mystery was solved. A lovely old lady tottered out with a giant bread bag stuffed full of seeds and fed the whole lot of them like it was a daily buffet. Suddenly the pigeon problem made sense and so did the state of the gutters. Years of pigeon soup had been brewing up there.
After work, I swapped gutters for chaos of another kind, Cubs. I’m a cub scout leader, and let’s just say 35 8-10 year old excitable kids can make cherrypicking look like a holiday.
Wednesday – Shortages Explained
Midweek, I had a call with the person who quoted the Toothill job. After re-measuring, it turned out they’d underestimated by a whopping 90 metres. That explained why I’d been running out of materials and why the job was dragging on longer than expected.
It was a relief to find out it wasn’t just me being slow though it didn’t make the gutter marathon any shorter.
Thursday – Resupply, Rod & A Ranger Farewell
Thursday morning brought a much-needed resupply of materials. I cracked on but had to leave half an hour early for a meeting with our action business coach, Rod Fuller. Rod keeps DJI High Access Services, Shindigs of Sherwood, and our property ventures running smoothly and profitably, a bit like having scaffolding for the business itself.
The day also brought some good news at home. Thanks to Hannah’s top-notch advertising skills, we finally sold my old Ford Ranger. It had been parked on the driveway for over a month, after years of engine trouble that eventually saw it retired in favour of the Hilux. The whole Ranger saga actually made it into one of my “Day in the Life of the Cherrypicker Man” videos (Click to watch video).
Friday – Wasps & The Final Bracket
Friday was the finish line at Toothill, but the job wasn’t going to let me off easily. The very last gutter bracket I needed to install was right on top of a wasp nest.
Cue angry buzzing, swarming, and a lot of wasps who were not pleased to have me knocking on their front door. Luckily, I’m the kind of cherry picker man who keeps a bee suit stashed under the Hilux passenger seat (doesn’t everyone?).
So I suited up, wrapped everything tight, and got the bracket in. Gutters complete, job’s a fish.
With that done, I made it back to base, sorted the truck, and even picked up my daughter from school. A proper win to end the week.
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If you need proper tough workwear that doesn’t fall apart when your cherry picker does, check out 👉 Granite Workwear. They’ve got me covered from pigeons to wasps………….literally.
