Week Beginning 5th July 2026
From completing Tough Mudder and repairing chimneys to attending FixFest as VIP guests, here’s another week in the life of Dan the Cherry Picker Man.
If there’s one thing this week proved, it’s that life is never dull.
One day I’m crawling through mud at Tough Mudder, the next I’m rebuilding chimneys, reorganising the yard, watching England at two o’clock in the morning and finishing the week at one of the biggest trade events in the country.
Throw in Scouts, school runs, football, plenty of Pepsi Max and a surprise VIP trip to FixFest, and you’ve got another wonderfully varied week.
Tough Mudder at Belvoir Castle
Sunday started with a challenge I’d been training towards for months.
We headed over to Belvoir Castle for the 15km Tough Mudder.
I was in the 9:00am wave, while Robyn took part in the children’s Spartan Race.
The training paid off.
I crossed the finish line in just over two hours, thoroughly enjoyed every minute and came away feeling that all those 5:00am training runs had finally been worthwhile.
It was fantastic seeing Robyn throwing herself into her own race with exactly the same enthusiasm.
Afterwards there wasn’t much time to recover.
We headed over to the Gateway to Southwell Folk Festival to collect and pack away all of the giant games we’d provided over the weekend before finally settling down for the evening.
I did manage a well-earned snooze on the sofa…
…although it didn’t last long.
England at 2am
Sunday evening quickly became Monday morning.
The plan had been to stay awake for England versus Mexico.
Unfortunately, thunderstorms delayed kick-off until around 2:00am, meaning the match didn’t finish until well after 4:00am.
Thankfully, it was worth every minute.
England progressed to the next round, although I can’t say I felt particularly fresh afterwards.
Fortunately, months earlier I’d realised there was a good chance England might reach this stage of the tournament, so I’d already rearranged the customer I’d originally booked for Monday.
Thankfully, he was an England fan himself and completely understood.
Sometimes planning ahead really does pay off.
Despite very little sleep, the day still had plenty to offer.
The decorators arrived to transform our living room before I took Robyn to her school residential trip at Walesby Forest.
She disappeared into the adventure without so much as looking back.
Apparently Dad becomes considerably less interesting when your friends are waiting.
Back at DJI HQ I unloaded the giant games from the Folk Festival, loaded the van with accumulated rubbish for a tip run, somehow managed to spend half an hour waiting for a skip to be changed, enjoyed the rare luxury of lunch with Hannah and Wren, completed the weekly Tesco shop and spent the evening planning our exciting new Forest School project.
There was another lovely surprise too.
After entering a competition on Danny Madden’s Instagram page, I discovered I’d won VIP tickets to FixFest.
To make things even better, the team at Fix Radio kindly sorted tickets for Hannah and the girls as well.
That gave us all something brilliant to look forward to later in the week.
Temporary Repairs Become Permanent Repairs
Tuesday took me to Brinsley, where I cleared gutters on an old agricultural building before carrying out some tree pruning.
Working around old asbestos cement buildings meant making sure the appropriate PPE was worn throughout.
Just around the corner was another customer I’d visited the previous year.
At the time, their cast iron guttering had deteriorated so badly that I’d carried out a temporary repair using Acrypol while recommending complete replacement during the summer.
This week it was finally time to deliver the permanent solution.
The old cast iron guttering came down before I headed back towards Mansfield to collect the replacement materials.
That evening it was Cubs, where we spent the night teaching the youngsters about different disabilities before finishing with a giant parachute game.
One Job Leads to Another
Wednesday was another example of why no day ever goes exactly to plan.
I returned to Brinsley to install the new plastic guttering before the neighbour wandered over and asked if I could have a quick look at their bay window roof.
The rubber membrane had come loose around the edge and was flapping down into the guttering.
A few clout nails later and everything was secure once again.
From there I returned to the agricultural buildings to complete a few additional roof repairs before heading home.
The final job of the day was much more important than roofing.
Taking Robyn to her weekly swimming lesson.
Making the Most of Lost Days
Thursday should have seen me finally completing a chimney repair in Clipston.
Unfortunately, once again, it wasn’t to be.
This time the weather wasn’t the problem.
The neighbour had gone away on holiday and left their car parked exactly where I needed to position the spider lift.
With falling debris a real possibility, there was no safe way to continue.
Sometimes the answer simply has to be no.
Rather than waste the day, I turned my attention to improving DJI HQ.
I started building a lean-to over my sand and cement storage so that heavy rain doesn’t affect the moisture content of my materials, collected additional supplies from MKM and gathered more reclaimed materials from the old “Chicken Shed” before spending the afternoon reorganising my tile stores, chimney pots and building materials.
Customers only ever see the finished repair.
They don’t often see the hours spent behind the scenes making sure everything runs efficiently.
Birds, Pepsi Max and Proper Chimney Repairs
Friday’s work took me to Aspley, where customer Jack had recently discovered a bird sitting on top of the register plate above his stove.
He assumed the chimney was in good condition because the roof had recently been replaced.
Unfortunately, the chimney told a different story.
The flaunching had almost completely disappeared, feather bricks inside the chimney had collapsed and birds had clearly been nesting inside for some time.
The repair quickly became far more involved than expected.
I removed all of the failed flaunching, cleared out the nesting material, rebuilt the internal feather bricks, installed new flaunching and capped and vented the chimney to prevent future visitors from moving in.
Jack was an absolute pleasure to work for.
Every time I came back down in the cherry picker there seemed to be another can of Pepsi Max waiting for me.
Those little gestures really do make a difference.
The job finished in good time, leaving enough time to pick Robyn up from school before we squeezed in the weekly Tesco shop ahead of what was going to be a very busy weekend.
A VIP Day at FixFest
Saturday began exactly as most Saturdays do.
An early start.
By twenty past five I was already out of the house, completing an 11.5km training run before breakfast.
Then it was time for the whole family to head over to FixFest in Northampton.
Winning the VIP tickets turned what would already have been a brilliant day into something genuinely special.
The event was packed with things to see and do.
Some of the highlights included persuading the team from Lift and Shift Services Ltd to let me spend a future work experience day operating one of their mobile spider cranes, watching the JCB Dancing Diggers, making an absolute fool of myself operating a digger with Digging with Dave, chatting with Danny Madden about specialist access work and work-life balance, comparing biceps with one of the competitors in the UK’s Strongest Man competition (I lost that contest rather convincingly), admiring The Bald Builder’s Ford Ranger and unexpectedly finding ourselves watching a fascinating live interview with the entire DIY SOS team.
Meeting Jules from DIY SOS was another real highlight.
He spent time chatting with all of us and turned out to be one of the nicest, most genuine blokes you could hope to meet.
Of course, no family day out would be complete without the bumper cars.
Robyn appeared to interpret the “No Head-On Bumping” signs as more of a gentle suggestion than a rule and drove with such enthusiasm I’m fairly sure I left with mild whiplash.
By the end of the day we’d accumulated enough hats, pens, high-vis jackets and assorted freebies to stock a small trade counter.
A huge thank you goes to Danny Madden, Fix Radio and everyone involved in organising FixFest.
The whole family absolutely loved it and we’ll definitely be back if we get the chance.
The Importance of Doing Things Properly
This week’s chimney repairs highlighted something I come across regularly.
A new roof doesn’t necessarily mean a chimney is in good condition.
Flaunching, internal feather bricks and chimney terminals are all exposed to years of weathering and often need attention long before the roof itself.
If you suspect water is getting into your chimney or you’ve noticed loose mortar or damaged pots, it’s always worth getting it inspected before the problem becomes much bigger.
You can find out more about our chimney repair services here: https://www.dji-uk.co.uk/chimney-maintenance
Locations Worked This Week
- Belvoir Castle – Tough Mudder
- Walesby Forest – School residential
- Brinsley – Agricultural building and gutter replacement
- Clipston – Site visit
- Aspley – Chimney rebuild and repairs
- Northampton – FixFest
About the Author
This blog has been compiled and published by Danny Iwanejko, documenting real-life roofing, chimney repairs, specialist access work and everything else that comes with running DJI High Access Services. Through Dan the Cherry Picker Man, Danny shares the highs, the challenges and the occasional muddy obstacle that come with running a family business.
Workwear Sponsor
This week my Granite Workwear had to cope with crawling through Tough Mudder obstacles, rebuilding chimneys, reorganising the yard, climbing in and out of a cherry picker, and wandering around FixFest talking to people all day.
Whether I’m covered in mortar on a roof or representing the business at an industry event, I like knowing I’m wearing kit that’s comfortable, practical and built to last.
If you’re looking for workwear that genuinely stands up to life on the tools, I’d happily recommend Granite Workwear.
Workwear sponsored by Granite Workwear: https://www.graniteworkwear.com/?afid=danny
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As I look back on the week, one thing stands out above everything else: the value of saying yes to opportunities. Whether it was taking on Tough Mudder, inspiring the next generation through Scouting, tackling another challenging chimney repair or enjoying an unforgettable day at FixFest thanks to a bit of unexpected luck, every one of those moments started with simply giving something a go. Here’s to many more adventures next week.
