Spring has Sprung…

 

Despite the need for some rain its been great to feel the warmth of the sun on one’s face again.  This is my favourite time of year weather-wise and with all the spring growth coming through it seems we can finally leave winter behind….  it may snow again yet of course.  Work has been good these last few weeks and the enquiries keep on coming in for a wide variety of jobs.  Just how we like it.  After the sad demise of my trusty Ford Ranger at the hands of my now former trainee employee, and the more than equitable pay-out from the NFU (Thank you) I bought a decent looking replacement Ranger down in Kent.  Hopefully its not a ringer?!  New man Rob is doing a great job and with Pete back from holiday next week it will be full steam ahead again.  A big post and rail job to start so lets hope the ground isn’t too hard.

It’s the end of the Six Nations today and more in hope than expectation England could still win the Championship, but it’s going to be Wales and they deserve it (through gritted teeth)  It would be a fitting tribute to Merv the Swerv.

Snow, Rugby, Cold Feet, Chapped Hands.

 

Being of a generally sunny disposition and hearing of friends looking forward to the snow, I  left  rather curmudgeonly for being a bit grumpy about its arrival last weekend. This has reasons for it other than just being old.  Last years snow was a bloody nightmare for us and we did nothing of any value for weeks whilst it lasted, apart that is from trying to un wax diesel in the machines tanks.  I didn’t relish the prospect of going through that again.  this weekend was also the beginning of the Six Nations Rugby, my favourite sporting event of the year (with the exception this year of the Olympics maybe) and a brief oasis of proper sport amidst the repetitive durge and nonstop coverage of football.   The potential for snow to spoil this wasn’t helping my mood.  However the Rugby went ahead, England struggled to a win and I have to admit seeing my kids having such fun in the snow made it all worthwhile.  No more though please.

This year we have at least been able to carry on working and despite the blocks of ice I used to call feet we have made good progress over the couple of weeks.  We have finished 1500 metres of raspberry trellis and some road construction at Garson Farm, 500m of stock fencing on some very steep slopes on the Albury Estate and a couple of hundred metres of rabbit fencing and some scarfed post and rail near Woking.  Today we arrived at a new site for a Morrison Construction/Environment Agency job.  A  couple of thousand metres of various types of fencing to here and about 8 inches of snow too….

…and then it went just a little bit crazy

They say we are in a recession, maybe we are. All I know is that the phone has not stopped ringing this week with some quality enquiries for some substantial projects, all of which, needless to say we would like to win.  As is always the case with these things, and it’s typical, everybody wants their work carried out at just about the same time as everybody else's.  Still it’s a good problem to have.  It’s going to be a busy spring.  And have you tried employing anybody who actually wants to do this kind of work?  I posted last week that we need some new blood in this industry.  Well, where are you?  There’s a job going here for someone with a bit of enthusiasm.

Just been looking at the England 6 Nations squad.  I am not sure what I make of it, but I hope that if nothing else these new guys are reminded that it is supposed to be an honour to play for your country.

Technorati Tags: fencing,polo,maneges,rugby

Getting Older.....

There are Old Fencers and Bold Fencers, but there are no Old Bold Fencers! Well we'll see about that. Although this does seem to be an industry struggling to attract new entrants into it. It does not, like all manually based jobs, have much if any glamour attached to it, but look beyond that and here is an industry like farming or forestry that has so much going for it by way of learning skills, dealing with people face to face, experiencing the great outdoors, by which I include, sun, rain, sleet, snow and mud as well as the flora and fauna of this great country. if you are wondering what direction to take in life, don't get bogged down in the feeling that you absolutely have to work in an office, in IT, in The City, in Marketing...... get out of school, of uni, of the office, get outdoors and look for the possibilities they don't tell you about at school.

There are Old Fencers, There may be Bold Fencers, but lets get some Young Fencers around us too and give this industry an injection of youthful thinking.

Fridays……

Often seem to involve meetings and these keep me off site for the day.  Pete and Spence (1ic and 2ic) comment that I only seem to arrange these meetings on the last day of the week, i.e POETS day and that my golf handicap must be falling.  I wish.  What will actually happen is that after my meetings, it’s back to the office for some time in front of the computer pricing work, writing cheques and seeing who owes me money.  If you happen to be one of them I am very happy to receive payment now.  Then always a made dash to get home for the kids before the nanny goes home!

Out on site we are continuing with 2.5km of barbed wire fencing and about 20 gates at Knepp Castle Estate.  The ground is still surprisingly hard even on the Sussex Clays and post driving can be slow.  Bought 4 new sets of Hayes Wire Strainers from Tornado this week to replace the old sets which were starting to cut the barbed.  Will keep the old sets for plain wire jobs in future I think.

Right meetings to go to now, Ottershaw, Heathrow and then Chobham.

It’s not often that….

Technorati Tags: fencing,arenas,maneges,exercise tracks,groundworks

you get to share your thoughts in this industry with others and it seemed a good idea to have a go and see where it leads.  This blog will also be a good way to see what we have been up to in more detail, with as many images form our jobs as we can get into it, plus thoughts on how each project has gone, the weather, our wonderful clients, and Bath Rugby’s latest results… and anything else that might interest someone, somewhere.

To get going, here’s one we made earlier……  this is the polo arena at The All England Polo Club at Hickstead Showground, 5000sq.m of polo playing heaven carved out of the Sussex clay.

Welcome to the Curling Contractors blog

Welcome to the blog of land and perimeter solutions company, Curling Contractors. This first post is from the web design team at The Drawing Board. We hope that this blog will develop into an informative and fun read for those that are passionate about construction and engineering; most notably the creation of agricultural, commercial and domestic fencing, equestrian arenas, manages, exercise tracks, and much more!