Stalking me again (in article ), "tuin man"
lurched towards the keyboard and
quickly scribbled:

"dave @ stejonda" wrote in message
...
In message , Alan Gould
writes
In article , dave @ stejonda
writes

everyone still here?

wow, the rain has been bad ;-)

Still here. The real rain has been very welcome,

Very true.

but the spam rain is
deluging everything. Several thousands and still pouring in.
Gardeners of course aren't discouraged easily. Developing a garden is a
long-term project and pests are expected and accommodated in their
season.

--
dave @ stejonda

Here in London N2, there was more damage than I expected. First thing
yesterday morning I had to alter my course to deal with a small emergency. A
large bush had fallen across the front door and path of a pensioner,
effectively imprisoning her. In another a large iron wigwam had toppled.
As it turned out, a lucky break for me, because in the course of being
diverted, I met up with another gardener who had likewise being affected.
Last year, I had scouted him as the ideal candidate to take over some of my
gardens, though not often in these parts. I had approached him in Feb of
this year, then again around April, but each time, July/august seemed too
far down the road for him to get interested.
Thereafter, I didn't really seem to see him around any more.
Yesterday proved ideal for showing him around and I'm hoping the gardens
have done the trick.
A customers neighbour, I'll call him George, seemed to have someone in mind.
I'll call him Rudi. But when Rudi turned up for the meet, (Friday week last)
he was dressed as a cowboy, i.e. the hat, jacket, scarf, dark glasses et al.
Actually, on first sight, I didn't realise he was who I was supposed to meet
and just though he was some poor misfortunate who had been left out for the
day from some otherwise cared for environment.
In this day and age when there is so much concern about cowboy businesses,
to turn up for such a meet, expecting it to lead to customer introductions,
and all whilst dressed as a cowboy, did seem to suggest an error of
judgement.
Alas, not the only one. The meet was within a pub garden. He smoked in my
face throughout and never once noticed my obvious discomfort. I wasn't going
to ask him to put it out, because outdoor is outdoors! Still, it
demonstrated his tendency towards lack of consideration.
Now, not wishing to be any sort of fashion police, I accepted the
introduction. If nothing else I've patience.
Contrary to his dress sense, he spoke rationally and quite intelligent in
his probing questions about customers, invoices, tasks, postcodes, etc. I
found it all quite good and extremely throughout from him. Further more,
some of what he said, re licences governing use of chemicals and waste
disposal, all added up. However, a VAT bit of information he offered turned
out to be rubbish.
Though my customers do not want contract firms, what he was offering was to
take them, provide a gardener for them and take care of the business side of
things for that gardener.
In short, though he did not refer to himself as a philanthropist, that was
exactly what the picture he created. He explained how he gets a lot of money
from his own job (57K/year), but is not happy. So, if he knows someone
willing to work, but needs a start in life, then that is what he likes to
do. There are far worse hobbies out there! He calls it a distraction for
himself.
Not only that, I made it clear I was anxious to find a replacement and was
not looking for £££ from said replacement, though would not say no to a good
price for my E reg van.
He not only made such an offer, without seeing it, but added that after 15
years of building up this business, I deserve some money for it and he'd add
a couple of hundred £, for each client he gets through me. Then on top of
that, though he claimed to have every gardening tool I mentioned his
gardener would need, he did not want to put them into the new business, so
would be quite willing to give me a good price for mine.
All in all, I was looking at around £14k, no more van and tools export
hassles AND someone with fingers in pies that may prove useful to my
customers, as well as a real, one-to-one gardener replacement.
He said he has quite a few such arrangements, but I couldn't help notice
that he was obviously avoiding to mention any particulars that I might later
look into.
Given that he said most do not make any money for him, then I thought all
the more reason to take every opportunity to advertise them. So why the
secrecy? Who knows, I might just have something of interest for one.
At some point the barman popped out and asked had someone ordered a taxi. At
which point, he stood up and announced his "driver" had arrived.
And that cowboy hat started to loom back into view in an instant, though he
had never taken it off.
After he left, his contact, "George", impressed upon me how fortunate I am
to have met someone so special. He went on to tell me that I had being in
the company of the only Olympic gold medallist Belgium has ever had. Gee,
now, guess where I'm moving too and just how easy might it be for anyone to
check out such a claim!!!
But he was only warming up. It seems, 'Rudi' had moved to Ghent / Gent but
alas, soon after his glorious win, his wife and child were killed by the
Burgermeister's son. But being so well connected, the son only got a small
fine. So Rudi. tracked him down and what with the medal being for small
calibre shooting 'n' all, had no problem doling out revenge accordingly.
This lead to having to run off and join the French Foreign Legion, who,
after 2 years, furnished him with an entirely new identity. After which,
the King of Belgium personally gave him a full pardon. (though, what was not
explained was erm..., on account of the new ID, precisely how did the King
know who to pardon?)
And so it went on...wife number 2 was murdered by burglars and now wife
number 3 is dying of cancer.
By comparison, the uncomplicated straightforwardness of showing a known
gardener around , albeit in foul weather, was a breath of fresh air.
Except when we approached 'George's street. I've 8 clients there and it's a
small cul de sac. He was not a happy bunny. No sooner was I there alone,
then he approached me demanding I hand over my client details.
Yeah, right!
George, it has to be said doesn't seem to be keen to help 'Rudi's gardener
get started by starting on George's own rather large garden. He doesn't need
my client list for that!
Furthermore, George is the mini property baron who once told me he could not
rent out any thing to me because I'm just a gardener. No gardener could
afford him, he claimed and then went on to speak plainly about how the value
of his letting portfolio would be tarnished if he did rent out to me and
even if that was ok with him, then he still couldn't do it, because his
executive tenants would object.
Funnily enough, just a few of weeks ago, prior to Rudi, George had an
alternative lined up, but suddenly, that candidate was one who he claimed
was not only a real gardener, but a tenant of his for the last 14 years.
But seemed adverse to the idea of providing invoices, accepting cheques and
having enough tools to get on with.
Hmmm!

It can be a strange life.

Patrick

Bot.

--
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My mind has gone all numb
In this apathetic hell mhm 35x7 smeeter #40 btwh 4.0 gms 006

Ah aaaaHHHH ahh. Duh, duh duh, duh duh-duh duh. Meow. Meow! Meow! Meow!