One last reason for going to work and understanding that everyday was
a new day,
The phone rang in the office and i picked it up,
“Is that the sweep,” Yes speaking , How can I help?
I want me chimney cleaned, we’ve had a fire and the fire man said not to start the fire until the chimney has been swept,
(This man had a Yorkshire accent " all thee’s & thys")
I said i could clean this today, can you give me your address?
The farms called charming wood farm, and it’s located on the Halyn Quary mountain woods, (I went cold inside, the area was always full of dust tracks and very few properties & all hidden away down tracks)
Ok give me directions,
Thee comes over the top of the main quary road and look to thee’s right and you’ll see a lone tree, turn down that track and keep looking to your right & as you go on you"ll see the chimney appear & as you go on the roof & then the house walls and a farm gate will appear stop at the gate and walk across the field to the farm, leave your vehicle outside the gate, the farms on the right as you go down track about half a mile,
Ok ive got that I’ll be at your place 11am this morning im leaving our place now (9-30am) about 1 hour’s drive to the Halkn quary road and 30mins max to find this farm,
Off i went, I drove over the quary road but could not find one tree on its own sticking out of this wooded area, it was then the police drove towards me with it"s flashing light, I pulled over to a stop and a police officer got out of his car while his second in command was looking at my number plate,
Are you lost I was asked? well sort of im trying to find this place (I handed over the note paper with all the info on it) Ive tried phoning but no signal, Both police men look at the note paper and then at each other, I told them i was going to clean the chimney,
They said turn round and follow us when you see our four ways flashing ? Thats your turning point on the left and the farms down through the woods on the left hand side, Thank you officers I said,
they wished me luck and off we all went, I got the signal from the police’s four ways and down the track i went, And as instructed i could see over the field a chimney appear & then the roof and then the walls and then the gate,
You could see the farm itself down a bit of a hill but it was all over grass no track, I got my old golf trolly (this had a selection of brushes and rods plus verious other bits and bobs i’d collected for chimney work, the vacuume & ladders I’d have to make a second trip for,
As I got to the house the farmer appeared with his wife in the background, What time do you call this it’s 11-30 you said you’d be here at 11am, His wife looked like a puppet doll you know the kind that hangs on strings she was shaking all over the place and her hands seemed to be waving,
Yes I said but i had trouble finding the sticking out tree i was supposed to turn at, Anyway Im here now so lets get on with it,
I could see the fire-brigade had removed the chimney pot and the chimnney stack was showing signs of the fire,
After I’d got the rest of my kit ie ladders and vacuume he took me into the house and i could see the mess that was in the grate and after cleaning that away i continued to brush up the fire breast until the brush was at the top of the stack, all seemed clear "but i needed to get on the roof to see for myself all was clear, while i was on the roof i could see for miles & miles of countryside the views was fantastic "So was the mini mountain of old doors and window frames stacked up at the rear of the yard, I came down and both he and his wife looked at me and I told him he needed a new pot fitted but otherwise the chimney was clear , He asked who was going to pay for this new pot?
He did’nt smash it up the fire brigade did, After I’d told him it was up to him to pay for it, He went red with rage, Then he asked As your here anyway you can look at the bed room fire place, I tried to tell him burning painted wood is a bad thing as the paint when heated sticks to the pot etc and causes fire in the chimney "It all went on deaf ear’s,
His wife like a true trooper followed us up the stairs to the bed room, this grate was metal and very old, Now these grates we’re small really but they had a metal vent in the upper section of the grate and this was a push up lid idea so you could get the brush up through this space “But ask any chimney sweep and they’ll tell you” all the soot and dry cement falls behinde this metal plate and when you try to open it the soot etc falls through, it’s a mess of a job to do and one you do very slowly using a powerfull industrial vacuume,
The farmer was behind every move I made, I was on my knees trying to open this metal vent and he was leaning on my shoulders trying to see what I was doing, I asked can you get off my shoulder’s it’s hard enough trying to hold this lot without you leaning on me?
Are you a poof or something he said? NO I AM NOT, He got the message and i managed to get the metal vent out of it’s housing with out to much mess, As I used the vacuume and a small shovel to remove years build up of mess from this vent area (He was back, Leaning on my shoulder looking at the open space of the vent area,
I said as a passing thought this has not been open for years, christ knows how many creatures have lived in here, Just then as i felt with my hands up this dark area to feel if anything was in this space such as old bricks etc
Something touched the back of my hand and I had a thought of the time a few years ago I’d found a rats nest at the back of a bakers oven i was cleaning and the rat ran out of that Oven and up my arm
As quick as i could pulled my arm out of this vent and i fell backwards
the farmer fell on me his wife (the first time she’d made and sound since i’d arrived) said Oh No No,
The farmer got off me and stood up saying ANY THING IN THAT CHIMNEY IS MINE,
In the fire place was an old hand bag, it was’nt that dirty really but it had been in the vent for a long time, The farmer grabbing it started to open the bag, he found paper’s and then said, "Whats this Alice bill’s from mail order people and some more bill’s ???
Alice replied I could’nt manage on the money you gave me so i got stuff from little woods mail order and Kay’s mail order,
I finshed my work loaded the land rover and went back to be payed
The farmer paid me and said "You’ve been now’t but trouble since you came here, And his wife was just standing by the old sheep dog shaking like she was on strings,
As got into the land Rover I could see i’d had a visitor who’d stuck a big blob of grease on the wind screen with a note DO NOT PARK HERE, (But thats another continued story ref this farmer & Alice)
What a day.and one to remeber.
