JOBSWORTH

I remember the look on a foreign bankers face after he was told that it would take six months to get an appointment with a man from the post office to have a telephone or two installed. This after achieving a license from the Bank of England and a very expensive building in the heart of the City (wherever that may be). It appears that monopolies have been privatised. Well I think EDF is private, or a means to raise money for the French government. Whatever, it takes two months to get a temporary supply installed. And there are a host of rules of distances and huts and depths and ducts and what have you, not to mention the cost of £megabucks plus VAT for what is likely to be about half an hours work.

Asbestos removal is certainly in the private sector. Unsurprisingly, there is more demand than supply. I eventually managed to get a quote after much nagging from a relatively local company. On Saturday two fellows turned up from Hornchurch with masks and overalls, and deposited the lot in a very smart skip with doors, which appeared to come from a quarry in Pinner. I had hoped that most of the large amount of money that I am paying for this service would go to the operators. No such luck. They seem to be priced by supply and demand in the labour market. Most of my money seems to have gone down a big hole in Middlesex.

An expensive couple of weeks but steady progress. Only timber remains. Fire will do the rest. The lone and level shingle stretches far away.