DIY Heavan

My Dad is a carpenter. He got a job recently at a house near us. The property was having one of those fancy house extensions. It was one of the ones that middle-class people get to make them look upper-class. They build onto their house in a really modern way, trying to look really posh and up-to-date. This house however didn't end up with the desired effect.The houseended up looking more like an abandoned gypsy site, even after theskip bins hirecompany had been. I'll start from the beginning. The lady that owned the house told the builders to do the extension.

She wanted them to do itat the same time that she paid dad to make her a new wooden decking for what was left of her garden. She then went on holiday. She expected to come back to a perfect extended house with a perfect decking in the garden, and not have to see the mayhem that comes with such a task. She was sadly disappointed. When she came home, she saw bricks, cement, wood and tools strewn everywhere, with askip bins hiretruck parked outside. What had happened was this; the builders had started mixing cement, right where dad wanted to cut his wood. He had to cut it elsewhere where there was less room. This resulted in the wood being cut the wrong length, due to there not being enough room to lay the wood out flat to measure it. When dad tried to piece the decking together, he noticed the problem.

The builders recognised their part in it, and decided to help. They put some cement in the small gaps between the wood. This was going fine until the cement mixer was balanced on the cemented wood, in order to position it closer the the remaining timber. No one saw this is a problem until they came back the next day. In the night, the cement mixer had proved too heavy for the newly cemented wood, and had caused the 'mended' decking to fall. This had resulted in the cement mixer falling over, and tipping still wet cement over everything. By everything, i mean all the builders and dads tools, bits of wood, bricks, some plant pots, a pencil and the plans for the whole job. When the men saw this mess, they realised they had a massive problem. They couldn't salvage anything from the cement, and neither could they get the massive cement mound to the front of the house for the skip bins hire company to dispose of. They decided they needed to break up the mess, and started attacking it with sledge hammers, and anything else heavy that hadnt already been cemented to something else. This was going well until a piece of recently shattered cement decided to break off at such an angle that it flew towards the kitchen window. The builders and dad all winced and stared open mouthed at the cement block winged its way through the air towards the glass. The crash and the tinkling of broken glass that followed was instantly drowned out by the sound of the house alarm going off. Complete chaos. I of course found the whole thing hysterical. I was sitting in dads van waiting for him, and watching the goings on out the window. My names Ben by the way and I'm 9 years old. It was my idea to smash up the cement - clever huh?! Of course, I take absolutely no responsibility for the chaos that followed! I do however think I deserve a medal for how I handled the woman that owned the house. She came home while theskip bins hirevan was here. The skip man was throwing bits of cemented tools and glass over the garden fence and into the waiting truck. One of these missiles narrowly missed the lady as she got out of her taxi. As she surveyed the situation, and as it sunk into her brain, I quickly hopped out of the van. I introduced myself, took her hand, and led her into her own lounge. I then made her a cup of tea and found her some alcoholic chocolate for the shock. I think I did quite well really. I did alot better than dad anyway! At this point he was busy looking like he was in a slap-stick comedy, by turning around while holding a plank of wood and smacking a builder on the head with the other end by mistake. I think when I'm older I will work in an office. Today is enough for putting me off builders for life! I think the same thing happened to the woman! She called the Police.Oh well, dad will be fine. Pity about the kitchen window though - ithad a nice design on the antique glass.