"Ha! It's not in the contract!" I can still see his smug face grinning like a Cheshire Cat. So, I was to pay for the foundations to be dug on his house-extension. Later, I found another omission: I'd also not quoted for fitting over 100 double-glazed units in the windows and doors-(he'd chosen a Georgian small-pane design). "Ah! I'm afraid it's not in the contract!" Job ground to a halt- you can't do second-fix in rainy Old England without glass. He had to accept my quote of £1200,(over $2200), or wait months for another chippie, (middle of a boom). Did the job in 2 days flat, with Denise cutting the beads like a maniac on the 'Nobex Champion' saw, and my boys Ed & Colin drilling the tiny pin holes so the brass sprags didn't split the timber. The irony is, when I went to pay Mr. Powles, the digger driver, he said; "Oi dursen't want a penny, Al-un." in his soft Gloucester-burr. A return of a good deed I'd long forgotten, done for him and his wife years earlier when he was out of work in a previous recession.
"HA! IT'S NOT IN THE CONTRACT!" became a catch phrase, (accompanied by peals of laughter), in our house for years after, as a response to any chore we didn't want to do- and our family spent 2 weeks in Bordeaux in a rented villa, as we frittered his money away in the sun!
