When I work at houses that have cats I always count or get the customer to count the cats before the floorboards go down.
Today the customer and myself counted the cats. All 3 were accounted for. I have just had to do a 2 hour return trip to the customers house tonight as there were pathetic cries from below the floorboards. I lifted the boards and found their next door neighbours cat.
The little bastard, I wish I could give it a call out charge.
Adam (very pissed off)
Pish-posh. Tell them you can't make the return trip becuase of sick child/van trouble/alien abduction. Ask them to summon the fire brigade to effect rescue - ideally with a chainsaw. Then charge customer for visit next week to repair floorboards.
So you heard the one about the carpet fitters? Just finished laying wall-to-wall fitted carpet, job well done, gaffer feels in pocket for his baccy for a roll-up ... not there: tries another pocket ... and another ... then notices the bulge in the middle of the carpet. Sod that: out with large hammer, bang bang, flattened out reasonably. At that point lady of the house pops her head round the door "You haven't seen the kids' hamster in here have you?"
In article , ARWadsworth writes
Where to do I send the bill to clean the piss out of the carpet?
Both me and the sister (visiting) are highly amused (but not at your expense mind :-D )
Allegedly a dead cat in a chimney (or maybe under the floor boards) brings good luck. Medieval builders were known to sacrifice cats to keep their luck good.
...
Do you have a reliable source for that? I've never heard of it and have read a good deal about mediaeval building.
TIA
Mary
That has to be the best subject line I've ever seen! On a par with 'Freddie Star ate my hampster' :-)
Did you not charge for the extra time? Wasn't your fault and you did count the cats. Thats a good tip actually, something to bear in mind.
When we were repairing this house we found a dead cat under the floorboards. There was also a bowler hat and a pair of shoes, all of the same era (about 1726).
|!> Allegedly a dead cat in a chimney (or maybe under the floor boards) brings |!> good luck. Medieval builders were known to sacrifice cats to keep their |!> luck good. |! |!Do you have a reliable source for that? I've never heard of it and have read |!a good deal about mediaeval building.
Plenty of evidence for pre-christians burying animals, notably horses under buildings, and inhabited sites.
There are a lot of instances of shoes being put in chimneys, from earlier than that. Nobody knows why although there are always those who opine :-)
Mary
Couldn't really charge for that, it only took 2 hours travel due to a level crossing closure for overnight works and the rewire is as easy as it gets. And to top it off the old dear did bake me some scones to go with my tea whilst I was working and is now promising to do an apple pie.
Adam
It could be worth a new thread "What have you found under floorboards?" I have had some good and bad finds.
Adam
I don't know about cats, but while helping knock a doorway through the wall of a 200 year old stone cottage in France, we found a mummified mouse in the wall. The mouse appeared to have a piece of string tied tightly around its neck.
Steve W
tell her to count the cats before she puts the lid on the pie !!
|!>> Allegedly a dead cat in a chimney (or maybe under the floor boards) brings |!>> good luck. Medieval builders were known to sacrifice cats to keep their |!>> luck good. |!> |!> Do you have a reliable source for that? I've never heard of it and have read |!> a good deal about mediaeval building. |!> |!> TIA |!> |!> Mary |! |!I don't know about cats, but while helping knock a doorway through the wall |!of a 200 year old stone cottage in France, we found a mummified mouse in |!the wall. The mouse appeared to have a piece of string tied tightly around |!its neck.
I keep mouse poison between my upstairs floorboards and downstairs ceiling. So I probably have several mummified mice there :-)
This customer does not scare me as she only has 3 cats. I frequentlyam required do work in a 2 bed bungalow where the owner has 33 (yes thirty three) cats. That is creepy.
Adam
Been done several times before actually!
See "What's the weirdest thing someone's left under _your_ floor?" (1998):
David
There is a pub is Bury St. Edmund's which is in the city centre. It has a mummified cat on display which was found in a chimney. There was a note of explanation saying this is what builders used to do.
1937 newspaper (almost complete): with adverts for "Craven Plains" and "Valve Radios" priced at 7 Guineas. That was probably the equivalent price now of a very large plasma TV.
Thanks, does the pub give sources?
Mary
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