Some Good news!!

[mrsmelly]

You will all be pleased to now that even though its minus 4 here on the Oxford and completely white over with a solid frost completely covering the solid ground that Fountains are here this morning not only walking along with big lawn mowers but also strimming. We all know its best time to do it when its solid ice and not growing 

[Athy]

They're probably just obeying orders. I remember once seeing a chap mowing a playing field on which there was about an inch of standing water in places. It was explained to me that the field was always mown at that time on that day each week, as the contractor had a schedule to which he had to keep.

[matty40s]

They might as well keep their troops employed on the towpaths now so they can concentrate on their properly managed contracts when things start growing.

[ditchcrawler]

So the chaps turn up and ring into the office saying its frozen solid and the boss says go home and no pay. What would you do if you were the mower operative. 

Maybe Fountains are a better company and sends them home on pay, would you still expect C&RT to pay for the work that should have been done that day.

 

I was once on a building site where the chippy was hanging doors that were the wrong size for the frames, I asked him why. He said he gets paid to hang doors, if he doesn't hang doors he doesn't get paid, its not his fault the company who pays him to hang them sent the wrong ones so why should he be the one who has no money to pay the bills. He didn't say how much they would pay to take them off again.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Absolutely not the fault of the Fountains boys and girls working the mowers and strimmers. Probably not even the fault of their gaffer who sent them out. Probably the fault of CaRT signing a contract with Fountains that says the tow path is to be mowed N times a year, with no stipulation that this is to be during the growing season.

Jen

[mrsmelly]

30 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Absolutely not the fault of the Fountains boys and girls working the mowers and strimmers. Probably not even the fault of their gaffer who sent them out. Probably the fault of CaRT signing a contract with Fountains that says the tow path is to be mowed N times a year, with no stipulation that this is to be during the growing season.

Jen

Yep.

[tree monkey]

53 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

 

 

34 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

Both of these, the contract is likely a quantity based rather than quality, no visit no pay.

They will also use the big "scag" mowers this time of year behind the hedge cutting teams to mulch the cuttings.

[Tracy D'arth]

We have had them mow with 6" of snow on the ground one year, great job when you can't see what you are mowing but you can see where you have been.

[dor]

Just another example of CRT’s complete lack of competence when it comes to awarding contracts (and much else).

[Detling]

The computer says jump so you jump.

[tree monkey]

59 minutes ago, dor said:

Just another example of CRT’s complete lack of competence when it comes to awarding contracts (and much else).

No comment on CRTs ability to manage a contract but quantity contracts are cheaper and easier to manage than quality and let's be honest it's not Wimbledon turf, it just needs hacking back now and again

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, dor said:

Just another example of CRT’s complete lack of competence when it comes to awarding contracts (and much else).

Generaly I find CART ok to say what they have to contend with but mowing grass today does take the biscuit, however its not suprising this day and age.

[ditchcrawler]

36 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Generaly I find CART ok to say what they have to contend with but mowing grass today does take the biscuit, however its not suprising this day and age.

So what do you do, tell them not to mow and pay them anyway?

 

[LadyG]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

So what do you do, tell them not to mow and pay them anyway?

 

Mowing grass in January is not required, in fact it will damage the grass if frosty. Grass cutting is a seasonal job from March to October, generally a contract specifies eg 19 cuts over the growing season.

[ditchcrawler]

3 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Mowing grass in January is not required, in fact it will damage the grass if frosty. Grass cutting is a seasonal job from March to October, generally a contract specifies eg 19 cuts over the growing season.

Last witer I mowed my lawn every month of the year, I haven't done it since November this winter.

[LadyG]

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

Last witer I mowed my lawn every month of the year, I haven't done it since November this winter.

That's a lawn, not a towpath verge. 

[tree monkey]

9 minutes ago, LadyG said:

That's a lawn, not a towpath verge. 

Grass will still grow on a towpath if it's warm enough

[Jerra]

4 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Grass will still grow on a towpath if it's warm enough

IIRC plants grow whenever the temperature is at 5°C or more and the speed of growth doubles with every 5°C increase.

[Rob-M]

It is a no win situation, if the grass is left to grow people complain it is too long and needs cutting and if it is cut people complain it should be left to grow so I guess they are trying to keep as many people happy as they can.  The problem with contracts is to write one to cover all scenarios will either be prohibitively expensive or no one would ever sign up to it.

[LadyG]

22 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Grass will still grow on a towpath if it's warm enough

It's not warm enough today. 

[Alan de Enfield]

29 minutes ago, Jerra said:

IIRC plants grow whenever the SOIL temperature is at 5°C or more and the speed of growth doubles with every 5°C increase.

Small addition

[tree monkey]

8 minutes ago, LadyG said:

It's not warm enough today. 

Obviously, but I bet the job was planned in before Christmas.

I agree it's not a good look but it's not an unreasonable thing to plan in, an early cut can make the summers maintenance easier and it will always be a bit of a gamble.

[ditchcrawler]

19 minutes ago, LadyG said:

It's not warm enough today. 

But what is the temperature going to be in January next year. You cant set contract just a week ahead

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Isn't this just an inevitable result of outsourcing?

 

I seem to recall a few years back having a similar conversation with a commercial window cleaner who was cleaning the windows of the local shops in the pouring rain. I laughingly suggested it was a bit of a waste of time, to which he corrected me in that he was contracted to clean the shop windows on a regular basis so he always chose the days when it was raining since none of his domestic customers would want their windows cleaned in the rain. I would suggest  that possibly other contracts held by Fountains were possibly stopped by the weather, so they did the one that wasn't.

[StephenA]

10 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

You will all be pleased to now that even though its minus 4 here on the Oxford and completely white over with a solid frost completely covering the solid ground that Fountains are here this morning not only walking along with big lawn mowers but also strimming. We all know its best time to do it when its solid ice and not growing 

No different than Cheltenham Council sending people out to water the flowerbeds in Montpellier gardens when it's been raining over a day and everything is saturated.