Costing new work takes a lot of time, especially when it involves a new pathogen. I've learned from past mistakes though.
One - never give a quote without looking up prices first. If pressed, quote wildly high. Companies are happy if you later reduce the quote but very unhappy if you try to increase it. (If they accept the wildly high quote, keep quiet).
Two - remember that every bit of income will be taxed. If you can do the job for £100 and you're paid £100, tax and NI will take a chunk out of it and you'll end up paying to work. Never work at cost price and it's never worth working at a loss to get new business. They'll expect those prices all the time.
Three - it's not just the materials and the testing. There's the setting up, the analysis, the reporting and the disposal. All costs money and time. This particular job will send me 60 samples per set and they all have to be done the day they arrive. That's late working and involves pain money.
Four - there is always, always, always... something you've forgotten. Don't release a quote until you remember what it is because it's usually something expensive.
So I am up later than Dracula again but this time with little to say. I've made forays to other people's blogs tonight but haven't got a good story for the evening.
Tonight then, I have a question instead.
How many of the 1966 England World Cup team were smokers?
Does anyone know?
7 comments:
More importantly, my copy of your book has winged its way to Switzerland! Fears of the old and new looks good, not a bad binding effort at all.
PS I imagine something in the region of three-quarters were smokers, but since "half of all smokers will die from their addiction" I guess they didn't have long to enjoy their victory!
I'm pretty sure that Bobby Moore was a smoker and a pretty heavy drinker too. That was the culture back then.
I read recently that both Charlton brothers smoked.
I also read that David James has recently quit after a long 20-a-day habit.
Not sure how many smoked in 1966, but I think they have all stopped now.
Amazing coincidence, the word verification for this was GAZZA, see this;
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc-Lk62n49w/TEDcKV58T1I/AAAAAAAAFFY/m71xMaOh9MU/s1600/drunk_paulgascoigne.jpg
'Not sure how many smoked in 1966, but I think they have all stopped now.'
Certainly Bobby Moore and Alan Ball have.
The greatest Brazilian side were full of them. Socrates, their captain, smoked 40 a day and he was/is a medical doctor. Mind you they didn't actually win the WC so maybe there's something in it.
I don’t know exactly how many of them smoked, but I’ll bet it was a lot more than today’s team (it is notable that two of the smokers they picture in the article didn’t actually go to the World Cup – couldn’t they find any more than just Rooney and Lennon?). And I think that the fact that they won illustrates a much-swept-under-the-carpet factoid about smoking – that it inspires people and enables them to feel much more positive passion about what they love than non-smokers are able to – a vital but often-overlooked facet in sports, particularly team sports, to ensure success at the highest levels. Frank D did a very good article on this whilst the WC was taking place, comparing the zingy Argentinean team with the rather ploddy and workmanlike English. Perhaps they should have selected Cole and Bridge instead of some of the non-smokers they took along ……..
It's depressing to see that this is the most favoured comment about the article:
"wow....what great role models we have for kids today!"
So says Kath of Nottingham.
I reckon if Kath finds out I smoke like a chimney and drink like a fish yet am fitter now in my early forties than I was in my twenties, her head would probably explode.
Some of the fittest people in my gym are smokers.
The most redundant comment in the article is the one from Mark Leather:
'It is baffling to see Wayne Rooney smoking because the long-term effects are well documented and are not conducive to professional athletes,' he said.
I can't think of many athletes who are still at the peak of their performance after they've hit 40. OK, maybe a few cricketers.
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