Probably the most unfun aspect of having an allotment is keeping the damned grass trimmed, which at this time of year needs doing at least every 3 weeks to keep it all sweet.
The only efficient way to do this is with a strimmer, and having owned a petrol driven Stihl back in Portugal, which was a great machine, I REALLY didn't want to have buy a shitty battery operated strimmer for my allotment.
The shame!
So I was quite glad when I saw this notice appear on my shed a few weeks back:
The deal was that rather than me paying for a cheap strimmer I could instead support child labour and pay a 12 year old £3 to strim and tidy my entire plot, which works out well below the minimum age, a real free-market success story don't you think!?!
So I gave his mum a ring (this was parent approved) and he came by the next day and got to work.
I say 'got to work', at least he tried.... the poor kid had a crappy cheap electric strimmer, I recognised it as the cheapest you could buy from Argos.
And the next 45 minutes were painful, as the thing kept cutting out and the spool needed taking on and off several times (I had to help him out) and he got half way round and the battery died.
Fair play he came back the next day and finished off the job, and tidied up, but it was a bit of a crappy job, although having said that it was very unkempt to start with (very long grass) and so given that not too bad, and did look better.
I ended up paying him £6 given the two trips, which I thought was fair, I'm all for supporting child entrepreneurs!
I noticed him on another plot shortly after with a BETTER strimmer, so clearly he's learned something about the importance of capital investment.
Me as well: I ended up buying one of these...
On account of the fact that I already have an Einhell angle grinder, and the batteries are universal.
Trust me, having witnessed what a £30 strimmer can do (it was shit) I realised one has to spend more to get something decent and this thing is OK!
I have two batteries and one is actually just about enough to do the whole plot!
I mean it's not a Stihl, but it's sufficient.
And it's cheaper than paying someone else to do it every few weeks in the long run!
