Alan, my boss told me yesterday that in a few weeks I will be get my shift times changed to office hours (nine till five). The work is trying to do away with overtime in a cost cutting exercise. This is the reason why I have been receiving training in the retort as it is mainly the retort that creates overtime as someone is needed to stay behind till they finish cooking the product in the cans. Of course everything is still to be finalized so I’ll still have a few more weeks of training when it can be squeezed in with my duties in other areas of the factory which usually is dicing steak in the butchery. No I don’t use a knife as that would be too slow. No I just throw large chunks of meat into a slot in the dicer and it takes care of the rest. I also have to strip the machine at the end of the day to clean it before putting it all back together for the next day. Not exciting work but it just about pays the bills.
More cats have been digging around my tubs. Magz resorted to netting to keep them out so the plants have a better chance to establish themselves. I got some spray that was supposed to repel cats and dogs but it doesn’t seem to work. Maybe that is being harsh as it has been raining a lot so maybe it would do the job better in drier weather. Anyway the netting should do the job and when the vegs have grown a bit I can remove the nets. Unfortunately with the wet it has also been cold which has meant that the plants that are out in the tubs now haven’t been doing as well as I would like. Saying that the Oregano that I planted a couple of years ago is now flourishing as are the fruit bushes, trees and strawberries. My apple trees are both covered in bloom. I’m looking forward to a bumper crop if all goes well.