Plumbers in Blackpool - a typical day!

There are quite a few plumbers in Blackpool. By nature of our work, we often see each other whilst collecting supplies from the trade counters.

In addition to the usual chat about football, the price of a pack of screws nowadays, kids football team, the price of 15mm copper pipe, Manchester City, plumbers suppliers and where the best sarnie shop in Blackpool is located, we sometimes have a chat about our recent jobs and the unique issues we tend to find within older properties.

Plumbers in Blackpool and plumbers in Lytham frequently face the same problems in that we tend to be called to older properties. Blackpool hotels and many of the well established properties in Lytham have retained their original plumbing systems. One subject which crops up regularly in the trade counter queue is lead piping!

Coincidentally in the trade counter queue this week, I bumped into one of my plumbing associates from Bispham. This week we have both had jobs where lead piping has caused issues for a customer. It's a conversation each and every plumber will face. I'm a second generation plumber - I was my dad's apprentice from the age of 15 - and I am more than familiar with lead and it's associated problems.

Another favourite topic for plumbers in Blackpool is parking! My Blackpool hotelier customers often call me, pre empting the conversation with 'I don't know where you will be able to park your van'. In all honesty, most of us plumbers in Blackpool have given up trying to find nearby parking spaces, bearing in mind we have tools and materials to carry to the property. If parking on double yellow lines or loading bays is the only way to get our customers plumbing sorted that's what we do. Subsequent chats in the trade counter queue revolve around the parking tickets we have accumulated throughout the month!

However, over the next week I am anticipating a shift in the casual conversations - lead piping and parking ticket chat will be last month's news. The subjects whilst in the City Plumbing queue will be

• Kids going back to school

• Tickets for Oasis gigs ...(seriously, don't get me started..)

• Blackpool Illuminations traffic

• 'Gas season' ... a busy time for Gas Safe plumbers as the weather turns autumnal.

But the BIG NEWS is ....FOOTBALL SEASON STARTS NOW!! And as I've been a Man City fan since I was big enough to hold a City scarf, let the footy banter commence!