Tuesday 14 June 2005

Pity the poor Polish plumber

The recent European referenda have seen much mention of the "Polish plumber", an expert in soft solder and copper pipe bending who is threatening to flood Europe with cut-price plumbing services. However I think people in this country are forgetting the natural defences at our disposal. When I last passed through the Dartford Tunnel toll plaza one of the "Cash only" automated lanes was blocked by a car with Polish registration plates. Wandering around was the driver, clearly confused and looking for change but defeated by a combination of our non-standard coinage and our monolingual signage. Of course we'd all like to have helped but we were too busy queuing, another national pastime which confuses our continental neighbours, or pretending we couldn't see a problem. So anyone in Essex or further north who is expecting an Eastern European plumber may be in for a long wait.

4 careful considerations:

Buggles Balham High Road said...

You paint a lovely picture Nog. If I find any spare polish plumbers (or plasterers) in August when I visit Poland I'll bring some back with me.

Nogbad said...

Now what will Morty say if he finds you trying to get a couple of twenty year olds in your bag to bring back? :-)

Buggles Balham High Road said...

Morty will say nothing because have you ever seen how utterly gorgeous young Eastern European women are? They are stunning. He will be fully occupied and won't notice.

Mind you - if either of us manage to smuggle any spare back I believe neither of us will know what to do with them next.

Nogbad said...

Well I thought you were bringing back artisans to help the people of Dorest who have plumbing needs? Are you suggesting otherwise? ;-)