Driving a large van (without a window on the left-hand-side of the rear cargo section) leaves a blind spot which can’t be picked up by the left side exterior mirror!

Fortunately there is a simple and very cheap solution to this problem called a ‘blind spot mirror’. I picked up a small mirror yesterday for just $3.75, and it has completely removed the blind spot.

I guess we all have blind spots in our working and personal lives, but perhaps some are not as easy to indentify as my van’s blind spot. In these cases it can be important to take on board advice from those around us to help pick up on problems that may be holding us back.

Maybe all of us have some blind spots that can be fixed easily with small changes in our approach to certain people or situations.

In my line of work I am called upon to do a lot of repairs and odd jobs for body corporate clients. Personally I really like the variety and challenge of not knowing what will be thrown at me next.

A case in point happened recently when I was asked to repair a body corporate letterbox that had been damaged by a homemade bomb. It seems someone thought it would be fun to put a bomb in one of the letterboxes. Luckily nobody was hurt, and there was no real damage to the letterbox that couldn’t be fixed with a bit of cleaning and a new coat of paint.

I wonder what strange things I will find myself doing after New Year’s Eve…

Sometimes we get so busy that we forget how important it is to take time out during the day. I was certainly guilty of this from time to time, and there were days when I even forgot to stop for lunch!

I guess this is a reflection of how much I like what I do, but working through the day without taking a proper break is not sustainable, and sooner or later it catches up with you in the form of fatigue. Cleaning and gardening can be very physical work, and if you try to keep working when you are suffering from fatigue you greatly increase the chance of injuring yourself. So with this in mind, I made a conscious decision earlier this year to always take time out during the day to eat properly and also to sit down and relax.

I’m lucky in the respect that I work in some of the nicest places in Brisbane, and can take my break in New Farm Park one day and by the beach in Redcliffe on another (see picture). I now think of my breaks as mini-weekends, and work never feels too tough when I know that I’ve got a nice spot to kick back and eat lunch.

No matter where you work, I’d encourage everyone to take the time to get outside, eat well and have a proper break each day. You may be surprised to find that this simple change will leave you with a lot more energy at the end of the day!

While cleaning up under the stairs at a client’s property in Red Hill I uncovered a secret stash of macadamia nuts, that had been brought inside by rodents.

Rodents have similar needs to us in that they like shelter, warmth, and a steady food supply. However with the macadamia tree in the neighbouring property almost finished bearing nuts for the year, the rodents would have gone looking for a new food source inside my client’s house rather than bringing the nuts in from outside. So it was lucky we caught them when we did.

This got me thinking that sometimes there can be unintended consequences that arise as a result of the type of vegetation we select for our gardens, whether this be invasive root systems, excessive dead fall, or in the case of macadamia trees, unwanted guests. I’ve even heard of people that have had their macadamia trees removed after growing tired of the rodents and possums that come to feed on the nuts.

I parked my van outside the local mower shop last month, and ran in to buy some o-rings. I thought I’d be in and out within a couple of minutes, but sometimes things don’t go to plan…

While I was being served by the shop assistant, a strawberry farmer reversed his truck in to the front of my van. Even though I was about 50 metres away and inside the shop, the crunching sound when his truck hit the front of my van was terrible! Luckily nobody was injured and both vehicles were still drivable. Luckier still (for me) the other driver’s insurance will cover the cost of the repairs.

Sometimes we can come up against disruptions that we have little control over. However, we do have a choice as to how we react to these hiccups. In the case of my little accident, I made the decision to keep smiling. After all, there was no point in shouting and carrying on when the other driver had accepted responsibility for what had happen.

It’s not ideal to have my van off the road for the next five days, but I will still be able to provide the necessary services to my body corporate clients and it will also give me a chance to do some much needed work on my business plan.

Drive safely.

Several large branches fell from the top of a very tall silky-oak (Grevillea robusta) while I was working at a property in Red Hill this week. It seems timing is everything, as I had actually walked through the area where the branches fell about two minutes earlier.

Luckily for me I lived to fight another day, and was able to use my chainsaw to quickly remove the branches from the client’s property.