I was at the house of a good friend the other day looking out of the window at the new housing estate that is being built across the road.

Darkness was about to descend and with many of the half-built houses not yet having lights and electrics fitted; the workmen were calling it a day and packing away their tools.

I watched as one worker spent ten minutes walking to and from the house he had been working in carrying tools to put in his van.

Obviously he couldn’t leave them in the house overnight. Even with the high security fencing and security men patrolling the site, it would be reckless to leave your tools where they could be stolen.

When a tradesperson loses their tools, they can’t earn money; it’s as simple as that.

It wasn’t the warmest of days and it was spitting with rain. The worker looked shattered. I don’t know if he had had a particularly hard day or whether this is the result of a career that is hard work most days.

I know that a lot of guys (and gals) like working on building sites, they enjoy building and making things and they enjoy the camaraderie.

There is a kind of ‘band of brothers’ style kinship with tradespeople. If you’ve ever watched Auf Wiedersehen Pet, you’ll know what I mean.

As I watched this particular worker, I couldn’t help but wonder how wonderful this camaraderie was because I couldn’t see anything fun about lugging heavy tools about in the cold and wet at the end of the day.

I don’t see any fun in spending a lot of time working on my knees, in noisy and dirty conditions while having to keep an eye on the workers above me.

It’s too much like hard work… for little pay.

Our techy guy Andi, will testify to that. He spent over 20 years working as a carpenter in the building industry and he needed out because it was hard awful work.

He much prefers working in the comfort of his own home with a big mug of tea close to hand.

There is something incredibly freeing about being able to make money from the comfort of your own home. It doesn’t matter if the weather is too cold, too windy, too wet, too icy or too hot.

The external conditions won’t make your day hard and unbearable… well, okay, a really hot spell during summer can make it uncomfortable inside if you don’t have air conditioning.

But as I say, some people enjoy going to work, and for those who do, they should have a second income as protection at least.

I can’t speak for all the tradesmen and women, but I imagine that turning up to work in the cold and dark of winter is hard when they are there to simply earn a wage.

Working for money is hard when you need it, but working for it when you don’t is more fun.

It’s called security, and it’s a powerful thing.

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