In the past I have been a mocker of my local council for eschewing the produce of local granite quarries in favour of cheaper alternatives procured from the Orient.
Now I find myself eating my own words.
I live within easy reach of slate quarries of world renown that are bursting with marketable goods of the finest quality. I find though, that I am whistling innocence and looking the other way.
As the house is being turned upside down anyway, I have decided that a fine slate tiled floor would make a suitable statement downstairs. The long serving green carpet (that doesn’t show sheep sh*t stains) that has done its job for almost thirty years is finally for the skip.
After a consultation with James The Tiler, I was shocked to hear that slate slabs of suitable quality, excellent quality even, were obtainable from Brazil for a fraction of the price of the home grown and doubtless organic variety.
Realising that this would mean a saving of at least a thousand pounds on my grand design I have seen the light. I no longer seem to be concerned that small children are splitting slates for cents in a dark quarry in the depths of the furthest reaches of the Amazon basin.
4 comments:
my dear boy, how very honest of you, many a man of excellent being has found, when push comes to shove, that self preservation takes precedence, you have a survival instinct! unlike the woman abandoned, who finds reality unwieldy! and mark this! the child cutting slate may not otherwise earn....there was an interesting case in India where the employees of a factory of cheap clothing went on strike for increased pay....they had the energy and balls to take this action because they had learned to see thier own commercial value....by being employed at all.
Oops too many typos in the original.
When doing up old houses if you use the adage, it takes three times as long and costs twice as much, you cant go far wrong. Hence the Brazillian slates!! Anyway without your support maybe a family in a favela could well be going hungry.
Shame on you!
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