Harold and the Chicken

Member: Slidertogrid

Harold who lived with the chicken..? Honestly I’m not making it up! When I first passed my driving test the B4stards at work sent me on a few memorable calls on purpose, “Just to open my eyes”.
Harold (not his real name) lived on a caravan site in Peterborough. This was in the late 1970’s before the sites were these modern clean places we see today.

I got the job passed to me as first job one morning, It was a bit off my normal call route but I was new to field service so didn’t think to question it. Arriving at the van I noticed a pyramid of tea leaves under the window to the left of the door. The window to the right of the door was open slightly and wedged in the frame was a wall socket with an adapter plugged into it with about three plugs in it. It was safe from the rain as it was sheltered by the partly open window.

I knocked on the door and once inside things didn’t improve. The place was a total dump with rubbish everywhere. I took the back off the set, a mono Pye and hid behind it. looking inside the anode cap was arcing badly, to say the set was damp was an understatement. There was fungus growing in the bottom of the cabinet!

It was then I heard a noise, I looked up and saw a chicken eating from a bowl on the table. Having thought about replacing the anode cap for about a millisecond, I informed the customer that the set would have to go in for repair, made my excuses and left

When I got back to the shop they all thought it very funny that I had been so shocked by the state of the place and I even got told off for not attempting to fix the set! Being a stroppy teenager I considered my options for a second and then said that I would go back and try to repair the set or do a pick up and loan no problem. One condition, the service manager came with me and went into the van with me.

He was too busy apparently…