Floated coat.

[Brian the Tile]

yea Phil thats him and no he died many years ago now he had two sons billy and michael ,michael died on a night out in bolton one night i think he was only about twenty two ,when bill y senior died young bill carried on with the buisness but i dont know whether they are still going or not ,like i say bill was a nasty man ,iworked for him on and off for a good few years,a slave driver he was and did me out of a lot of money i started with him when i left school at fifteen he told every body i was the best apprentice he had ever had ,but never told me that ,taught me a lot though i must give him that ,be he would work eight days a week until all hours and expected everybody to do the same i walked a few times but he used to come round to my house,sometimes with the binbags on and talk me into going back, and like an idiot i thought he would change ,but no just the same i cant raaly say i was sorry when he passed away he treated people that bad ,even his brother and his own mother,but thats a long time ago now

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

yea Phil thats him and no he died many years ago now he had two sons billy and michael ,michael died on a night out in bolton one night i think he was only about twenty two ,when bill y senior died young bill carried on with the buisness but i dont know whether they are still going or not ,like i say bill was a nasty man ,iworked for him on and off for a good few years,a slave driver he was and did me out of a lot of money i started with him when i left school at fifteen he told every body i was the best apprentice he had ever had ,but never told me that ,taught me a lot though i must give him that ,be he would work eight days a week until all hours and expected everybody to do the same i walked a few times but he used to come round to my house,sometimes with the binbags on and talk me into going back, and like an idiot i thought he would change ,but no just the same i cant raaly say i was sorry when he passed away he treated people that bad ,even his brother and his own mother,but thats a long time ago now

Cheers for that Brian, long time ago that, sounds like you came up the hard way like me. Apprentices were one up from pond scum back then. I served my time under some real tough characters and was treated the way Billy treated you.

I was told many times I would never make a tiler as long as I had a hole in my backside, yet years later I had the same guys saying to me " don't you feel proud, that you can take on any job anywhere in the world? When I started on my own at the age of 24 I built up quite a good business, I ended up employing a lot of the guys who had taught me. I found myself pulling their work and having them put it right, so things come full circle.

I guess it shows that if we had not been broken down and rebuilt, as they do in the military we would not be the people we are today. I'm sure Billy for all his faults made you what you are, a time served tiler, who can handle any job anywhere. Unfortunatley we are a dying breed, that is not taking anything away from the people who were not able to do an apprenticeship, but imo the skills are just being diluted as each year passes. Rant over.

 

[Brian the Tile]

yea Phil he was a hard man but taught me all i know really and i have to thank him for that,a lot of folk wouldnt know what thepin hammer was for i bet,that and the little tungsten tipped chisel and a scriber for the wall tiles,another thing he used to have me doing was making the jollies,the mitred edges he wouldnt buy them ,yours truly had to back edge them and then rub them down ha ha ,he used to say the easiest way wasnt always the best way,then when folk used to say to him why not buy a cement mixer instead of mixing by hand his reply was ,i have one that walks ,talks and brews up,ba...rd,got to laugh although it was very tough