Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!
(King Lear, Act III, Sc II)
Back to work, as nature hurls chaos at us. Trees falling, roads closed, power lines down, heroic rescues at sea. Malin Head weather station recorded hurricane force winds, trucks were blown over, and I'm knackered.
I was, of course, out nailing things down, roping and sheeting, dodging debris. Tuesday was the first day back, and my sleep patterns have not readjusted. In a free-will situation, I skew toward nocturnal habits. So, monday night saw me valiantly trying to sleep, in preparation for tuesday.
Tuesday itself was intense, lots of stuff to fix post-holiday, but also a howling gale full of little
sharp icy bits, which threaten to scour flesh from bone.
On getting home, I managed to fall asleep almost instantly to be woken with a call from our security guy, that a tree had dropped a big limb across the gates at one site... could I just...
So, back to work, to find my boss had lent the chainsaw to his pal, who is currently away somewhere. Oh lovely. Manual sawing then. Bow-saw, rope, land-rover... drag it clear, go back for more.
After an hour or so I'm really quite warmed up. When my boss finally picks up his phone...."Were you trying to call me?" HAH!
He's going to get the next call out. My phone will be off.
I am the grit in the gears, the missing bolt, I am the poker of sticks into spokes. I like to know how things work, but sometimes when I take them apart and rebuild them, I have a few pieces left over. I am a man, so I tend to leave reading the instructions until after it goes wrong. And like all men I have a comprehensive mental map of the world and never need to ask directions. I never get lost, only sometimes I'm late, or end up in the wrong place entirely. It's what we do.
The wind was incredible one minute we can't stand up the next it was calm if you didn't see it you'd think some of us were making it up.
ReplyDeleteoh wow, the music isn't revoltingly bad !! it's actually pretty good.
ReplyDeletebatten down your hatches and don't climb any tall ladders, okay? i worry about you, sometimes ...
xxx
ps. my verification word is uncyci ...
ReplyDeleteit reminds me of icy unicycles ...
xxx
Quite a storm, eh? That sign is awesome! Reminds me of a friend of mine's construction foreman cousin who posted a video on Facebook of him spinning one of his workers around in a trackhoe bucket. That ended up being his last day, too!
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't get around more often and thanks so much for the birthday wishes. You're tops!
~Dave
Its been a rough few days even down here. You could hear and feel it meaning business at dusk last night.
ReplyDeleteTake care
mind you, wish we'd been firing the salt kiln...this weather gives us marvellous firings!
A bit of a gale yet the airport was still open late last night! I would not have enjoyed landing there!
ReplyDeleteBatten down your ladders and don't climb any tall hatches.
ReplyDelete@Max: you wag!
ReplyDeletexxx