Hot – but not as hot as Monday
By: Buffs
Wednesday arrived cooler than
Monday and with a hint of early cloud but no rain. We were graced by our Wash
crossing narrow boat skipper on a fleeting return to his pash, the dredger
Patricia. He was set to work wielding a paint brush and later a sledgehammer.
A team of 5 were sent to set a
bench into the towpath at Saul. That’s 1 to dig the hole and four to look into
it. A completed bench is no lightweight and because of its shape and size it
takes 2 and sometimes 3 to move. Setting a bench into the ground level and
upright does require at least 4 to wrangle it into holes and set the postcrete.
With the bench gone from the
Chippy shop our two carpenters set about building a strange and fearsome
structure which grew in size and apparent complexity during the day. And the
first ring of heavy hammers on the recalcitrant pin on the dredger pealed
across the yard.
I came to the yard to try a
method of mounting a meter box on the Lodgemore platform. Before I got going
Reg wanted to get Stuart finished so down tools on one job to start another. Loops were to be made as fittings to be welded onto the hull. There came
another redirection. Could I look after a new volunteer and complete his
induction.
And the tolling of the hammer on
Patricia rang out across the land.
Whilst our safety video for new
volunteers covers most obvious hazards real examples are best for reinforcing
the message. With the rampant verdant growth along the banks covering slopes
and irregularities in bank alignment it is good for new volunteers to be shown
the real and present dangers in the canal estate close to Western Depot.
Morning tea followed. Then back
to the fittings for Stuart only to find that the “dirty” workshop had been half
swept by someone who was also redirected elsewhere. I set about finishing the
cleaning joined later by the original sweeper. The soundtrack booming from
Patricia boomed on.
Lunch came and went and the
parts for Stuart were finished and fitted. A training walk with the new powered
scythe increased the number of volunteers considered safe to use it.
And the carpenter’s construction
grew as more wood was screwed into place.
Back to where I started. The job
was to see if I could run a 10mm tap through a hexagonal hole on a grubscrew so
that a support strut could be fixed onto the safety rail on Lodgemore Platform. With the fitting mounted on an offcut of the safety rail the tap actually
worked and a thread was cut. Full penetration was achieved after a hole was
drilled in the rail to allow the tap to pass through. Four fittings were tapped
ready for final assembly next week. All to the accompaniment of the tolling of
Patricia’s bell
The carpenters had finished
their construction. It was a jig for the assembly of the benches for the canal. The components are machined by our colleagues in the Eastern Depot and brought
to WD for final assembly prior to placement. This is a regular task and
judicious use of workmates has made assembly possible. However workmates are a
valuable commodity so Will and Ray set about constructing a bespoke jig. This
is the result
With the yard quiet and the locking up complete the gates
were closed with a clang. Not quite the greatness of the Gates of Kiev but it
had been preceded by the tolling of a great bell through out the day.
