Just a Friday.

It’s pretty hard not to notice that there’s been a few gaps in the last little while.

Sorry ‘bout that.   Not much going on.

Travelling Companion is plugging away,  and I’m just “here”.  It’s more or less a form of “stasis”,  whereby we are now waiting.  Mostly for spring.

As it was bound to happen,  winter has decided to finally pay us a visit,  although I do think I prefer it to be clear and bright out,  even if that means the temperature is below freezing.  The only thing is,  whatever temperature we start out with in the morning is just about the same one we end up with for the rest of the day.  This isn’t like the Arizona Desert,  where it might start off with a bit of ice in the dog dish in the morning,  but by two in the afternoon,  everyone is peeling off their jackets.   I vividly recall being in Vegas in October (once upon a time),  and it would get pretty danged hot in the afternoon,  but by nightfall it would cool right down.  The other thing too was,  if you did happen to find it a little too hot,  all you had to do was step into the shade.   For someone who had come down from a mostly always humid Southern Ontario,  that was quite the novelty.   We seem to either be boiling or freezing.

 

The other day I mentioned something about the scaffolding type of arrangement that has been getting put up a few blocks from our front door.    They’re moving right along of course:

 

So,  what’s to keep that guy from taking a header down to the hard,  hard sidewalk?  Hm?

 

And you’re thinking,  who cares,  right?

 

Well,  the thing is,  I was going on about safety this,  and safety that,  and how we have these somewhat draconian rules that get shoved down our throats,  and I think you may have got the impression that that was somehow a bad thing?   Not really.

See,  if I’m sauntering along,  lose my balance and end up getting a close up look at the ground,  the worst that can happen is that I can rip my trousers,  maybe get some road rash,  possibly bump my nose, and generally just be somewhat unhappy about the whole situation.

If however,  I’m mucking about on a forty meter crane and lose my balance,  maybe it might be a novel idea to have a safety harness?

This was coincidently in yesterday’s free “rag”:

 

So “Bruno”,  who was just about my age (I’m 55 in case you were wondering)  was trying to open up the “Montageschutzbühne”,  so he could then proceed up into the operator’s cab.   That great long German word basically describes the screen that gets locked in place on the ladder to keep folks from getting up into the crane.   So my guess is that he was holding on with one hand,  and slipped.   The article says he “lost his balance”,  but I’m pretty sure the reporter didn’t go up and take a look for himself.   Would you?

Here’s a little primer:

 

So whether you have a clue as to how high forty metres is or not,  that’s a fall from which you do not recover.  Bruno died within minutes of impact.  I’m not going to translate any of the article, since it’s just a tad grisly.

The last sentence simply says that his coworkers were in shock.  I could well imagine.

 

Sorry if this seems to be a bit of a downer.  Didn’t mean it that way,  I was just intrigued with the coincidence of having seen that article,  right after wondering aloud about the safety of the dudes just down the street.  

I just stand there and shake my head for a minute or two,  take a quick photo,  and continue on. 

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

Watch your step.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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