My life as a Steeplejack

Steeple-jacking a Beginning

When I left School, the British band UB40 was singing about being one in ten, three million unemployed and rising.

I remember things being that bad there were queues outside bread shops, like some depressed eastern block country, yet they were not queuing for bread, but work - one position - fifty applied.

After leaving basford hall college Nottingham, I went against my father's wishes, and applied for a job at the firm he worked, which just happened to be advertising for three Steeplejack mates.

As a teenager, the experience was exiting, walking into the company's yard on a Monday with your suitcase in hand, not knowing where you would be going, and which part of the country, and how high you would be working. This was kept a secrete and chalked on a large blackboard along with who you would be working with, another important factor I later learned.

Whittington Hospital Islington London

Two of us ‘Sprogs’ as we were called, were sent down the inside of the chimney in bosun’s chairs, armed with sweeping brushes, and told to sweep the sulpha/soot off the full length of the barrel, so it could be inspected for potential repairs.

The joke was that, we were told that the chimney had only just been turned off, and was still hot inside, so take all our clothes off and wear only boiler suits (refusal would have been met with hostility).

After hours of choking, sweat and burns, we emerged at the bottom, black as soot. The showers removed most of it except around our: necks, arm pits, nipples, lower region cracks. They were burned black and took months to fade, at that point I realised I didn’t know everything as a teenager.

Steeple-jacking seemed natural to me as my grandfather was a steeplejack, my uncles and my father too, but he wanted me to be a chef. I think he was a little anxious that I would embarrass him, which made me all the more determined to succeed. I just had to overcome the fear of falling to my death and landing on some ornate wrought iron railings.

To add an extra flavour to the difficulty level, My father was a senior Foreman, and those steeplejacks who he had trained and traditionally worked hard, ridiculed, and I’m going to use Steeplejack parlance of the day – Slagged off. I was assigned to them, payback was tough, quitting wasn’t an option, they tried, and eventually I earned their respect and they became friends.

Day To Day

Working on power stations, mills, concrete and steel chimneys, cooling towers, and installing lightning conductor systems. To restoring Churches in the middle of a verdant country side on the edge of a small village, were all, week to week stuff and sometimes we would be given some unusual work.

The miners’ strike was on and next to a lot of pits in Yorkshire, loomed Coalite sites, churning out smokeless fuel, piles of it, some striking miners (allegedly) would appropriate some smokeless coal for their home fires.

The boss being an entrepreneur volunteered our services; the job was to enclose the whole place with 10ft steel roofing sheets, which seemed miles. Now and again an angry mob would stand there attempting to intimidate us, and things got worse when they found out we were from Nottingham, adding insult to injury, as Nottingham was considered scab pit country.

Our foreman had a word with them, and we were surprisingly left alone after that. I found out years later that a couple of the sheets weren’t fixed as well as they should have been — fancy that.

Meanwhile, every time we exited the motorway to enter Nottingham, the police pulled us over and

 asked us if we were flying-pickets, we nodded our black soot covered faces no — this was cutting into our pub time — the police didn’t believe us.

Don't look now

Don't look now

India Mills Ornate Chimney

One of my fondest memories, and again, still a teenager, was working on a famous chimney in Darwin Lancashire, the rumours were that it had a huge stone overhang that forced the weight onto your arms as you climbed over, and some firms had backed out and ran scared, but this is an industry full of untruths, generated in the pub, at least in those days.

Nevertheless, it does put weight on your arms, and it is the moment of truth climbing over the top, especially when the top of the ladder hasn’t been tied yet. For me, the excitement factor was driving from Bolton coming down the hill and seeing it for the first time.

The boiler man was a tablet of touristic information, and apparently the chimney was designed on the tower in St Marks Square Venice; mill owners would compete by building the most ornate chimneys, this one costing 14,000 pounds.

We worked on the chimney for a few months, scaffolding the top and rigged cradles on it. I was impressed so much with Lancashire and the friendliness of the people, I moved there.

The mill and chimney are steeped in history and can be found by clicking the link arrow below.

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History of India Mill

Looking west from India Mills Chimney

One day whilst working on the chimney a fella dressed in a suit approached and asked if we would take some aerial shots of his auto sales garage and surrounding area, at the end of the shift we did. His wife had a shock when she went to collect the photos as we had including three naked backsides. Luckily they had a sense of humour.

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Steeplejack's names carved into the stone below one of the urns including mine.

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Don't look down

Don't look down

Climbing over the overhang

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Climbing onto the slippy stone plinth usually covered in Pigeon excrement

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Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Bob-a-job week was the week cub-scouts would knock on your door and sell you a ticket that would entitle you to have some work down: Wash the car, sweep the yard and my personal favourite, weed the garden.

My uncle was in the paper for giving a cub- scout a sweeping job at the top of a high tower on bob-a-job week, in the late 70′s. Steeplejacks were often in the paper, on this occasion we were invited to sit in front of the film camera.

Several of us, from different firms, were filmed by the college working on various chimneys, and invited to a lunch at a county pub to help produce a recruitment video – OMG how embarrassing.

Don’t give a steeplejack your camera or interview him after a couple of pints.

Gaz top ‘a children’s TV presenter’ was interviewing us all and the brief was simple, relax and be honest.

Some anecdotes from the older steeplejacks, started out pleasant until ‘cut we can’t print that’ and then asking us questions about wages and working conditions, whilst drinking pints of beer down, before the wasps landed in them, in the mid-day sun – what did they think they were going to get?

Not all of us gave a bad account of ourselves, but if they had briefed us on what they wanted, and said keep the language down, and don’t mention lodging away stories, they might have had a chance, on a personal note I had an extra cringe as the sound man was my neighbour.

To be fair, they were honest and relaxed.

STEEPLEJILL

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Considering a career in the Steeplejack industry?

Years later, I entered the world of building site management, contract management and construction project management, and in the earlier years was faced with employing site managers to supervise safety critical works in the rail sector, the majority of labour had rail experience, not construction.

I pulled in some steeplejack foreman, and they aced it, yes they were trained and did the subsequent courses, but hands on they had a natural risk assessment ability built in and that is the essence of leaders. If you as a youngster are looking to enter the steeplejack industry, I have put together some links below from the UK, United States and Australia.

Considering a career in the Steeplejack industry?

• http://www.atlas.org.uk/
  
  http://www.rtbot.net/steeplejack
  
  http://www.americansteeplejacks.com/
  
  http://www.allchimneys.co.uk/industrial-chimneys-steeplejacks.html
  
  http://www.startlocal.com.au/industrial/steeplejacks/

Modern Day Steeplejacks

Back in my day we worked without fall arrest systems or safety harnesses 'free climbing' things have moved on, placing safety as number one using structure, risk assessment and clear communication.

High Rise Maintenance

Refurbishing Victoria centre flats in Nottingham, considered an eyesore for years, we used cradles and bosun’s chairs to completely clad and stone dash the outside, including installation of window sills, concrete repairs and sealant works.

Premade Book Covers

Goose Fair Nottingham

Robin Hood Country

Christmas as a child was always the biggest holiday to look forward to closely followed by birthdays. Easter meant chocolate eggs and when we were really young a decorated boiled egg for breakfast. Living in Nottingham had the added treat of goose fair every third Thursday in October.

October came with fog and a giant Goose erected on a roundabout adjacent to a large recreation ground we called the forest. Kids at school started to become excited at the prospect of going to the fair. The main question on children's lips in the playground, 'are you going on the Thursday night, Friday or Saturday'.

Goose Fair

 

I can remember the excitement and the fear of being amongst so many people, flashing lights, the mixture of whirling noises and music. The strange food smells, watching where you stepped through a muddy ground, and trying to remember the place where my mother said to meet if I got lost. For me so young winning a bow and arrow set on the hook a duck stand and eating my favourite food was the biggest buzz of the year.

I’m not talking about candy floss, Brandy snaps, toffee apples or the smell of the onions on the hot dog stalls, but hot mushy peas with mint sauce. Synonymous with Nottingham as pie mash and liquor is in the east end of London.

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Goose Fair Boxing

My grandmother was Irish and she had eleven brothers all who were Boxes and one boxed at Goose fair in the 70's and 80's.

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National Fairground Archive

 

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Mushy Peas

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• A bunch of spring onions
• finely chopped
• A handful of fresh mint leaves finely chopped
• 500 grams (1 pound) frozen marrow fat peas
• 2 large knobs of butter
• Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt

Instructions

Pour the olive oil in a pan and heat adding the mint, chopped onions and peas. Leave covered for a few minutes to steam. Add the vinegar and mash smooth with a potato masher. Season to taste and add the butter.

Goose Fair History

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History of Nottingham Goose Fair

Nottingham Goose Fair, Panoramic View 1890s.

Goose fair today runs from Wednesday to Sunday over 700 years old it is still held at the forest recreation ground and it still has a hook a duck, the waltzer and over 500 hundred other attractions to marvel at. I recently spoke to a friend that takes her children to the Goose fair and the cuisine has changed. Chinese food, Spanish churros, Indian Curries, everything you can find in a shopping centre food court is on offer. The side shows are gone and the main emphasis is on the biggest and baldest rides. For me I’ll have hot peas and the dodgem cars every time, but the helter skelter “tornado slide” was a childhood favourite.

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My First Car

Car or Motorbike?

At eighteen years of age, the last car I would expect to, 'quietly' fall in love with would be a VW Beetle. Not exactly a cool motor to drive amongst my piers, especially an orange box standard 1200cc.

My old man had bought a VW Beetle, dismantled it down to the chassis and refurbished it. He put a flash kit car body on it called an Eagle SS, with gullwing doors and body lines as sleek as a Lamborghini. Give him a Haynes Manuel and a few tools and he was on his way. This was one of many hobbies, his philosophy, if it can be learned then he was going to do it.

My father said that if I didn't get a motorbike, be patient, and wait until I had past my driving test, the kit car would be mine.

Patient, I was a teenager!

Trading Standards

After going against my father’s wishes and buying a motor bike to get to college, I past my driving test and was ready for a car. The thousand pounds I received for the sale of the bike in hand, I went to see a car locally.

A gleaming Fiat X19 sports car, advertised for 800 pounds, leaving some cash to pay for the insurance. It looked great, drove fine and I did the deal for 720 pounds, which was just as well, as the cheapest insurance quote was 450 pounds for six months.

The car lasted four months before the clutch went, and I had to call the AA from the hard shoulder of the M1 motorway.

My old man freed up the clutch, and insisted that we drive it down to the nearest car sales to do a deal with a more sensible car that he had seen, if there were any problems he could fix it without any costly garage bills.

When we pulled up at the garage, I knew straight away which car he had his eyes on and no amount of begging was going to work. Tough love I think they call it.

The salesman couldn’t get in the Fiat fast enough, and drove it around the block. He climbed out, declared his wife would like it, and we did a straight swap deal. The bright orange VW was on at 900 pounds so away we went.

After a verbal battering on the way home from my father, at how bad my driving was, something he would still suggest to this day. I got the hang of driving the antiquated controls, loose gear stick, the noisy windscreen wipers and the screen wash working off the air pressure from the spare tyre in the front boot. At that moment it didn’t seem quaint, cute or funny, even my mother struggled to hide her smirk from me when first seeing it.

Two weeks’ later, a man from the trading standards knocked at the door to get a statement off of me. Apparently, the car salesman sold the Fiat to a couple that had spent their life savings on the car and it had broken down a day later. On further inspection, there were 36 un-roadworthy things wrong with it, and you would be hard pressed to stick a magnet to most of the body work. All that because I didn’t listen to the old man – talk about the butterfly effect.

My mother plied the official with tea and digestives and made sure I was blameless. The couple sued the car sales, which closed down, and I drove the beetle through four seasons without a problem.

I eventually sold it for twelve hundred pounds, and put the cash to another awesome vehicle, a Toyota Hilux Pick up truck.

I missed the Beetle and over there years bought four. I think only people who have owned one and refurbished them can understand where I’m coming from, as I write this I’m adding a Beetle to my amazon wish list that’s the 1302 s, preferably not in Orange.

My father did give me his kit car to drive, and it was awesome, people looking at you, being so young I lapped it up on a weekend away to Lancashire. One the way back, I got a lift from the AA and I’m sure it was the same place on the motorway as a year before. The oil pump went but my father suggested I didn’t put any oil in the car. He was fuming and sold it–yet another one of those things to add to his list of disappointments. My mother took his mind off of it, she had her eye on a hotel that needed refurbishing, and there were plenty of books out there on that subject to get his teeth into.

VW-Splitty

VW-Splitty

36 in. x 24 in.
Buy This at Allposters.com

Fiat X19

 

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VW Beetle Pick Up

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Toyota Hi Lux

Dog Waiting on…
Andrew Bain
24 in. x 18 in.
Buy This at Allposters.com

Beach Life Spain

Days out with Family and Friends.

I think it's safe to say that beach life is similar the world over: sunbathing, swimming, sandcastles, picnics and beach games at the top of the list. Certain people focus on one of these more than others. Some Spanish people for example, haul enough equipment and food to make you think they are in fact a Hollywood film production company: tables, chairs, umbrellas, portable hammocks and golf trollies, stacked with cool boxes.

These large family groups settle in for the day, where as some do it in shifts, late morning till 1 o'clock, and 4 o'clock to late evening. If the beach has a Chiringuito (beach bar), then it can turn into a late night.

Playing on the Playa

Every other week we hit the beach, and when we go with our Spanish friends, it’s normally in the afternoon.

Of course, the beach isn’t for everyone. I can’t seem to find a phobia for the fear of beaches, the nearest I have gotten is:

Hydrophobia: fear of water, to drink or to swim in.

Thalassophobia is fear of the sea and Eremikophobia is fear of sand.

Galeophobia: fear of sharks, on a boat, visiting an aquarium, on a beach, or watching shark movies.

(PLAYA) BON NOU beach is south of Villajoyosa, and is my favourite beach in Alicante. A small cove with clear water, remains shallow feathering out for a few meters, which is great for the kids to paddle in. The beach has foot washes, toilets, lifeguards and has been awarded the blue flag.

A train station is nearby and in walking distance, access from the N332 by car, with plenty of parking spaces.

The beach a mixture of small pebbles and sand, stretches between two rocks for 220 meters with a width of 30 meters so Nomophobiacs may have a problem here, (fear of being out of mobile phone contact).

Bon Nou, sometimes known as Bol Nou, also has an amazing Xiringuito (beach bar), this is the only one where you can enjoy authentic Argentinian barbecue.

Gymnophobics will enjoy this beach as it is predominantly families all day, in the evening the beach bar has couples and mixed crowds.

Great food to take to the beach

Tortilla de patatas y pimientos rojos asados

Spanish omelet with roasted red peppers

Ingredients

• 8 eggs
• 1 kilo of potatoes
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 roasted red peppers
• Salt
• pepper and parsley

Instructions

1. 1. Scrape the potatoes or leave the skins on, if you prefer. Cut them into thick slices. Chop the onion.
2. 2. Roast the peppers in the oven, peel, de-seed and chop.
3. 3. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the potatoes, peppers and onion and cook gently, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are softened. Strain the potatoes, peppers and onions through a colander into a large bowl (set the strained oil aside).
4. 4. Beat the eggs separately and stir into the potatoes with the parsley and plenty of salt and pepper. Heat a little of the strained oil in a smaller pan. Tip everything into the pan and cook on a moderate heat, using a spatula to shape the omelette into a circle.
5. 5. When almost set, flip onto a plate and slide back into the pan and cook a few more minutes. Flip twice more, cooking the omelette briefly each time and pressing the edges to keep the circle shape. Slide on to a plate and cool before putting in containers for the beach.

Perishable Art

Strange Fiestas Spain

La Fiesta de los Nanos en Cocentaina Spain

Cocentaina is a Valencian town inland towards Alcoy at the foot of the Sierra Mariola. This area has strong agricultural roots and celebrates this with a fiesta held on All Saints day(Todos los Santos) on and around the 1st of November.

In the Pueblo looms the Clarrisen monastery, the Palace of the count and the church of El salvador. These are stand alone in their magnificence but the real attractions of Cocentaina are the warm, welcoming and open minded people.

The Nanos first appeared in Cocentaina hanging from the corners of streets in the late eighteenth century with posters, the words and dolls were there to ridicule its political and prominent figures.

A risky act even though anonymous and surprisingly no retaliations were made to this day.

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Imagination and Criticism Combined

Venture into the old town in the middle of Lent (21 days after Ash Wednesday) and there you will see some strange satirical celebrations, life size rag dolls (Nanos) have appeared miraculously overnight and take up communal areas, corners of streets and along most of the houses. Some stand and some sit alone at a table with a bottle of wine, others huddle in groups and several hang from trees.

All share in common Valencian scribed tags, some large boards and others pinned to their clothes, the majority of the messages are pointing at famous celebrities and local politicians using imagination and criticism combined.

Now days the tradition is an event covered by the media and children are encouraged to take part yet this semi commercialisation doesn’t distort the true purpose of the Nanos to get across the common man’s feelings toward certain prominent figures. Some messages poke fun and some criticise individuals with caricatures included on the particular Nanos, from as simple as a mustache to a recognisable effigy and as from the beginning no reprisals are sort after, all are taking in fun.
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Dolls are placed everywhere

 

 

La Fiesta de los Nanos en Cocentaina

Having a chat

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The press comes to town

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Crazy Festival Spain 

 Haro Wine Festival - Batalla de Vino (Battle of Wine)

Haro in Northern Spain, is in the middle of the wine growing region of La Rioja, and home to the annual Haro Wine Festival and the Batalla del Vino. Where the locals all arm themselves with water pistols, and splash each other with tens of thousands of litres of wine, turning everything purple.

Spain is not short of crazy festivals, but what seems silly to some, is part of the culture and traditional to others.

Of course, there are those that staunchly support this festival just for the wine - owe but for the wine.

 

La Rioja Wine

I remember first hearing about Rioja in a Chinese restaurant in Nottingham England. A friend at the time was having a surprise anniversary bash for his wife, and I had drove up from London and sat at a large round table, set for five couples, three of which were already there.

We had something in common, all trying to avoid sounding pretentious, admitting that we all liked French wine, and decided to order a couple of bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild. The absent seats were filled by a couple who made an entrance, fresh in from Tenerife, suntans and blinged out.

A forty-something fella, accompanied by a rather younger provocatively dressed twenty-something blond – we tried to ignore the cliché, but the first thing they did was spin the centerpiece, grab one of the bottles (we had opened to breath), and splash it into their glasses, without a breath downed the wine and declared, to the rest of the table “it aint quite a Rioja but it will have to do”

Now there is Rioja and there’s Rioja – I later discovered.

HARO, SPAIN - WINE FESTIVAL 27-29 JUNE

Haro Wine Festival

Researching for this Lens, I asked my significant other if she had heard of any crazy weird or strange holidays festivals that was going down in June, she replied “yes euro 2012 football/Soccer” – So no then.

My neighbour on the other hand, couldn’t wait to tell me about his home town of Haro in the Rioja wine region. He jumps up, and goes next door, and reappears, grinning shinny eyed, clutching two bottles of wine he had made himself, declaring this is the wine he used to throw about in the Batalla de Vino (Battle of Wine) I remember most of what he said..

Fiesta del Vino de Haro the 29th of June is penned in on all the calendars of this town, celebrating San Pedro and as usual in a Spanish fiesta it has parades and a battle.

The village parades up to the small chapel with the statue of San Felices led by the mayor on horseback, after placing the city’s flag at the top of the rock, the battle commences all the way back to the Town’s Bullring.

There are windmills, but no Don Quixote, as arms spin around throwing buckets of vino on each other, and some stories are best left unmentioned. When the levels of testosterone and home brew splash about, especially when a quaff of suppressed rivalry rears its head.

This all sounds a bit silly, but watching my neighbour tell his stories with passion and a nostalgic tear, coupled with the fact that I have been to a lot of Spanish fiestas, I would suggest it’s worth a visit.

Cheers!

 Colour Me Purple

 

The wine's not just for throwing!

Photo with permission from http://www.wine-fight.com/the-history/

Wine Battle

River of Wine

Time to dry off

This is a file from Wikimedia Commons

How to get there?

Recycle Your Old CD’s – DVD’s

Artist's Pallet Shaped Business Cards

How to make an artist's paint pallet shaped business card from old CD (Compact Disk) and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and printing on them using a transfer technique.

There's no need to shop for expensive supplies, everyone must have a few unwanted CDs around the house, you will also need some acrylic paint, Pva glue, sand paper or small sander and tin snips or pruning shears.

These can be made in volume or one or two for display purposes only, they also make great gifts.

First of all, mark out the pallet shape on an old CD, positioning the existing hole as though this is the thumb hole on an artists paint pallet and mark out your shape with a marker pen.

Safety goggles should be worn.

Cut out the shape using tin snips, cutting across the line as straight as possible, this stage may need a bit of practice but it’s achievable.

Sanding.

Use a palm sander to smooth and eradicate the sharp rough edge, and to further shape it, also use the sander to remove the CD’s coating – dust mask is required, and you should be in a vented area.

Some CD’s have a protruding lip around the hole, this is easily removed with a craft knife and sanding.

Coating.

Paint the CD with a PVA glue, and brush a generous coat of paint on, so it fills in the grooves around the hole, you may need a few coats — sanding in-between.

Hang up to dry.

Transfer technique.

Print out your logo, name, numbers or whatever you have designed, making sure that any text is printed in reverse.

There are two options: Paint the top coat on the pallet letting it dry then apply the transfers using a thin layer of PVA glue — PVA because this dries transparent or you can apply straight to the acrylic paint when it is wet.

Cut the paper as close to the content as possible, reducing the amount be be removed later.

Position your transfers face down, rubbing out any air bubbles, flattening. At this stage you need to be careful not to smudge the paint if you have allotted to go straight onto the acrylic.

If you are using an ink-jet printer, you will only have to wait about an hour or two for the PVA to dry and for the transfer to complete, otherwise let it set for a few hours, preferably over night.

Alternatively, you can use a heat gun or a hair dryer to speed up the drying time.

Next, spray the area with water using a spray bottle or dab a cloth into water really soak the surface well allowing the paper to absorb the water.

Now with the cloth or your finger, rub the wet paper off to reveal your transferred image — do this gently until all the pulp is removed.

This stage should be done with caution, and failure is usually due to not waiting for the paint or paper to fully dry and adhere.

Both sides can be done.

Varnished to finish.

 

 

Faux Crackle the Cheap way

Customise Your Home with Unique Furniture Pieces

Crackle is a perfect finish for transforming a shabby and boring piece of furniture into an aged rustic, distressed look and the impression that it is an heirloom.

Crackle is an easy faux finish to achieve and the technique can be applied to anything from doors, chairs, picture and mirror frames to Welsh dressers, cabinets, desks, and even kitchen units.

 

 

Getting Started

This is a way of achieving the crackle finish without the expense of Faux crackle paint systems.

Materials:

For practice purposes I recommend a piece of cardboard or cereal box cut to size or scrap piece of wood.

Acrylic paint. (Two colours)
Glue, all purpose wood glue “PVA glue” (polyvinyl acetate), In Spain Cola blanca from any Chino.
½" Paint brush.
Paint pallet
Gloves

Brush a white acrylic base coat to the board and allow to dry, then paint the PVA glue also covering the whole board.

For small spider web-like cracks lay it on thin and for thick wider cracks lay it on thick.

Wait for the glue to become tacky and then apply your top finish coat of Acrylic, this should be a darker colour so that the white will show through. Of course if you used a dark base coat then a lighter one would be used for the finish.

 

 

Finish

Now wait for the glue and the paint to dry, which depending on the temperature, should only take 2/3 hours.

Note: If you do not wait for the glue to become tacky it will have huge gaps, so it is best to wait for it to go tacky as it can be spread more even and you achieve a more subtle effect.

Equally waiting too late and letting the glue go off will not work either, but the point of this exercise is to practice and get the feel for the material, so you can save a lot of money when applying this to a piece of furniture.

This is the finish with various cracks and the darker back ground showing through or vise versa.

Once you have applied this to a piece of furniture, then simply spray a clear satin varnish which provides a hard durable finish and dries in minutes,