Why I like building sites.

I love building sites. I quite like builder.

I was once a builder. FACT. I say builder, I was in fact a builders labourer/assistant/burden. When I returned from Australia I temped for a while before a friend of my Mum, who was a builder, motioned that he needed a new labourer. I thought a summer of building would be fun, good for fitness and earn me cash in hand so I accepted the post.

Building was hard. It took a lot of concentration and hard work as being the labourer much of my day was lifting, carrying, holding and such like. I got to use tools too which was exciting, but to be fair a bit daunting as you don't want to mess up! Especially when its just you and a builder and thats it, to balls up can mean you cause quite a few problems. I caused quite a few problems. One reason was probably as I was smoking mucho weed at the time due to being depressed! So I was monged for the best part of the day, especially as it started at about 7.30 (why do builders start so early?). Also I am a DIY clutz. I can do it, but I often bodge my way through things and work it out as I go along. Now builders also do this, but they do it with a lot of experience and so their bodges are good, mine are not. Hence there was often heated atmospheres as I would fail in my task of cutting straight or measuring well.

Anyway, thats one reason I like building as I did it for a while and it was a fun summer so I guess it reminds me of that.

However, the other reasons are all due to the exciting things that take place:
1) Cranes. There my favourate. Moving around, lifting things, being really high. I love them. they are a great symbol of modernity I think as signify purest building and construction. Not a great thing by any means, but they are exciting none the less. I like the fact they move quite elegantly, I have wanted to film cranes for ages and put them to music like they are doing a dance or something. I love the fact to build a crane you need another crane too! Its funny. The buiilding crane crane is often on the back of a lorry too, which is exciting because its a lorry. I like the massive concrete ballast a crane needs to off set its weight. I want to go up a crane...if only Jim'll still fixed things!
2) Cement mixers and lorries. Cement mixers are just a raw basic bit of machinary. They churn things and thats it. I used to got frequently chastised when I was a building for calling mortar cement. Mortar it the mix of sand, water and cement. Cement is just the grey powder stuff that gets in your lungs and makes you feel wrong. Making mortar is exciting as it sticks things and nobody nows how. Cement lorries are just a glorified mixer really, but there is one constant question everyone wants to know...what do they look like on the inside?
3) Building sites. There is plenty of milage for excitement here. I like the signs that say things like: NO HAT, NO BOOTS, NO HI-VIS, NO WORK! There is a sign by Brighton Station that says: 58 days with no reportable incidents. I guess we are supposed to be inspired by the fact the builders on site don't mame theyselves under the direction of Balfour Beaty! There is a lot of action on a building site too. Builders going this way and that, cranes picking up stuff and dropping it off. People with clip boards and suits that look out of place, purest mess - its a watchers dream. I also like the fact if you go past a big site often you can see its progress. The progress is mystifying because at first they just dig a big big hole. This takes them a long time. The hole is then filled with odd bits of metal and lots of concrete (which is more exciting than mortar by the way) and this takes them a long time. Then the building starts and they seem to get it up in about 3 days. Then the finishing off stage begins, where most action happens out of site inside the building. It is this bit that takes the longest and its porbably because they have more cups of tea as nobody can see them.

They are my top 3 reasons at the moment, but there are more. Oh yes, there are more.

I may share them one day.