Job #20 - A Day In The Life Of A Scaffolder

 

Job number 20 was working as a scaffolder which was a brilliant one to mark me being a fifth of the way through my challenge already (I'm actually pretty sad about that!).

As I have mentioned before I live in a pub, so you will not be surprised to hear that I know a scaffolder or two! After returning from my day of happiness spreading in my crazy outfit, I got talking with one of the regulars and decided I would work with them for the day! I have to say this was the only job that I have been scared about doing and it wasn't because of the heights!

They really kindly had a T-shirt made for me (in apprentice colours of course), and promised to take me to a scaffolders cafe - that the was the bit I was scared about...being the only girl in a cafe full of men! I needn't have worried, breakfast was actually a surprisingly civilised affair! After being picked up at 5.45 - which was a lot later than I had anticipated we grabbed the lorry and headed off to Dover and in search of somewhere for brekkie. It was a really nice way to start the morning and to wake up properly ready for some seriously heavy lifting!

 

Brekkie!

 

It took quite some time to get to Dover with the lorry being limited to 55 miles an hour, plus the fact that between them Ian the navigator and Ben the driver kept directing us the wrong way! Weirdly they still have a tachometer (which records their days driving) and have to take rest periods like a lorry driver even though that's not actually their job!

We arrived at the job and had the task of erecting 3 scaffold towers. Luckily they didn't need to be as high as originally anticipated - apparently I wouldn't have survived the day if that had been the case! Phew a lucky escape on my part it seems...I was regularly reminded that it was actually an easy day - although I have to say it certainly didn't feel that way! The lifting although easy for them certainly wasn't for me - especially as according to my consultant I shouldn't exert myself...what does he know! It did make me feel rather dizzy and light headed, which isn't ideal but I carried on anyway!

The job!

 

 

There were many things about my day working as a scaffolder that I was in awe of, one was how well they could drive the huge lorry! First off had to be manoeuvred into a spot on a road with cars parked down one side! Then later on they parallel parked in a space I wouldn't have got my little hatchback into! (Maybe that's only exciting for me as I'm terrible at parking!)

 

We were all parked up at the job and ready to go when we spotted something that could have potentially made our day pretty tricky...baby seagulls! I have to say I thought they were winding me up at first (I was also expecting to be sent to the shop to ask for a long wait at some point!), but thinking about it if we had of been going on the roof, I don't think the mother would have taken too kindly to us being there! Thank goodness we weren't going up that high, crisis averted!

I was the labourer for the day which meant that I carried the bits from the lorry and stacked them up for them to then put the scaffolding up...I have to say I did really want a go with their action man drills and tool belts but alas it's a super important job which can't be undertaken by a mere apprentice! As you can imagine the health and safety is extensive! If something goes wrong then they are likely to be held 100% accountable...hence the huge price tag! Their biggest job they have ever done was £49,000 - but it does cost them £15,000 to buy enough poles to fill a lorry so it's certainly not a cheap business to start!

I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself for being able to lift the big poles, although after the first few I was getting laughed at for the ridiculous methods I was using to carry them trying desperately not to use my shoulders! I was told that everyone has a fatty bit on their shoulders...however I think mine are the exception and are all bone! There were points where I was laying my neck to the side and resting them on there but I have to say I don't think that was overly successful either! As I am finding with every job that I go to, there is a technique to it - you have to make sure your standing in the centre when carrying them, as otherwise gravity tries to pull down on one end or the other making it harder! If you get it right you can actually carry it with no hands...I didn't advance to that stage! I really did have to use all my effort to lift the big poles, and even then I was shaking trying to carry them. All of a sudden I picked one up with great ease, I honestly thought it was a eureka moment where I had finally mastered it...only to be asked by Ben why I was cheating carrying the alloy poles! No one told me there were light and heavy ones - I would have cheated the whole time! Unfortunately they are about 3 times the price and not as strong so that was actually the only one that I found!

I took great delight in watching people's faces when they notice my Fawkham Valley Scaffolding T-shirt and see little old me carrying these big long poles! Each length pole, bracket, piece of wood etc had it's own weird name and place on the lorry. I was actually pretty impressed with myself that by the end, even with my terrible memory they were asking me to go and get things and I knew not only what it was but where it was! When we finished Ben (one of the owners) took some photos of me at the top of the scaffolding. I don't know if you have read my blog about working as a theatre technician but when I climbed the ladder there it took me ages and I had to hold on even when I got to the top as it made my head really bad - yet I whizzed up the ladder here and felt fine. It highlighted to me just how much the environment around me affects my condition, I am definitely better at working outdoors than indoors now.

After we finished in Dover we made a pit stop at the newsagents for a drink. I couldn't believe how thirsty it makes you...now I understand why scaffolders are renowned for having a beer after work - see this challenge is helping me understand all sorts of things about people!

Next up was Chislehurst. This was a bit different as we were just putting another lift on an existing scaffold (see I know all the lingo!), another level to you and me! We had a bit of story time on the way there, which I found highly amusing! I asked the obvious question which was - do you ever see things that you shouldn't do...with the answer being of course! They told me a story of a job they did in London where there was a lady who had a shower at the same time every morning, apparently when they arrived on site they would be offered a cup of tea which they would politely refuse as they wanted to get straight to work...I wonder why! I couldn't help but think that it can't always be women that they catch in the shower!

 

There was another story where one of them had been very polite and asked to use the bathroom facilities - nothing wrong with that...except he didn't specify that he would be doing a number two so the lady phoned and complained to his boss  as it made the house smell - when you've gotta go, you've gotta go! Weirdly I was actually thinking that the fact you don't always have access to a toilet could make it tricky for a lady scaffolder...they have never seen a female scaffolder before apparently - maybe that's why, along with the fact it's never men in the shower!

Shameless selfie!

 The funniest story for me however was actually the next door neighbour of the house we were on our way to. Apparently on their first visit she had been shouting at them saying that they are ruining her life because she didn't want the extension, they explained that they were only doing their job but apparently when they left she was laying face down on the front lawn kicking and screaming like a small child #awkward. I never knew scaffolding could ruin your life, but there you go - you learn something new every day!

There were builders at the second job who actually offered me the chance to do one of my jobs with them which is pretty cool! I think they found it pretty hilarious watching me pass the massive poles to the guys on the roof. The biggest one that I carried was 21ft, which I was told when I got back weighs 5 stone...no wonder I struggled to carry it, it's not that much lighter than me! (I must confess that I only held the biggest one long enough for a photo to be taken, even then it had to be put on my shoulders for me and removed pretty rapidly!!). I also have it on good authority that one of the guys at the firm can carry 5 of those in one go! I can't confirm this as I didn't see it, but that is pretty impressive stuff! I spoke earlier about being in awe of them and had I seen that, it would have made it onto the list! but when I was passing the bits up to them it absolutely amazed me that they could grab it with one hand whilst up so high and lift it with such ease...amazing!

Pretending to lift the 21ft pole!

 

Trying to play it cool holding a 21ft 5 stone pole!

Once we were all finished we headed back to the yard to load up for the next day. I was shown the painting room which is where they paint all the equipment so that people don't take it. some people eh! Although I'm not sure just painting it green will deter them too much! There were also some trainers and other items in their that had also been painted but I don't think that was for identification purposes!

The green room!

 

 

A few other phrases that I learnt on my day out was instead of saying the number of people you need at a job Ben would say handed so 3 people would be 3 handed - which I'm not sure if everyone is only allowed to use one of their hands but there you go! Then there is striking which means to take it down! A day taking down scaffolding is a good one as it frees up equipment and means they don't have to fill the lorry but it does mean that they have to do more jobs as they always have to do enough work to cover the costs for that day (pretty sensible actually!) and the taking down only accounts for 20% of the cost.

I was surprised to learn that when I asked if they were afraid of heights they said most days their fine, but they do have days where they look down and get the shivers!...they seemed pretty fearless to me!

 

Post scaffolding shoulder...ouch!

 

Post scaffolding muscles!

Overall I had a brilliant but very difficult day! My poor little shoulders even had marks on them by the end of it and over a week later still hurt! It's funny, it makes you realise how much you use your shoulders when it hurts every time you move them! Obviously I had to make the day authentic by going to the pub with them afterwards!

 

The pub!

Stitch having a shandy!

 

 I spoke with Ben to find out about the ups and downs of scaffolding...

1. How long have you worked in your job and how did you get into it?

'23 years because I worked for my friends dad to start with, then decided I wanted to start my own business'

2. What's the best thing about your job?

'Definitely has to be the money, we are able to charge a lot - but it does cost a lot to run a scaffolding firm, plus the fact that it can be dangerous at times.'

3. What's the worst thing about your job?

'The weather - coming home when it's dark is horrible, scraping ice off the window at 5 in the morning isn't nice either. We even work when it's snowing! The only time we don't work due to weather is when it's thunder & lighting because that would be just silly!'

4. If money, time, education etc were no object what would your dream job be?

'I would have loved to be a formula one driver.'

5. Why didn't you do that instead of scaffolding?

'Erm because it costs about 40 million pounds to do!'

 

6. What stress rating would you give your job (where one is super relaxed and 5 is super stressful)

 If you have read this blog and realised that you are in desperate need of some scaffolding, then these are the guys for you! Visit their website on http://fawkhamvalleyscaffolding.co.uk/. They were kind enough to donate £50 to that challenge - thanks so much for that! If you would like to donate too please visit http://www.100jobchallenge.co.uk/#!donate/c1n0m.

Breaking the silence...what's it's really like to live with MVBD

So I want to start by saying that I am sooo sorry for being quiet for so long! It's been a few months now since I last posted a blog! Fear not I have still continued with the challenge!

So why haven't you heard from me for so long? Well as you may have already realised this condition just seems completely made up with loads of ridiculous side effects on my life! I have recently found out that one of the impacts that it has is that our bodies (it's no longer just my body as I have now met lovely people with it too, more about that later!) are  permanently in fight or flight mode which as you can imagine means your on high alert all the time - not ideal! Some have found this has made them super anxious which thankfully I haven't experienced, but for me it just makes me feel overwhelmed very easily! As I have mentioned before my memory issues (although greatly improving I'm pleased to say) do mean that my high class organisation skills that I used to posses have now deserted me! What has this got to do with blogging? Well I had a bit of a silly run of doing way more than I am well enough to do, I was getting so many amazing opportunities coming up as the word spread about my challenge that I didn't want to say no to any! The result was that I sent myself backwards in my recovery and got a backlog of unwritten blogs whilst I was at it! That then felt way too much to handle and as a result at the worst point I had about 10 blogs to write - I think that's pretty scary even for someone with a brain that works! After a few nights of giving myself a stern talking to I forced myself to write them all and catch up. So why have I not posted them? Well even when their written there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, and now I have the conundrum of do I post them all at once and let people work through at their leisure - or do I publish current ones and sprinkle the old ones in intermittently! Who knows! So again as you can imagine I'm overwhelmed! Luckily I am on holiday in a few weeks for some much needed enforced rest and plenty of time to get all of my challenge stuff up to date! Hooray! I thought I would write this as a little taster of what's to come!

So now that I have my rather over complicated grovelling apology out the way onto the next bit! It hasn't been all plain sailing in the last few months whilst I have been quiet. Some weeks I've felt incredible whilst others I have had to cancel jobs that I have planned as I am just too unwell. The past two weeks have been some of those weeks. To say I have been exhausted would be an understatement. It's strange the tiredness you get from MVBD is not like anything I have experienced before, it's like every inch of your body is just begging you to stop and sleep - which as you can imagine is exhausting in itself and rather inconvenient! Some days I will literally wake up have a bath, have my breakfast and that has worn me out so much that I can't do anything but go back to sleep - pretty unimaginable for a 27 year old eh! I read an article by a lady, surprise surprise I can't remember what she had, but it was something which meant that she got tired very easily. She came up with a great way to explain it to people, as obviously it's very hard to comprehend if you haven't experienced it. She said that every morning you have a certain number of spoons for that day, each task represents a spoon I.e making a cup of tea, taking the rubbish out, filling the dishwasher! You get the idea. Some days you get more spoons than others, but when they are gone their gone so you have to choose wisely about what you do and don't do. I can absolutely relate to this, it's strange as you have to look at the day ahead and think how am I feeling and what is most important to get done as sometimes you know you just don't have enough spoons. Then other days when I'm feeling good I try to cram as much as possible in as you don't know if it's going to be a good or bad day tomorrow. 

The TV presenter course for example I have had to reschedule a couple of times now, they have been so amazingly understanding which is fantastic. It's a full day in London, doing something that I know I will enjoy but will be nervous for the duration as I hate speaking in groups let alone on camera! So I know I'm going to need a looootta spoons that day! Unfortunately I haven't had enough spoons for all my previous attempts, the lady kindly e-mailed and asked if I was anxious and if that was why I was cancelling - which was really kind and thoughtful. How do I explain that it's because I know it will exhaust me and so I have to do it on a day where I have enough energy to cope! I don't want to be stuck in London tired and with a floaty head that's for sure! Anyway I have rescheduled and put a plan in place that will hopefully ensure I keep up my spoon supplies in the run up! 

Today is the best I have felt since the 11th July - the day that I did too much! It's strange, when you have long periods of exhaustion you start to wonder if your just plain lazy. Mum cooks me a wonderful dinner to which I have contributed nothing other than enjoying eating, then obviously it's only right that I put the dishes in the dishwasher - not too much to ask you would think! Sometimes it takes so much energy for me to even get off my chair that the thought of putting away the dishes makes me want to cry! I start to think to myself - what have I come to, am I that lazy that I can't even be bothered to put away a few measly dishes! But then I get a day like today where I realise I'm not lazy I'm just ill! Today I more than happily do the dishes and go out of my way to do lots of other things that I don't have to do, that's when my faith is restored that it's not me it's MVBD! 

So anyway enough of that depressing stuff! I really don't like sharing it as I feel like I'm getting out the violins, but I am learning more and more how important it is to try and help people to understand a bit more about the condition. Now for the good bit! I was so so privileged to attend the Independent newspapers happy list party a few weeks ago with Genny from my happiness spreading job, she had been voted #51 on the list! More about that in the blog but I was absolutely blown away to be in a room with such incredible people. One of the many amazing things to come from this challenge! I'm still grinning ear to ear when I think about it! 

The most amazing thing however is the little MVBD community that is building! When I started this I thought it was just little old me that was unlucky enough that the crazy number of pills, physio and a strict diet were doing nothing to relieve the condition - but it turns out there are a few of us! The consultant is so super busy that appointments are very rapid and with a head like ours it's tricky to think of what you actually want to ask until you have left! Not helpful! We've managed to piece some of the information from each of us together to enable all of us to have a bit of a better understanding of what we have! Great! I was very gutted to find out that it's incurable - one of my MVBD buddies told me that! I am however determined to find a cure - there is no way I am never getting on a roller coaster again! I had an appointment with the consultant back in March after I had just started this challenge, I was going to the gym every day, feeling great and feeling rather smug about it! Every appointment you have to say what percentage normal you feel I said 90%, very chuffed with myself as I then went on to tell them about KORE therapy and how that now meant that I was medication, physio and diet free! Woo hoo! I've found something that can help this condition that no one knows anything about. I was told to carry on with what I was doing as it was obviously working but there was no interest in finding out about this miracle treatment...what?! So now I would say I've overdone it a bit and reduced my percentage but I am doing so much more than I could have dreamed to be doing a year ago! Anyway there are now 5 of us in our MVBD crew, and they are all improving with KORE therapy. They are all also great friends of mine now, so I feel really lucky that the challenge has allowed us to all meet! It's so nice having others that understand, plus their all such great people! It's so lovely to meet every few weeks and see how much better they are looking. It really makes me so happy every time I see an e-mail in my inbox from my website, as it's just great to be helping people through such a rubbish time. Darren the KORE therapist and I are the only ones to have met everyone in the MVBD crew, so next week we have arranged a dinner so that everyone can meet each other - how exciting is that! 

There are 3 of us that would like to start a charity that will be able to subsidise people with MVBD to have KORE therapy as I also realised that we can't work with it so can't afford this life changing therapy! So many fantastic things are coming from this challenge that I could never have anticipated! 

Anyway I think I have waffled on enough - you don't hear from me for months and then when you do I won't stop talking! Sorry I'm just so excited to update you all! Keep your eyes peeled for my latest blogs and if you would like to donate to help even more people then please visit http://bit.ly/1J6pUam

Have a lovely week!

Bobbie :-) 

Job #10 - What is a Keepsake Teddy Bear Maker?

Job #10 was making a keepsake bear. I have to say I was a bit nervous about this one as I have never been patient enough for sewing, but I really enjoyed it and surprised myself that I wasn't too bad! What is a keepsake bear? Well it's a bear that is made from fabric that means something to you. It could be having your child's first school jumper made into a bear, or your late Nans favourite skirt...anything can be made into a bear it would seem! I absolutely love the idea, I actually think it would be a lovely thing for funeral directors to tell people about, what a lovely way to keep the memory of someone special to you. 

Kate - the lady who invited me to make the bears is a rather special lady, who seems to spend most of her time helping people! I'm not sure how she manages to fit anything else in she does so many good deeds! What a lovely job to have where you are doing something so lovely for people. We decided to make my bear from fabric that I had printed by hand - a few years ago I started a textile design business, and had lots of lovely fabric offcuts still from that. Anyone that knows me knows I love things that don't match (I never wear matching socks or earrings!), so my multi coloured multi patterned bear is absolutely spot on for my challenge! I really want to keep him, but am going to auction him off and donate all of the money to the two charities that all this fundraising is for (click here to learn more). More a bit later about how to bid of the lovely one of a kind 100 job challenge bear. I think I'm definitely going to have to make a little one to take with me to all my jobs to have in my selfies! 

 It took two sessions to get my bear finished, so I think about 8 hours in total. In the first session we chose which fabric would be used for which bit of the bear (this took a while as I'm a bit of a perfectionist!). Once that was chosen we cut out the template and pinned each one to our piece of fabric and cut the fabric to match. Wow we now had some arms, legs, belly and head - he looked pretty good already and I couldn't wait to see what he would look like when he was finished!

 

  The next week I had to get onto the sewing machine...scary stuff! I had to stitch all of the halves to make wholes, but had to leave a gap to poke the stuffing through! Once this was all stitched up the stuffing began, and he needed a LOT of stuffing - I felt pretty bad the amount we used. The style bear that kate makes is Victorian style, so they have to be really firm as they sit down and have to hold themselves upright! Once he was all stuffed it was time to stitch him all together. This bit uses an absolutely huge curved needle like what a surgeon would use. It's the most ridiculous thing ever but I couldn't do it as I'm scared of needles and it looked horrible poking them into my lovely bear (no I'm not crazy, and yes I do realise he doesn't have feelings!). Then we added the eyes and nose and voila my lovely bear had come to life - well almost, we had to add his lovely made with love charm to his ear. We had Kate's 3 awesome children as our assistants making tea, helping with some of the sewing, stuffing and generally providing the entertainment! 

 

Kate does lots of bear making workshops for various charities, and I will definitely be making more...their so cute! I think I loved it even more because it was made from fabric that meant something to me. If you would like a bear made by kate please visit http://on.fb.me/1B0C7hA. To bid on my lovely bear please visit http://ebay.to/1f3ka83, remember all the money goes to charity ;-). 

I asked Kate a few questions to see if her job has her in stitches (I'm sorry I couldn't think of a good one!)....

1. How long have you worked in your job and how did you get into it?
'I've made bears since july 2014. I got into it after making the bear from the kids christning clothes.'

2. What's the best thing about your job?
'Best thing is all the bears have a story behind and seeing their face when they are made.'

3. What's the worst thing about your job?
'Worst thing is the pin pricks and getting covered by fluff.'

4. If money, time, education etc were no object what would your dream job be?
'This would be my dream job.'

5. What stress rating would you give your job (where one is super relaxed and 5 is super stressful)

      I love to see a job with a stress rating of one! Thanks so much for having me Kate, I can't wait to return in a few weeks to make mini bear to come to my jobs with me!!