Searching In The Sky For Another Overload

Glen Campbell was one of my favorites while growing up and his famous song

, "Wichita Lineman," one of his best. I learned to play it on the guitar as a teenager and still remember and play it to this day, some forty years later. Most people don't realize that Glen was a contributor on literally HUNDREDS of record albums in his time. He's a very talented guitar player.

It's not a bad job, being a 'lineman for the county', but this kind of work takes a certain type of person. Now that I think of it, I guess the PC term would be 'lineperson for the county', but I think it's safe to say this is still a mostly male-dominated occupation. Obviously, in order to become a successful lineperson, you can't be afraid of heights or uncomfortable working in a position that is both demanding and dangerous. For many, this isn't even a consideration. Fear of heights is a fairly common phobia.

A typical lineman will have a large and varied collection of lineman tools and it's important that these be kept in good shape and serviceable. Something called a 'hot stick' is a frequently used item that's employed when moving 'live' wires. If this stick is damaged, even with microscopically small scratches or fractures, it can allow the current to travel down to the hands of the user. Oops. Safety standards employed while working with high voltage lines need to be stringent.

A lineman's truck will contain everything from crimping tools to emergency backup generators and high power lighting appliances. You can see them out working 24/7 and a utility worker of this sort needs to be flexible in his or her schedule as emergencies can happen at any time. When the lights go out the truck goes out... to fix the problem.

'Brownouts' are common where I live (in the Philippines) while those who live in a country where they have come to take their electric power for granted are surprised when there's an outage. Here it's a regular thing and a way of life. Whenever there's a problem somewhere along the line everything downstream is shut off. It's hot (no fans or air-conditioning), dark (no lights) and the ice cream starts to melt in the fridge!

Some of the electrical wiring set-ups here are a nightmare and the fact that they even work is surprising. Safety and building standards are quite different to what I had been used to when living in America. A different culture means different customs.

Lately we've been having brownouts every day because they're replacing some old poles and have to shut down the power every time they make a trade. I've been scheduling my naps around the normal time for the outages to take place (in the early afternoon). It's just one of the prices you pay when living in the Third World!

by: Bob Proctor

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