First Friday

After doing the blog yesterday, I spent the rest of the day working with Bungle on stringing power cables to the various cabins. I’ve worked with him before, and he’s a great guy, multiskilled and always ready to help out.

This can mean that you spend a lot of time as his oppo standing around, usually with a coil of cable on your shoulder, whilst he has a conversation, face to face, on the radio or on the phone, about some other aspect of what he's doing, but it’s still a pleasure to work with him.

By the end of the morning, we had the marquees and cabins in the WRG compound sorted, and the nearby commercial cabin done too. After lunch, we went over to the Admin village and ran cables from their genny to the various cabins involved.

The genny in question was in fact a replacement, the first one having failed quite quickly with what sounded like terminal engine problems. It’s not good when an engine that has been smoking like a fifties pit chimney stops with low oil pressure and a nasty graunching rattle, having sprayed much of its oil out of the turbo seals.

Delivering a replacement generator

The new one seems to be behaving much better, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Whilst we were working there, arrangements were being put in hand to assemble and launch the shallop previously referred to on Tuesday. Unfortunately, by the time the crane was ready to put it in the water, I’d gone off site with Bungle and Malcolm, his colleague, to collect a Smalley Excavator.

Elderly excavator being unloaded from modern beaver tail truck

(sorry about the rain drops!)

These remarkable machines used to be the mainstay of WRG’s operations, and this last working example in its possession was wanted as part of the fortieth birthday celebrations for WRG taking place tonight.

Putting the shallop together