Paint Jobbers

Back in the days when a forum was something that we’d only ever heard of in Roman history lessons, when websites were places where lots of spiders lived, and Bluetooth was a rather unwelcome cosmetic condition I used to earn my living performing a job that was somewhat generously known as being a Triple Skilled Linesman. We Triple Skilled Linesmen used to spend a small amount of our time working in customers’ premises, an even smaller amount of our time working with underground cables, and huge amounts of our time shinning up and down telegraph poles. This latter mentioned overhead work was both very hard work and extremely good fun, and it’s left me with a fascination for watching other folk working at height. So, when recently I gazed from a fifth floor window only to espy the sight of the fellows working as featured in the photo below, I felt that I just had to snap it. And it’s my pleasure to present the resultant snap for you here, today on Doodee’s Thailand. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.


The above photo was taken in Petchaburi Province. I took it at a distance of several hundred metres away from our subjects. The guys that can be seen on the scaffolding were repainting the outside of the building. They were working at fourth and fifth floor height. They were performing their tasks at heights in excess of fifteen metres from the ground.

I expect that you can see from the photo that the scaffolding upon which these guys were working is a simplex latticework structure. It’s constructed from heavyweight bamboo tubes lashed and clamped together. It’s secured in an upright position by being tied to a bracket on the wall (it was also supported by two other lower brackets which are out of view). There aren’t any ladders on or near this scaffold. The only way to get to a high point on this scaffold is to shin up it from the ground, or to climb out from an upstairs window and descend on to it. In all of my years of performing overhead work I was never carefree enough or enthusiastic enough to have accessed such a basic structure in either of those manners.

Please note the guy squatting on the tiny ledge at the top left of the photo. Please take my word for it that he’s a long way from the ground and he’s squatting on the edge of virtually nothing. The next photo will give you a little more idea of the height at which these guys were working.


When I see Thai workmen toiling in the manner as shown above it makes me realize just how spoilt we Triple Skilled Linesmen were. Our employer provided us with safety goggles, hard hats, protective footwear, weatherproof clothing, harnesses, ladders, tool belts, and enough sash lines to moor the QE2 in harbour. And he also rewarded us handsomely for our endeavours. I stand in awe of Thai workmen who work as hard as the guys shown above were doing whilst utilizing only the most basic of equipment, and all for such modest remuneration. I couldn’t have done it all those years ago when I was a frivolous, fearless, pole-climbing fellow - and I certainly couldn’t do it now.


Nowadays my life is so much quieter than it was during those halcyon, pole-climbing days of my youth. Nowadays I can go for months on end with little more to excite me than the misplacing of the TV remote control, or a low battery warning on my mobile phone. But just recently I was involved in an unusually exciting incident – an incident during which I found myself to be within only a few metres of a most fearsome creature. And I plan to tell you about that chilling incident in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.
Have a nice day.

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