Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

In message , George
writes
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

What nationality? In Poland last summer all the builders I saw (and
there were a lot of them) worked like that.

--
Si

On Jan 29, 3:58*pm, Si $3o&m wrote:
In message , George
writesTop of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

What nationality? In Poland last summer all the builders I saw (and
there were a lot of them) worked like that.


My dad had a roofer work on his roof once replacing slates and the guy
just walked around up there without any safety gear. My dad asked him
if it was a bit dangerous. he said he'd done it for years with no
problems. The next time they met (a year later) the guy was stuck in
a wheelchair having fallen off a roof.

Robert

"Si" $3o&m wrote in message
...
In message , George
writes
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil
of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

What nationality? In Poland last summer all the builders I saw (and
there were a lot of them) worked like that.

--
Si

Short of gotton a pair of bins couldn't really say. :-)

"RobertL" wrote in message
...
On Jan 29, 3:58 pm, Si $3o&m wrote:
In message , George
writesTop of the street an aerial erector just
erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil
of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

What nationality? In Poland last summer all the builders I saw (and
there were a lot of them) worked like that.


My dad had a roofer work on his roof once replacing slates and the guy
just walked around up there without any safety gear. My dad asked him
if it was a bit dangerous. he said he'd done it for years with no
problems. The next time they met (a year later) the guy was stuck in
a wheelchair having fallen off a roof.

Robert

I had a mate who was once a roofer,now he's stuck on terra firma with one
leg shorter than the other.

Or as Fred might say ". . . better than a morning with the
undertaker".

more balls than brains...

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?

Wellies are soft and spread the load
but are there some that grip better?

--

George wrote:
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.


I used to do that occasionally when doing aerials. Roofs always look
steeper from the ground so he was probably OK.

Then, once, I slipped on a mixture of moss and bird **** and was lucky
to be able to grab the bracket I had just lashed on the chimney.

Lesson learnt and I always used my hook ladder after that!

Steve

George (dicegeorge) wrote:
more balls than brains...

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?

Wellies are soft and spread the load
but are there some that grip better?


Good trainers. But I would not try walking on slate roofs ;-)

Steve

wrote:
On 29 Jan,
RobertL wrote:

My dad had a roofer work on his roof once replacing slates and the guy
just walked around up there without any safety gear. My dad asked him
if it was a bit dangerous. he said he'd done it for years with no
problems. The next time they met (a year later) the guy was stuck in
a wheelchair having fallen off a roof.

We had a builder like that years ago. He used to do the chimneys for
Rediffusion (the wired radio system) where they were damaged by the wires. He
fell off and ended up in the wooden box.

As per Rod "Emu" Hull...

David

In article , George
scribeth thus

"Si" $3o&m wrote in message
...
In message , George
writes
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil
of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

What nationality? In Poland last summer all the builders I saw (and
there were a lot of them) worked like that.

--
Si

Short of gotton a pair of bins couldn't really say. :-)



You can do that on large pantiles and the like, providing the angle of
the slope isn't too steep, but not if its been raining or on slate..

Silly sod .. aerial rigging does attract more then its fair share of
real cowboys;(...
--
Tony Sayer

In article , Steve
scribeth thus
George wrote:
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.


I used to do that occasionally when doing aerials. Roofs always look
steeper from the ground so he was probably OK.

Then, once, I slipped on a mixture of moss and bird **** and was lucky
to be able to grab the bracket I had just lashed on the chimney.

Lesson learnt and I always used my hook ladder after that!

Steve

Quite a few riggers now will have a simple harness to be hooked onto the
roof ladder.. Just in case .. and as one man working is the norm you
could be writhing around on the ground for quite sometime before anyone
would notice!...
--
Tony Sayer

On 29 Jan, 17:11, "George \(dicegeorge\)"
wrote:

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?

Japanese ninja boots! aka. jiki-tabi

They're cloth, with a grippy rubber sole. They fasten up the back with
about a thousand little hooks and take an absolute age to get on.
They're also freezing cold, not waterproof, and have no puncture
resistance whatsoever, either top or bottom.

OTOH, you can run straight up a timber frame with them, or a roof.
Fantastic grip. The rubber is itself grippy and the flexible sole with
a separate big toe allows you to swing through the trees like a
beardy, hippy, gibbon.

You also need special ninja socks (tabi) to go with them, with a
separate big toe.

You can get the boots from http://dick.biz/ in Germany, and the socks
from either there (thick carpenter-grade gunsoku) or indoor ones from
Muji near Covent Garden (fantastic shop!)

"George" wrote in message
.uk...
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil
of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

But how often hzve you walked up and down on hill slopes of the same angle?

I worry when I'm on a tower and cling to a central point, well away from the
edge. But I don't worry when standing on a kerb.

Humans are irrational.

Mary

On 29 Jan, 20:46, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"George" wrote in message

.uk...

Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil
of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

But how often hzve you walked up and down on hill slopes of the same angle?

I worry when I'm on a tower and cling to a central point, well away from the
edge. But I don't worry when standing on a kerb.

Humans are irrational.

Mary



Yes I will walk up, and down, a mountain that is steeper than a normal
roof, but then mountains have nice foot holds.

Rob

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message

But how often hzve you walked up and down on hill slopes of the same
angle?


Erm! you can roll down a hill or its slope...however you can roll down a
roof and have a devastating relationship with the pavement.


I worry when I'm on a tower and cling to a central point, well away from
the
edge. But I don't worry when standing on a kerb.

Humans are irrational.

Mary

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:19:18 +0000, George wrote:

I had a mate who was once a roofer,now he's stuck on terra firma with
one leg shorter than the other.

Shame really, that would be ideal for walking along a roof...

In article ,
"George" writes:

I had a mate who was once a roofer,now he's stuck on terra firma with one
leg shorter than the other.

Would have thought that could be an advantage to a roofer.
I always wondered if mountain goats had two legs longer
than the others.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

"George (dicegeorge)" wrote in message
...
more balls than brains...

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?

Wellies are soft and spread the load
but are there some that grip better?


Climbing shoes.

In article ,
"George \(dicegeorge\)" writes:
more balls than brains...

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?

Wellies are soft and spread the load
but are there some that grip better?

I used trainers, but I didn't go up until the sun had
dried off the overnight dew -- it was too slippery.
I had a scaffold platform about 3 feet below the gutter
line, so I wouldn't have fallen far.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
tony sayer writes:
Quite a few riggers now will have a simple harness to be hooked onto the
roof ladder.. Just in case .. and as one man working is the norm you
could be writhing around on the ground for quite sometime before anyone
would notice!...

Harnesses are not necessarily saviour -- particularly one man working.
Look up suspension trauma.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"George" writes:
I had a mate who was once a roofer,now he's stuck on terra firma with one
leg shorter than the other.

Would have thought that could be an advantage to a roofer.
I always wondered if mountain goats had two legs longer
than the others.

Like a haggis, ISTR?

David

Mary Fisher wrote:
"George" wrote in message
.uk...
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil
of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

But how often hzve you walked up and down on hill slopes of the same angle?

I worry when I'm on a tower and cling to a central point, well away from the
edge. But I don't worry when standing on a kerb.

Humans are irrational.

I know what you mean but don't think that's the right scenario... you
could fall off your tower and kill yourself but falling off a kerb won't
do you much damage.

However, consider walking along a 4"-wide plank lying on or positioned a
couple of inches off the ground: most people could happily walk along
that for miles without the slightest risk of falling off. But suspend
it 100 feet up in the air, and most people would be in a blind panic
about walking along it for a few yards. I know I would!

David

In article ,
says...
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.


Was Emu holding the ladder?

--
Skipweasel.
Never knowingly understood.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:46:28 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:


"George" wrote in message
o.uk...
Top of the street an aerial erector just erected an aerial and has just
walked down the slope of the roof to the ridge of the roof to take a coil
of
aerial cable offa his mate at the top of the ladder.

No roof ladder and its raining.

Thought I had balls but he takes the biscuit.

But how often hzve you walked up and down on hill slopes of the same angle?


Pardon, the language on this newsgroup is English.

DG

Lobster wrote:
Mary Fisher wrote:

I worry when I'm on a tower and cling to a central point, well away
from the edge. But I don't worry when standing on a kerb.

Humans are irrational.

I know what you mean but don't think that's the right scenario... you
could fall off your tower and kill yourself but falling off a kerb won't
do you much damage.

....unless it's the kerb of a really busy, fast road, which I assume is
what Mary is getting at.

Same thing with railway platforms - around here you have a good chance
of getting 400V DC through you if you fall off, yet we happily mill
around a lot closer to the edge than we would with even a moderate drop.

Humans are indeed irrational :-)

Pete

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:45:29 +0000, Lobster wrote:

snip

However, consider walking along a 4"-wide plank lying on or positioned a
couple of inches off the ground: most people could happily walk along
that for miles without the slightest risk of falling off. But suspend
it 100 feet up in the air, and most people would be in a blind panic
about walking along it for a few yards. I know I would!



I used to work with a bloke who went free-climbing for fun. He told me
that fear is only relative. Once you get over the hurdle of realising
that if you slip you're dead, it gets much easier and you can just get
down to the real business of enjoying yourself. Indeed, the real fear is
at the beginning of the climb - that you'll fall from too low a height
and get seriously injured!

There are plenty of people go through A&E with broken or twisted ankles
after stepping of curbs at the wrong angle...

--
Mick (Working in a M$-free zone!)
Web: http://www.nascom.info http://mixpix.batcave.net

In article , Andrew Gabriel
scribeth thus
In article ,
tony sayer writes:
Quite a few riggers now will have a simple harness to be hooked onto the
roof ladder.. Just in case .. and as one man working is the norm you
could be writhing around on the ground for quite sometime before anyone
would notice!...

Harnesses are not necessarily saviour -- particularly one man working.
Look up suspension trauma.


Yes very familiar with that in our line of work ..

But at least they stop the slide down the slates and or tiles and the
drop of the end.. And if your harness is that long its too long. This is
quite a simple arrangement and in the typical rooftop install you'd be
hard pressed to hang anywhere vertical..

However on telecoms and TV masts another matter entirely..

Though in 30 odd years never known anyone to have suffered that...
--
Tony Sayer

"PCPaul" wrote in message
.uk...
On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:19:18 +0000, George wrote:

I had a mate who was once a roofer,now he's stuck on terra firma with
one leg shorter than the other.

Shame really, that would be ideal for walking along a roof...


Now that made me giggle!!

John

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"George" writes:
I had a mate who was once a roofer,now he's stuck on terra firma with
one
leg shorter than the other.

Would have thought that could be an advantage to a roofer.
I always wondered if mountain goats had two legs longer
than the others.

Like a haggis, ISTR?

You've been on a haggis shoot aswell!

John

So far, this has got to be the funniest thread I have read on this group,
keep it up, no pun intended!

John

Pete Verdon wrote:
Lobster wrote:
Mary Fisher wrote:

I worry when I'm on a tower and cling to a central point, well away
from the edge. But I don't worry when standing on a kerb.

Humans are irrational.

I know what you mean but don't think that's the right scenario... you
could fall off your tower and kill yourself but falling off a kerb
won't do you much damage.

...unless it's the kerb of a really busy, fast road, which I assume is
what Mary is getting at.

Unless you missed the kerb last Tuesday evening carrying your tools out to
the van, resulting in an undignified plummet downwards. which resulted in a
FOOSH [1] injury to the left wrist. Been a right PITA for the last week.


[1] (Fall Onto Outstretched Hands)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
tony sayer writes:
Quite a few riggers now will have a simple harness to be hooked onto the
roof ladder.. Just in case .. and as one man working is the norm you
could be writhing around on the ground for quite sometime before anyone
would notice!...

Harnesses are not necessarily saviour -- particularly one man working.
Look up suspension trauma.


I thought that modern fall arrest devices had progressive braking on
them (a bit like car seatbelt pretensioners)? Aren't they supposed to
overcome the injury which could be caused by the sudden stop in a
harness?

I don't work in the field, but I'm sure someone who does could be more
specific?
Someone

In message , "George (dicegeorge)"
writes
more balls than brains...

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?


I once had a pair of trainer like shoes that were golf related, they had
little rubber bits on the bottom, similar to spikes. You could almost
walk up walls with them. Fine on wet surfaces too.
--
Bill

In message , tony sayer
writes

However on telecoms and TV masts another matter entirely..

Though in 30 odd years never known anyone to have suffered that...

I had a guy catch fire 100' up a tower once! Harness didn't help but an
extinguisher would have been handy!

--
Bill

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"George \(dicegeorge\)" writes:
more balls than brains...

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?

Wellies are soft and spread the load
but are there some that grip better?

I used trainers, but I didn't go up until the sun had
dried off the overnight dew -- it was too slippery.
I had a scaffold platform about 3 feet below the gutter
line, so I wouldn't have fallen far.

I found falling was not the problem, just every half dozen steps there
would be a crack and another tile would break. Spent most of the time
fixing busted tiles! I think the roof was trying to tell me something!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

somebody wrote:

I thought that modern fall arrest devices had progressive braking on
them (a bit like car seatbelt pretensioners)? Aren't they supposed to
overcome the injury which could be caused by the sudden stop in a harness?

They do, but that only fixes a part of the problem.

Suspension trauma sets in while you are dangling after the fall. It can
be fatal in a surprisingly short space of time.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article ,
John Rumm writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"George \(dicegeorge\)" writes:
more balls than brains...

what kind of shoes are best for working on slate roofs?

Wellies are soft and spread the load
but are there some that grip better?

I used trainers, but I didn't go up until the sun had
dried off the overnight dew -- it was too slippery.
I had a scaffold platform about 3 feet below the gutter
line, so I wouldn't have fallen far.

I found falling was not the problem, just every half dozen steps there
would be a crack and another tile would break. Spent most of the time
fixing busted tiles! I think the roof was trying to tell me something!

One of the things I was doing was replacing the odd cracked
tile, although the bulk of the job was stripping back to the
rafters to replace the felt which had also failed after the
resulting water running down it rotted it. The no-name 1970
concrete tiles took my weight fine, but the nearest Marley
ones I could find for replacements cracked every time if you
stood on them.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article , Bill
scribeth thus
In message , tony sayer
writes

However on telecoms and TV masts another matter entirely..

Though in 30 odd years never known anyone to have suffered that...

I had a guy catch fire 100' up a tower once! Harness didn't help but an
extinguisher would have been handy!


TX wasn't powered up when he was working on it?...
--
Tony Sayer

In article , somebody
scribeth thus
In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
tony sayer writes:
Quite a few riggers now will have a simple harness to be hooked onto the
roof ladder.. Just in case .. and as one man working is the norm you
could be writhing around on the ground for quite sometime before anyone
would notice!...

Harnesses are not necessarily saviour -- particularly one man working.
Look up suspension trauma.


I thought that modern fall arrest devices had progressive braking on
them (a bit like car seatbelt pretensioners)? Aren't they supposed to
overcome the injury which could be caused by the sudden stop in a
harness?

I don't work in the field, but I'm sure someone who does could be more
specific?
Someone

Yes they do that they have a bit that comprises of a long lump of
webbing which is stitched together and the weight of the falling body
tears this apart.

Of course your rate of fall may vary depending on, well, your weight!...
--
Tony Sayer