A Plumber’s Tale – helmet and headtorch
This is a post reworked from August 2010
My son-in-law, Paul, known to his friends as Doddy, was tasked to fit a central heating system in an old wooden-framed building. He had to lay pipes under the floor but didn’t want to lift the floorboards, so decided to create a trapdoor into the cavity underneath. He thought this would create less work and proceeded with his plan.
With his safety helmet and headtorch in place, he lowered himself through the hatch into the dark and dirty space below. Plumbers frequently have to work in odd positions in restricted spaces, and Paul was on his back, tapping supports for the pipes onto the underside of the flooring above. He became aware of a crunching noise under his body and looked to see piles of empty snail shells. As he was wondering how they came to be there in such incalculable numbers, he heard a loud hiss and was extremely alarmed to see a badger far too close for comfort.
Badgers can be exceedingly aggressive, particularly in confined areas, so Paul removed himself from a potentially very unpleasant situation as quickly as he could, leaving his helmet and head-torch behind. In order to complete the job, he had to lift the floorboards after all.
The helmet and head-torch remain beneath the floor. I wonder what future archaeologists will make of them.
The picture of being confined in a tight space with a hissing badger gives me shudders. I'm glad Paul was able to make a safe retreat. My only experience with badgers is "Wind in the Willows."
ReplyDeleteKenneth Grahame's badger was quite a kindly soul. I've rarely seen badgers, sadly.
DeleteI don't like confined spaces, so I would have lifted the floorboards and now I'm wondering why he didn't retrieve the helmet and headlamp when he did lift the floorboards. I've heard that badgers can get quite vicious.
ReplyDeleteI think he didn't want to risk another encounter with the badger and completed the job as quickly and safely as he could.
DeleteHmmm, not a position I would like to be in. Tight spaces never used to worry me but they would now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not claustrophobic, but I don't enjoy being in confined spaces.
DeleteThat's one of those stories that needs more information - like How did a badger get under a house? and did the house collapse into a badger sett at some later date? !
ReplyDeleteI suspect the house was built over an undiscovered badger tunnel, or maybe the tunnel came after the house. It probably had no foundations as there would be today. I shall have to ask Paul if he has any further information.
DeleteUrgh... my claustrophobia fears are now wide awake!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness you're not a plumber, eh?
ReplyDeleteWe have badgers in the United States also but I do not live in an area where they are. But I understand I'm probably lucky that I don't. When those aliens come from another planet in million years and they find that helmet maybe they'll think that's what our heads look like.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteYikes! And then the archeologist story. How odd that snails were cooked with a blowtorch? or A workman got buried beneath the floor (maybe for luck like sometimes happened when a new foundation was poured and someone was sacrificed )and could only survive on the snails he found and ate until there were no more snails or no more fuel in the blow torch and the poor fella couldn't stomach eating snails raw.
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely a grand story there!
ReplyDeleteYou never know what lurks below. TG for cemented basements.
ReplyDeleteIt's often better not to know what's beneath!
DeleteI don't know what a badger looks like or how it behaves. But I imagine it is like our wombat.
ReplyDeleteI was going to add a photograph of a badger. I wish I had, now.
DeleteThey belong in the same family as otters, minks, polecats , weasels and ferrets. The European badger is one of the larger members, at its heaviest weighing 17 kg.
Oh dear! I think there is one of those story morals in there lol.
ReplyDeleteCould well be!
DeleteAs I suffer from claustrophobia, Paul's story is all the more scary. Oh dear! xxx
ReplyDeleteJust don't take up plumbing, Ann.
DeleteI have no plumbing ability, don't like to go into confined spaces, and aggressive animals frighten me. Three strikes and I'm out!
ReplyDeleteNot a job prospect for you, then.
DeleteI'm sure whatever stories the archeologists come up with, they will be totally wrong. What a close encounter (gave me chills) and I know that wasn't his only one.
ReplyDeleteArchaeology is like detective work - painstaking and can be wrong.
DeleteI do not like being in confined spaces, let alone meeting a badger!!!
ReplyDeleteSo pleased that Paul was able to get out of the way okay.
All the best Jan
PS I do like the plumbers mug :)
Luckily, he is not the type to panic!
DeleteWow He was lucky to get out of there in one piece. Funny about the archeologists in the future.
ReplyDeleteBadgers can be vicious, so he was lucky.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the badger felt having a human messing up his space :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad your son in law was able to get out safely and finish the job.
How do we feel if someone invades our private space? 😉
Delete