Like Having an Elephant to Tea
It's our wedding anniversary but Phil and I have to work. We make time in the afternoon to go for a walk in the bright winter sunlight. Our route takes us through the local park. Despite my filling out a survey for the Green Party a few days before, the issue of the river overflowing its banks multiple times a year has not been solved. The reason global warming hasn't been solved is that I put the survey down on a pile of my sketches and scrap paper and never handed it back.
Although flood waters sit over much of the building site, ground work continues on a pedestrian and cycling bridge over the Severn. The noise of a generator behind the porta-cabins competes with the roar of heavy machinery. We sit in a cafe perched on high chairs at the window to watch the workmen. They are employing a sort of pass-the-parcel approach. Excavator 1 fills a small dumper truck with grey rocks. The dumper truck trundles around the plastic barriers before unloading its burden at the feet of a supervisor in a hard hat. The dumper truck returns to its original position and excavator 2 moves in. It daintily spreads and tamps down the rocks from the pile with the scoop. It's skilled work and the labour is evenly divided so that each member of the team has time to consult their phones between turns.
We sip our hot drinks and speculate on which of the jobs we'd prefer should we switch careers mid-life. I like the look of the excavators. It's precision work, like having an elephant serve afternoon tea without smashing your best porcelain or standing on your foot.
The least appealing job seems to the supervisor who stands around in the cold. Occasionally he gets a piece of wood with two crossbars painted blue and measures them against another piece of wood staked into the ground. The driver of excavator 1, down from his cab, gives the thumbs up. This could be the high-tech science of surveying for all I know.
Then everything stops. The supervisor disappears from sight and trundles back into view driving a roller. He slowly drives backwards and forwards flattening down the layers of rocks.
Everyone has time to look at their phones.
Phil and I look at each other. Rolling is boring. We're agree not to pack in life at the cultural coalface for a job reversing over aggregate. We put on our hats and coats and leave the building life behind.
To reach home we have to edge around a large pool of water that used to be a brook. As we get closer we notice it's still frozen over at mid-afternoon. A transparent layer of ice sits above the grass and mud. It's immensely satisfying to crunch our way across, ice snapping under the soles of our shoes. We stop to pick up and throw clean shards and watch them shatter and skitter across the brittle surface.
We plan to go away for a couple of days to celebrate our anniversary properly. Somewhere dry with bookshops, cafes and a restaurant. I am looking forward to the trip.
It's going to take a lot to beat watching the diggers.
Interview part two.
I was part of a round table on making graphic novels. You can read the second part here. Thank you to Ben for inviting me to take part.
Books
Books, Sate your appetite for new reading material by buying these fine graphic novels from all the places fine graphic literature is sold (book shops, comic shops, online etc). And if you enjoyed them, please write a positive review online. We will be forever grateful.
Simon has made prints from both books and they are gorgeous. Drop by his store and snag one for yourself.
I have a patreon which I update regularly. Tuesdays and Saturdays I post sketches and behind the scenes stuff such as Punycorn colour pages. Thursdays I post a one page comic story.
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I still have books out in the world, Kerry and the Knight of the Forest & the awards nominated The Book Tour. Support my efforts through my store – digital comics – patreon or by leaving a positive review online