Day 152: Builds

Another day down. We were grafting in the man mines until 1ish, and then it was a lot of standing around, finding little jobs to do, waiting on various people, touching up paintwork, flattening vinyl stickers, that kind of thing.

Steve and his dad are good at their jobs. It's a running joke that for years when Steve told me he worked as a joiner with his old man I pictured them knocking together bird boxes in the garage of the family home. In actuality they're a hugely popular firm who make enormous displays for the country's biggest tool manufacturers.

The amount of work that goes into the shows is staggering. Clients are met and requirements hammered out. Designs and plans are mocked up on 3D modelling software. The clients choose from options, changes are made, iterations iterated upon. Months are spent cutting wood, measuring, sanding, assembling, painting. Graphics are printed. Banners made. Pieces are labelled. All the bits are loaded onto the vans. The tools. The barrows. The tubs of wires and plugs and screws and palettes and pipes. The vans are driven halfway across the country, everything is unloaded, carried to the stand space.

The stand finally goes up, often for the first time fully since it was conceived, with all the stress of worrying whether it will actually work. But they've done it so many times, have the experience to know what it'll be like, how many pieces to build the walls out of, how to structure the supports, how to raise them, where to feed the wires.

And hooking up all the electrics, daisy-chaining the bulbs, running extension leads.

And inevitably a million tiny things go wrong, and they have to take each one in their stride, brainstorm solutions, get to work against the clock. To be able to shrug and laugh enough to not let the pressure crush them, but to take it seriously enough to always solve the problems. I guess this mindset is key to so much.

And they gouge chunks out of their shins, and scrape their hands, and bruise their arms. They get cramp in the legs and end up massaging themselves in the hotel bathroom in the middle of the night.

And finally they drive home, for a night, or two, while the show is actually on, and then drive back for the evening of the last day, when the public leave, and start disassembling it all, break it down rapidly and effectively, pack it all back in the vans, and take it home.

Abd over the busiest period they're doing three or four shows a week, Steve somewhere in the country, his dad somewhere else.

I mean, I'm utterly fucked, shattered and sore, and I've only worked a handful of days, doing the easier jobs, not worrying about design or organisation or anything with any responsibility.

So I'm impressed, I'll admit. The skill and strength and stamina is impressive. There's no way I could do it.

Although I am still better than Steve at Mario Kart, and that's what really matters. So at least I've got that.

Passing out now, in the hotel bedroom, with Steve snoring in the bed beside me and QI on in the background. Last day of the build tomorrow, then two days back at the pub, then coming back for break down, then a day working at the pub, then finally I've got a day off. Christ I'll be ready for it.