Of dados and barns

Well, I did some work today, which was a relief. We’re fitting “dados”, a term I’d heard before but never known what it meant. In this context it’s the skirting board-type plastic box that runs around an office holding all the power and data cables. I guess dado is as good a term as any.

Psycho I shall now call Jason as that’s his name and he’s definitely not going to go psycho on my ass. I think yesterday was an understandable aberration and while we definitely have very little in common it seems to be turning into a good working relationship. At least he hasn’t gotten pissed off with my total lack of drilling experience and the fact that I just stand there waiting for some indication of what I’m supposed to be doing.

Actually that was just the morning. By early afternoon I’d mastered the monstrous power drill and was happily installing dado throughout the site. The nice thing about it is it doesn’t really matter that much if you bodge it as long as it’s straight as all the wonky drilling and slightly random screws will be covered up with the lid once the cables are in.

The site is kinda interesting in that it looks like a converted barn job, but on close inspection it looks more like an imitation converted barn job. Or a barn where all the innards have been taken out and replaced with modern supports and then brought back in as decoration. It’s going to be some kind of IT office complex and has that bright clean modern office look but with beams and random brick structures sticking out of the plasterboard. The job is at the stage where the final bits are being done before the carpets and furniture arrive so you’ve got painters, chippies and electricians moving from room to room doing little jobs and making an almighty mess. And since the dado is at floor level I found myself sitting in this fine plaster-dust turning my black combats white.

But the office is air conditioned. And it wasn’t so hot this morning. And I was actually doing stuff. So the day went quickly (I only remembered to have lunch at 2.30 when my stomach grumbled) and it was generally pretty good.