Oddly enough and off-topic, we said goodbye to the first Live-Line Line Mechanic from this district this morning.
Ron Irving died the other day at the age of 98 after suffering a fall in his home.
He was one of the staff instrumental in getting Line Mechanics used to working "live" with voltages upwards of 11kV.
The local PoCo recorded his experiences on audio tape in the 1990's, in a 4 hour interview.
I'm glad they did now.
A local man, he had a lot to say about those from out of town, moving here.
Not to say he was bigoted at all, he just had strong views, if you stayed in town any longer than 2 years, that was OK by him.
I remember him as a damned good trainer of Line Mechanics, if you passed in Ron's course, you could pass anywhere.
I remember his catch-phrase to this day:
"Old Salt wouldn't like that!", which meant you ballsed up a technique and would have to re-do it quickly.
He was a fair man though, there was no favouritism, if you were told off, there was a reason for it.
To put it simply, Ron made me the Line Mechanic I am today, same work ethic, same work standard.
RIP Ron [Linked Image]