Home cinema - TOT rigger's diary

My customer had a near-disaster last night. He lives in a rambling
Victorian house with cellars. It rained so much that water dripped down
the inside of an old conduit that carries various cables up the garden.
This conduit ends in the cellar immediately above a new £1200 CCTV
recorder. As a precaution he had hung a bucket below the conduit some
time ago. To disguise the recorder from burglars he had made a large
shallow open-topped cardboard box with a false bottom, running adhesive
along all the joints for strength. The box sat over the recorder with a
few small things in it. Last night he went down to the cellar very late
to put some washing in and heard a drip. The bucket and the cardboard
box were full to the brim. The box's sides were bowed out and it was
just starting to overflow into the recorder. The box was very soggy and
it was hard to believe that it was holding water. It was so heavy he
wasn't sure if I could move it, but he grasped it firmly on both sides
and in one decisive movement lifted it upwards and towards himself,
unavoidably drenching himself from head to foot. The water was
extremely cold and there were slugs in it. Ignoring the discomfort he
found a stepladder and carefully lifted the bucket down, but lost his
footing and fell off the ladder backwards, spilling all the water on
his legs and feet. He landed on his back on the floor, which was
swimming with water. The water was black because the cellar had been
used to store coal until the previous week. The bucket, which was a
large galvanised one, hit him on both shins. He got the mop and bucket
and cleaned up as best as he could. When he went upstairs his wife
Gloria said "You've been ages. What have you been messing about at?"

Bill