A cable laying assistant
 

This post appeared in alt.usage.english earlier today. I though it might
appeal to inhabitants of uk.tech.digital-tv. (Copied with permission)

The context was a discussion about the ground floors of houses and the
space beneath them.

quote

In our first house were trying to lay a new TV cable underneath a
suspended floor; the gap was too small for a person to crawl through. So
I hit on the idea of attaching a string to the cat, putting her under
the floor at point A, and calling her to another hole B at the other
end of the house.

It worked fine except that she didnt go straight from A to B; instead
she explored the underfloor space for some time, winding her way round
various supporting walls en route; and we had forgotten to measure the
string before she set off. When she emerged we tied the string to the
cable and pulled it through. It took an awful lot of cable...

Janet.
endquote

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

A cable laying assistant
 

"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" Wrote in message:
This post appeared in alt.usage.english earlier today. I though it might
appeal to inhabitants of uk.tech.digital-tv. (Copied with permission)

The context was a discussion about the ground floors of houses and the
space beneath them.

quote

In our first house were trying to lay a new TV cable underneath a
suspended floor; the gap was too small for a person to crawl through. So
I hit on the idea of attaching a string to the cat, putting her under
the floor at point A, and calling her to another hole B at the other
end of the house.

It worked fine except that she didnt go straight from A to B; instead
she explored the underfloor space for some time, winding her way round
various supporting walls en route; and we had forgotten to measure the
string before she set off. When she emerged we tied the string to the
cable and pulled it through. It took an awful lot of cable...

Janet.
endquote

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)


Now that's what I call a practical cat.

I'm not sure I fully believe the anecdote as told.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

A cable laying assistant
 

On 28/09/2015 1:40, Graham. wrote:
"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" Wrote in message:
This post appeared in alt.usage.english earlier today. I though it might
appeal to inhabitants of uk.tech.digital-tv. (Copied with permission)

The context was a discussion about the ground floors of houses and the
space beneath them.

quote

In our first house were trying to lay a new TV cable underneath a
suspended floor; the gap was too small for a person to crawl through. So
I hit on the idea of attaching a string to the cat, putting her under
the floor at point A, and calling her to another hole B at the other
end of the house.

It worked fine except that she didnt go straight from A to B; instead
she explored the underfloor space for some time, winding her way round
various supporting walls en route; and we had forgotten to measure the
string before she set off. When she emerged we tied the string to the
cable and pulled it through. It took an awful lot of cable...

Janet.
endquote

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)


Now that's what I call a practical cat.

I'm not sure I fully believe the anecdote as told.

A good story nonetheless but I doubt the RSPCA would approve.


--
Peter Crosland

Reply address is valid

A cable laying assistant
 

On 28/09/2015 08:04, wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2015 02:40:32 +0200 (CEST), "Graham."
wrote:


In our first house were trying to lay a new TV cable underneath a
suspended floor; the gap was too small for a person to crawl through. So
I hit on the idea of attaching a string to the cat, putting her under
the floor at point A, and calling her to another hole B at the other
end of the house.


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

Now that's what I call a practical cat.

I'm not sure I fully believe the anecdote as told.
Did its training on CAT 5 cable.

G.Harman
My dad was an electrician and we kept ferrets for rabbiting, he often
used to take one to work with him when laying cable under floorboards.
Ferrets have a good sense of smell so a bit of rabbit fur ensured that
it took the shortest route.

A cable laying assistant
 

Ah yes, This reminded me of a similar thing many moons ago when a person
wanted to put his hose pipe under the floor so he could attach it to an
indoor tap.

Same problem the hose needed to be very long indeed after pulling it
through.
There has to be a better way.


Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
Remember, if you don't like where I post
or what I say, you don't have to
read my posts! :-)
"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" wrote in message
...
This post appeared in alt.usage.english earlier today. I though it might
appeal to inhabitants of uk.tech.digital-tv. (Copied with permission)

The context was a discussion about the ground floors of houses and the
space beneath them.

quote

In our first house were trying to lay a new TV cable underneath a
suspended floor; the gap was too small for a person to crawl through. So
I hit on the idea of attaching a string to the cat, putting her under
the floor at point A, and calling her to another hole B at the other
end of the house.

It worked fine except that she didnt go straight from A to B; instead
she explored the underfloor space for some time, winding her way round
various supporting walls en route; and we had forgotten to measure the
string before she set off. When she emerged we tied the string to the
cable and pulled it through. It took an awful lot of cable...

Janet.
endquote

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

A cable laying assistant
 

This sort of thing can be done, though it often takes several attempts, and
you have to cover the original entry point very fast.

Maybe a small terrier might have done better?
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
Remember, if you don't like where I post
or what I say, you don't have to
read my posts! :-)
"Graham." wrote in message
...
"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" Wrote in message:
This post appeared in alt.usage.english earlier today. I though it might
appeal to inhabitants of uk.tech.digital-tv. (Copied with permission)

The context was a discussion about the ground floors of houses and the
space beneath them.

quote

In our first house were trying to lay a new TV cable underneath a
suspended floor; the gap was too small for a person to crawl through. So
I hit on the idea of attaching a string to the cat, putting her under
the floor at point A, and calling her to another hole B at the other
end of the house.

It worked fine except that she didnt go straight from A to B; instead
she explored the underfloor space for some time, winding her way round
various supporting walls en route; and we had forgotten to measure the
string before she set off. When she emerged we tied the string to the
cable and pulled it through. It took an awful lot of cable...

Janet.
endquote

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)


Now that's what I call a practical cat.

I'm not sure I fully believe the anecdote as told.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

A cable laying assistant
 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2015 08:04:05 +0100, wrote:

On Mon, 28 Sep 2015 02:40:32 +0200 (CEST), "Graham."
wrote:



In our first house were trying to lay a new TV cable underneath a
suspended floor; the gap was too small for a person to crawl through. So
I hit on the idea of attaching a string to the cat, putting her under
the floor at point A, and calling her to another hole B at the other
end of the house.


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)


Now that's what I call a practical cat.

I'm not sure I fully believe the anecdote as told.

Did its training on CAT 5 cable.

G.Harman

Damn. Why didn't I think of that?

--

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

A cable laying assistant
 

Brian-Gaff wrote:
Ah yes, This reminded me of a similar thing many moons ago when a person
wanted to put his hose pipe under the floor so he could attach it to an
indoor tap.

Same problem the hose needed to be very long indeed after pulling it
through.
There has to be a better way.

Limit the amount of string you give the cat.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

A cable laying assistant
 

On 2015-09-28, Brian-Gaff wrote:
Ah yes, This reminded me of a similar thing many moons ago when a
person wanted to put his hose pipe under the floor so he could attach
it to an indoor tap.

Same problem the hose needed to be very long indeed after pulling it
through. There has to be a better way.


Brian

Lift more floorboards between points A and B, then have humans thread
the pipe or cable. Probably not so much fun for the humans of course -
and do remember to count all the pets and children before and after!

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

A cable laying assistant
 

In article ,
Whiskers wrote:
On 2015-09-28, Brian-Gaff wrote:
Ah yes, This reminded me of a similar thing many moons ago when a
person wanted to put his hose pipe under the floor so he could attach
it to an indoor tap.

Same problem the hose needed to be very long indeed after pulling it
through. There has to be a better way.


Brian

Lift more floorboards between points A and B, then have humans thread
the pipe or cable. Probably not so much fun for the humans of course -
and do remember to count all the pets and children before and after!

when we bought our first house in 1964, I was able to use my youngest
brother-in-law - then only 6 - to pull all the cables through under the
ground floor.

--
Please note new email address: