I'm back to work, following an accident on holiday I twisted my knee, tore some ligaments, and was signed off work for a month by the doctor - I work at heights and this was deemed enough for me to stay at home and get cosy with the old Playstation, the back log of books and comics I'd left piling up - so including my holiday I've been away from building sites for two months, and when I get back - there was a party to go to.
There are a couple of archaic superstitions amongst the building community, the breaking of the ground needs a blessing (and a Demolition Notice submitted in triplicate to the local council), the Cornerstone usually covers a buried treasure (lucozade bottles and crisp packets usually), the topping out ceremony (when the building reaches the highest point, it's common to have a drink up on the roof (Health and Safety have clamped down on this in recent years - bah humbug), and the completion ceremony - and if there's one element of humanity who likes a good drink up it's builders.
Augustus Court is finished - on the site of the now demolished Ceasers Palace, an Old Kent Road drinking establishment, which on examination by the Archeological Department, was found to be on the site of a Roman Burial Ground (Old Kent Road is a Roman Road) - and the builders threw a toga party and invited me along. Never one to break a superstition I turned up, not with a toga, but with the completion certificate for the job - made my presentation, had some Lambrusco, some chicken and olives, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
And as for the title - I went to Cambridge the other weekend and got to go for a punt on the River Cam, good fun it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment