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+--- Thread: Fawlty Towers (/showthread.php?tid=1918)
Fawlty Towers - Troll - 12th June 2005
A member of my family works with Architects. When sent to work away from base, the architects are accommodated. When Archaeologists work away from base, they are "accommodated" too. Lets show the world another little insight into our working conditions.
Being sent to live with a family in their home whilst away digging sounds ok to some but not, to others. My experience of this...a permanently pi**ed family..contents of household pets bowels/bladder all over foor of "kitchen"..kitchen covered in animal blood of varying species..Lady of the house exposing herself over table...inviting me in to clean my teeth whist she sat smiling on the toilet...two of their cars were burnt out outside the house...just fekkin dandy. Great to come home to after a days diggin. Mate of mine and I had had enough and asked boss man for a move-this was refused so we bought tents and lived next to the spoil heap on site for 3 weeks. The torrential rain became too much so we had to abandon tents and live in the site toolshed for a further 4 weeks. The unit in question treated it`s archaeology in much the same way that it treated it`s staff. So, come on, lets have your stories about sh*t accommodation whilst on the circuit. I particularly dislike the one that a mate told me-the girls on one site were housed next to a known brothel in a city context "because it was cheap..".
I get the impression that the more we accept this as "part of the job", the more a unit will perpetuate sh*t conditions simply because we say nothing about it.
Fawlty Towers - sniper - 15th June 2005
no lie either, cause I was the other stupid fool who thought that a ?39.99 tent and sleeping bags set from Argos would protect me from a British summer. Oh, and I love sleeping on other people's mud on the toolshed floor as well, delightful. seven weeks we stuck that. don't mess with troll though. he got so fed up he shot his tent to pieces, ripped it apart cause the zips were from CrapZips Co. and left a kebab in it to develop its own civilisation. he smells as well. a little obnoxious violent hairy flatulent git. and that's being nice.
note to all - please don't edit me, this is not serious, I do not hate him, he is a very good mate, and he can get a joke.
++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++
Fawlty Towers - troll - 15th June 2005
Git.
Absolutely right though, we (and the archaeology) were all treated like detritus. O.K, I admit to treating the tent to summary (and repeated) execution. Could`nt find the site director or a passing IFA member so it had to do. Can`t really argue with your other comments Sniper-have to say though that at least (when turf stripping) I can stand on the subsoil and still see over the turf. unlike you ya oompa lumpa!
Anyhoo- back to the thread, tell us about your accommodation issues guys.....
Fawlty Towers - Beki - 17th June 2005
Surprisingly, my experience with accomodation has been pretty good! Maybe becuase i worked for nice places....
but anyway, at one place we were booked into some holiday chalets with a pool, and another time we had a beautiful cottage in the grounds of a manor house! Wooo...
Some training digs on the other hand....tents in welsh hills do not mix well.....
Fawlty Towers - deepdigger - 18th June 2005
A nasty damp caravan with mouldy walls and a tendancy to rock violently if anyone moved inside it. Not best fun!!
deep
Fawlty Towers - Beardstroker - 18th June 2005
Think the most uncomfortable one was an (allegedly) haunted semi derelict house in Bolsover with no electricity and a smell of wet carpets. Second morning we were there we got woken up by a group of very bolshie council officials who thought we were squatting in the place, despite the fact that we were actually working for the same council. Only good thing about it was we didn't have to pay for it and the local kids stayed away because of the ghosties
Mind you I've got memories of visiting the ones that both the Southampton and Chichester units used to have in the 70's. Truly vile[xx(]
Fawlty Towers - kevin wooldridge - 18th June 2005
Working for the Cumbria and Lancashire Unit in the early 1980's on the outskirts of Carnforth, we were housed in the pig sties behind the farm. I can't remember if there was running water or not, but do remember we brewed our own beer! (Whose idea was that?) and that the site director banned us from wearing Adam Ant facepaint on site (although we could indulge whilst 'at home' so to speak). The same director refused to bring his copy of the 'Grauniad' into work on Wednesdays, in case there were any jobs advertised that we might all do a bunk to.
I also remember the evening we were stopped by the police outside the farm as we were on our way home from the pub and given the early 80's 'shakedown'.
Although we assured the coppers we were staying at the farm, one kept asking D----- for his address. Finally he replied, 'I don't really have an address. I'm peripatetic', to which the copper replied, 'Oh yeah. In that case where's yer wheelchair?'
Fawlty Towers - BAJR Host - 18th June 2005
I remember in teh early 90s.. off to work in Northern Ireland.. arrived and was told that accomodation was not provided... being a cheapskate and being low on dosh I asked if I could sleep in the portacabin until g/f arrived with the VW camper van.. spent a miserable 2 weeks sleeping on old newspapers on the floor of teh wet portacabin... the agony was only once broken by a visit from a fully tooled up army patrol who thought I was IRA staking out teh only nearby house... which happened to be the home of a Police Sargeant... the joy.... add to that the bleeding fact that I had contracted hepititus in Iraq and could not drink..
Another day another WSI?
Fawlty Towers - achingknees - 18th June 2005
3 month contract in Norfolk - accommodation difficult to find. Spent my emergency fund on a cheap caravan
All ready to move in but caravan was nicked.:face-confused: Spent a night on a concrete floor in the site hut. Came down with flu. Saved by a fellow digger who put me up.
Fawlty Towers - Sith - 20th June 2005
Quote:quote:Originally posted by deepdigger
A nasty damp caravan with mouldy walls and a tendancy to rock violently if anyone moved inside it.
Not as bad a similar caravan which rocked violently when someone else moved inside it. Well, not at two in the morning when you were trying to get a good nights sleep. I almost had to get up and tell the pair of them to move about somewhere else!
D. Vader
Senior Consultant
Vader Maull & Palpatine
Archaeological Consultants
Deathstar House
Endor Industrial Estate
Milton Keynes
RD22 3PO