cant u become a plumber/ gas engineer within the royal engineers?
When I was with them, after I had done my apprenticeship and a couple of years on the tools, I was on a course at Chatham, to be upgraded to a B1 plumber, talk about cockeyed they were, this was the first time I ever saw a chimney back gutter being bossed to form a break (internal corner) instead of dressing the lead down and around, spring bending of 11/2" lead pipe, again another first, it should have been bobbins used to form the bend
Now this is true, with no fancy elaborations
Upcountry in Aden, Thumier to be exact, conversation between a certain Sargent Page, and me
Sapper, I have plumbing job for you to do all the material is there
[200 gal cold water than with two 1/2 female **** welded on to the side about an inch from the bottom, on two concrete block walls, 4 No 1/2" M x F stopcocks 20 foot of 1/2" iron and the same in 3/4", two 1/2" equal "tees"; two 1/2" elbows, 4 No 8" dia shower roses, with 3/4 female tappings, tools were 1 2 foot 2 fold brass rule, 1 hacksaw, 1 set of stocks and dies, 1 pipe vice on a tripod]
Sgt Page I want 4 showers put up at equal spaceing
Me OK sgt Page
After having a shufti at what was there, I went back and asked where the hemp and boss white was
Sgt Page you don't need any, and there isent any
Me have you any paint and string then
Sgt Page your a plumber not a painter
Me Oh gawd, begging your pardon sgt Page I would need something to seal the joints
Sgt Page your a Sapper improvise
Me also where are the 3/4 x 1/2 bushes, I cannot find any, could you radio down for 4 to be flown up on a flight
Sgt Page you don't need anything else
By this time I was getting a bit pished off, so I explained in words of one syllable, why I wanted 4 No 3/4 x 1/2 bushes
Sgt Page pipe shower put them together
I was starting to see red by now, so I politely asked Sgt Page to follow me to the work place, there I took the brass rule and placed it over the end of a bit of 1/2 iron, (by this time I had all the iron in place, and just needed the bushes to finish), I said this is half inch iron pipe it measures approximatly 3/4" overall, agree?, yes he said, now I took a shower head and showing him both rule and size of the hole, said this is for 3/4" iron it measures about an inch, now can you see why I want the bushes, well bug ger me, his words were shower there pipe there put them together, by this time I had lost it completely, so I grabs a shower head, sticks it over the nipple from the stopcock, and rattles it around, saying it like ***** in a 'oars "tinuck", soon as I take my hand away it flaming well falls down; what's going to hold it up scotch flaming mist
Sgt Page I see, what could you do your the sapper you will have to improvise
Well I could cut and weld a short of 3/4" to the half inch (there was no 1/2 sockets that I could cut a thread on to make an improvised bush), good idea sapper, only one problem we have run out of acetylene
What about the REME sgt Page they have some, could you ask for the loan of a bottle? it would come better from you seeing that you have 3 (stripes) on your arm,
Sgt Page that's a direct order sapper you will ask REME
Then when it was all finished, just to wind me up a bit more, he comes along, and says to me why did it take you all day to do that job, when according to my book it should have taken you half a day?; that was it !! I did my nut, and told him in building language exactly what he could do with the book, and that the book says the times are for temperate climates, in ideal conditions and with all the materials to hand, and that I was upcountry with the shade temperature over 100°F, and that I was working outside in the sun, with only half the material I needed
Talk about foaming at the mouth and jumping up and down, I only escaped getting charged for insubordination because he knew that the charge would not stick, if I gave my version of events when in front of the old man
