The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: bridge

  • Thwart a Terrorist — Build a Bridge

    As I’ve mentioned before, my most viewed blog entry is the one on Bridge Symbolism. It’s viewed about 25 times a day, by people all over the world. I have no idea why, but it gratifies me. Now more than ever. Bridges symbolize connection more than anything else. They join places and people together that…

  • Another Drawbridge Story

    Recently I wrote a blog entry called How Soon We Forget, about a unique encounter I had with a fisherman on the job, and how I reacted when he passed away. That was a story that has weighed heavily on my mind for years, and it was good to get it out. There have been…

  • How Soon We Forget

    I used to work the graveyard shift at the Ortega River Drawbridge in Jacksonville, Florida. It was usually a quiet shift, and that’s the way I liked it. I’m not someone who thrives on drama. But there was a certain ebb and flow to that shift: people who jogged at the same time every day;…

  • Not For All the Tea in China

    As I write this, I’m sitting on the drawbridge where I work, gazing out the window at the much, much, MUCH higher fixed bridge next door. I have to say my heart is in my throat, because what is happening is there’s a bucket truck on that bridge, and the bucket is being extended out…

  • Learning to Fall

    The other day at work I had Fall Prevention training. As a bridgetender, there will occasionally be moments where I’m called upon to work at a dangerous height, so this training is essential. The fact that I never received this type of instruction in my thirteen years as a bridgetender in Florida tells you everything…

  • Alternate Realities

    As a bridgetender I get ample opportunity to observe people. I sit up here in my not-exactly-ivory tower, watching them come and go. Most of them don’t even know I exist. That can be lonely, but it also gives me a certain amount of power, and it’s power that I haven’t earned, so I’ve never…

  • When Things Go Wrong

    When your job requires that you open and close a drawbridge and something happens that causes it to malfunction, that’s a bad day. That’s a stressful, paperwork-generating, workmen-crawling-all-over-your-territory type of day. I don’t like those days. I’m having one of those days. But really, since I didn’t do anything to break one of the most…

  • Bridgetender [sic]

    Recently someone quoted my WordPress blog tag line like so: “The random musings of a bridgetender [sic] with entirely too much time on her hands.” For the uninitiated, “sic” is basically latin for “Okay, I’m writing it this way because it’s a direct quote, dude, but it’s WRONG.” I wanted to scream when I saw…

  • Shield Man

    Not far from one of the bridges where I work is an abandoned building covered with graffiti. A homeless guy is squatting in one of the sheds on the property. He likes to carry a bright pink shield that he seems to have fashioned out of scrap wood, duct tape and a plastic bag. He…

  • The Drawbridge Ghost

    Deep in the bowels of one of the many drawbridges of Seattle (I shall not say which one), lies a dungeon-like room that is dark, damp, and empty except for three folding chairs. I don’t know why the chairs are there, but I must confess that whenever I enter that room I get the feeling…