The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: drawbridge

  • Blast from the Past: Bridge Goes Boom

    Proof that bridgetending can be extremely random.

  • Another Disappearing Drawbridge

    Rest in peace, Drawbridge. Rest in peace.

  • More Time Added to my 15 Minutes of Fame!

    Suddenly my blog viewer stats were spiking. What drew people here this time? I was stumped. And then I saw the e-mail from Dave Isay of StoryCorps. Their anthology, Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work is now out in paperback form! This is exciting because one of the interviews in this book is mine,…

  • Making Waterfalls

    There’s a certain graceful beauty in a moving drawbridge. It’s awe-inspiring to watch a million pounds of concrete and steel in motion. It says a lot about human ingenuity. I’m lucky because as a bridgetender I get to make this happen every day. Opening a drawbridge never gets old. A friend of mine likes to…

  • Give Bridgetenders Some Credit

    Okay, I admit it. I’ve been a bridgetender for 15 years, so I’m probably entirely too biased to write a blog entry of this type. But if I don’t, no one will. This job is full of unsung heroes. Simply Google “Drawbridge” and “Death” and you’ll see just how dangerous these structures can be. Think…

  • My Morning

    Last night I got off work at 11pm. I went straight home, and managed to squeeze in 5 hours of sleep before getting up at 5:45am in order to go back to work at 7am. Oh, but there’s more. I get out to my car, and all the windows are frosted over. It’s 32 degrees…

  • 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…

  • 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…