Concrete

Concreting

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I was recently told by a friend in the precast concreting business how many cubic meters of concrete he single handedly managed to pour and settle.  The figure was astonishing, 30 cubic meters!  In astonishment I said:  ‘Mick you are kidding me’.  Mick looked me in the eye and said: ‘Have I ever told you anything that was not the gospel truth?’  I narrated to Mick my own and that of two doctor friends of mine experience in concreting a veranda in my residence some 20 plus years ago at a time when I worked at the Prince of Wales Hospital. I also told Mick I want to blog the tale in the hope it will be of some help to people who do not know much about concrete:

The form worker who laid the form work and steel in readiness for the concrete pour estimated 6 meters of normal psi strength concrete will be required.  I said I will arrange the pour for around lunchtime and bring two doctors friends and me and we will take care of the concrete pour over a luncheon break.  I do not recall the form worker making any comments but I specifically remember him raising his eyebrow and giving me a smile.

Some two days later after checking the duty roster of my doctor friends George and Chin and myself I arranged for concrete trucks to come at 1 pm sharp.  The three of us all in white coats with stethoscopes in pockets arrived some 15 minutes earlier.  Immediately after a truck arrived and started laying pipes from the street to the veranda.  The three of us rolled our sleeves and quickly realized that we did not have any tools other than a shovel a spade and a small trowel.  We looked at each other in awe each wearing white shirt, tie, matching Harris Tweed trouser and shoe as the last connection of the pipes was raise over the veranda. ‘Ready boys’ said the concrete truck driver who had just arrived.   I looked at Chin who still had his tie on and to George who raised his should and reading his lips said ‘what the f—k we got ourselves into’ before the truck driver could say the concrete could solidify if you are not quick I said: ‘ready as we could ever be’.  Within 2 minutes the concrete started to pour from the pile on the on the formwork it quickly became mountainous we looked at each other with me holding the shovel, George the trowel, and Chin the spade we looked at each other in total bewilderment.  The splash of the concrete was now all over our shirts and trousers and our faces.  I could hear some laughter over the fence.  My good neighbor, Gus, who had been builder for years before serving in the commando unit in Papua New Guinea in the Second World War (and was amongst the few survivors) came across and brought some of his tools.  Gus called the truck driver to stop for few minutes as he got to work and directed each one of us to do specific task.  Soon the mountain of concrete that could have caused the whole formwork to collapse was spread almost evenly across the veranda.  Within half an hour the three Prince of Wales medicos were sweating profusely.  Bless his heart Gus got his wife to call few people that he knew in the building industry to come across.

As I drove back towards Prince of Wales Hospital near Sydney Airport each of our pagers started peeping.  The lady at the switchboard had reported neither doctors Chin or George or Michael were answering his pager.  We arrived at Prince of Wales and each in turn went to the main switchboard and gave an excuse as to his whereabout.  My excuse was that I lost my pager and had a nap in the Residents’ Quarter.  Not a single one of us got reprimanded by management.   After this experience but for Gus could have been costly and embarrassingly disastrous on the front news of the bi weekly local paper I am sure ever since each one of us holds concreters in high regard.

Mick, my friend despite the fact that you have been in the concreting industry for many years Chin, George, and Michael and the entire medical profession especially the one at Prince of Wales Hospital solutes you and the very few likes of you.