Today I Became A Filipino Lineman

Life truly is an adventure here in the Philippines.  At least every time I go for a run it's an adventure. I never know what's waiting for me when I open the iron gate and run off down the street and into the great beyond.

This morning started out great. Not many cars or people. Hardly any smoke in the air or garbage in the street or dogs roaming around. It was at the halfway point that I came across the following.

Wow!  Can you believe this? I got a sweet picture of the moon!  And only using my little digital camera with no special lenses or anything.  There's also a very dangerous and no doubt very hot electrical cable fallen across the street. This picture was taken at 5:20 am and there is no telling how long this cable had been lying there. Seems like someone would have alerted the PNP or the electrical company to take care of this. There's nothing I could do about it so I continued on my way.

Running down the street I turned the corner and I saw a pile of long bamboo poles and in the blink an eye I was filled with inspiration. Picking up the longest pole with the most knobs on it I ran back to the fallen cord.  Carefully I inserted the tip of the pole under the cord so that it snagged onto a knob and I raised it up. It was a bit of a struggle because the pole was so long and getting it to stand up straight was a little awkward.  I had to walk it back slowly making sure that I didn't snag any of the other cords.  

All the while I was doing this a group of runners ran past, a few guys were standing around, and a little boy was watching too. Not a single person offered any assistance. So I raised it up like it was my own personal Iwo Jima.

After the battle was over I continued on my run being sure to stop at the PNP and alert them to the situation. The gate to their office was locked so I picked up a stone and banged on the gate until sleepy eyed officers stumbled out to see what was the matter and who was waking them up at this early hour.

I showed them the photos and told them the situation and they said they would call the electrical company to fix the problem.  They seemed oblivious to what had happened. This would mean that the cable fell after they had done their nightly rounds. I guess no one thought to call them. After that it was smooth running back home.  

Now how does this make me a Filipino lineman?  All I did was get the cable out of the way like any person would do. (Except for all those guys standing around doing nothing who did not even bother to alert anyone to the problem or help me temporarily fix the problem.) Take a look at this photo which is not my work at all and you will see that I have utilised the same technique as the Filipino lineman.

It's a skill that will come in handy though I hope I don't have to use it again any time soon.