Leaning Electric Pole #598

Nothing to see here.

Just your typical leaning electric pole. What a doozy! This one is being propped up by some kind of stand. Let's take a look at the base.

 Wow. Was this pole held in place by rocks? That's not very secure.

What a mess! Take a guess how they fixed this pole. First they disconnected all the wires and tossed them up into all the other electrical wires making a comfy nest for any depressed bird who has lost the will to live.

Then they laid the pole on the ground!

Lovely, eh? But we are not done here. Not by a long shot. Notice in the picture above there is an orange stripe painted around the base. It appears someone installed a brand new wooden pole in the same spot and in the same manner! 

That foundation doesn't look all that sound to me but what do I know? Well for one I know whoever fixed this pole left all the wires in a tangle and did not bother to reconnect them to the new pole.

Byootiful! 

Electrical Poles in the Middle of the Road

Ok so not in the middle of the road. I admit the title of this post is hyperbole but just take a look.

See the white line indicating the edge of the road? Now see how far to the left of that line this pole is? Basically it's the middle of the road.

Now this pole is not in the road at all. I know this because they drew the line around it to exclude it from being in the road!

Who zoned and planned this road? From electrical poles to shanties to trees there are serious right-of-way issues on just about every road in the Philippines. Be careful out there.

Dangerously Leaning Crossing Light Signal

I first noticed this crossing light signal leaning against the roof of the market on January 11th.

Curiously this signal was still working. Unsure of how long this situation had been on going I thought surely someone would fix this immediately. Two days later this traffic signal was still there leaning on the roof of the market and I was able to get a closer look. 

How does something like this happen? It must have been a truck that hit the pole and cracked the foundation.  There are delivery trucks parked at this spot all the time. From the looks of it whatever hit this pole must have been going fast. Maybe it was a drunk driver after hours?

Here you can get a side view of how this pole is leaning right on the roof. Who knows but the foundation could continue to crack and then the whole thing come crashing down.

As of February 2nd this signal is still leaning on the roof. No one has fixed it. No barrier has been erected around the base to keep people and vehicles away. Absolutely nothing has been done to rectify this dangerous state of affairs. That is despite the daily presence of traffic officials at this intersection who must have alerted someone by now. Surely this situation cannot remain much longer but it should not have lasted this long in the first place.

If this signal ever is fixed perhaps a barricade will be placed around the pole to prevent any more accidents from happening again.

Before and After

The premise is pretty simple. These are before and after pictures of construction zones and trash piles and other things.

Things start out really bad in this construction zone when a pole is left leaning on a building. Very dangerous.

Months later and it appears they removed that leaning pole completely.

This one is before and after and after!

From trashy to flashy. Very colourful.

First picture is 9 May, 2017.

Second picture is 10 September, 2018.

Next picture is 30 January, 2019.

Construction on this house started and stopped in 2016. You can see the massive growth in the first picture and in the second the removal of all that growth. In the last picture an old woman is retrieving wooden planks from the housing frame for her own use. Will the skeleton of this house that never was simply crumble into the earth or will vandals disassemble it brick by brick?

Before the fight:

After the fight:

The fierce wind KO'd this tarp!

Extra Electrical Wires

What do you do if you are with the electric company or a teleco and you have a little bit of extra wire after doing an installation? Well if you are a lineman in the Philippines you simply tie them up to a tree or a post of some kind.

And if you have more than just a little why not simply dump it all on the street? 

Not sure that's sound practice but whatever. This is the Philippines after all. When did regulations EVER stop people from doing something stupid? Or illegal? For my part I will assume that all wires are hot electrical wires because I value my life. Just imagine leaning on one of those poles or brushing by one and getting jolted right out of your body! 

The Danger of Low Hanging Electric Lines

The low hanging electric lines which are strung all over the country are a very grave problem.  Couple these low hanging lines with over stacked trucks and tragedy is just waiting happen.  

Take this situation for instance.

There is so much wrong happening in these pictures. First of all the truck should not be this full. Who wants to be driving along and all of a sudden have a bag of garbage crash through their windshield or have to dodge falling bags which will inevitably cause a wreck? Don't they have proscribed limits? Aren't they required to empty the truck when it gets to a certain level?

Second of all having these men ride on the top of this garbage truck is dangerous. Hanging on the the side is precarious enough and in saner countries only done for short distances but these guys are riding on the top of the garbage all throughout their shift.

Third, one wrong move and this guy is toast! Zapped! Like a bug. It's dangerous and ridiculous. Does he even recognise the danger he is in? 

Everyone wants to be seen as tough on crime but what the Philippines needs is a leader who will be tough on low hanging power lines among other things. 

Electric Pole Falls on Jeepney

I don't know how it happened but no one was hurt.  

From the looks of it the electrical pole buckled under it's own weight as the concrete base crumbled which lead to the fall.

By the time I arrived it was obvious this scene was not new. But where was the electric company? Who is this guy hooking up the pole to the backhoe? He is not from the electric company. There was also only one cop on the scene and he was not doing anything but looking around. Why weren't there more cops directing the flow of traffic away from the wreck?

By morning a new pole had been installed. This time off the sidewalk.

An electric pole fallen on top of a vehicle or in the middle of the street is something I knew I would see sooner or later. They are all rotten and in state of disrepair. It's surprising that they haven't all fallen down.

Blackout

There was a blackout from 4am until 3pm on Sunday. I didn't think they would really start so early but they did. I was awake in the dark for a few hours but thats ok because with no lights anywhere, not even on the very busy street/highway, the stars were more clearly visible than ever.  You could stare deep into the heart of the galaxy and marvel at the thin wispy band of the Milky Way sweeping across the sky.

Beautiful isn't it? If only I had a camera that could photograph the miracle that is the night sky.

A blackout means no internet! (Some would say Globe also means no internet.)

Being cut off from the internet is not so terrible. I spend too much time here anyway and I have many obligations that need taking care of.  

The biggest hardship of any blackout where I live is that the water station pump is hooked into the grid so that means no water for as long as the blackout plus as long as it takes for the water company to turn it back on. Until then you have to conserve the buckets you filled up the night before. (Thankfully the electric company gives notice of blackouts before they happen.)

The water did not turn back on until an hour and fifteen minutes after the electricity. 

This blackout was planned but the next one will unexpectedly occur when the transformer up the street randomly explodes in the middle of the night as it does too often.

High-Wire Act

Welcome one and all to the Greatest Show on Earth!  Enjoy the thrills of the Amazing Filipino Electrician High-Wire Walker!

Ladies and gentlemen have you ever seen such a sight before? So daring as he grips onto those high-powered wires WITH NO GLOVES!  Yes, you heard that right everyone. This man is gripping those highly charged wires with enough electricity to fry him to a crisp WITH HIS BARE HANDS! He is risking his own life just to entertain you!

Are you not entertained?