Everday Maintenance

The other day we had to head to the post office briefly after school just to send a letter back home. On our short walk from Heidi's school to the post office, we witnessed an amazing act of balance, finesse and insanity. There in the middle of the street, during Friday rush hour traffic, was a electric power crew. These guys (or their boss) thought 4pm on Friday would be a perfect time to fidget with and/or try to fix line that ran directly across a busy street. In reality it must not have been anything much out of the ordinary for them as non of the crew seemed phased at all. To add to the craziness of working on high voltage power lines, these guys use a ladder system that adds to their "nothing gets under my skin" persona. Instead of using a typical A-Frame ladder, they instead use a straight up and down ladder that is held 1/3 held by someone on the ground, 1/3 balanced by the man on the ladder, and 1/3 propped up against said high voltage lines. On top of all of this, the ladder is made of bamboo and looks like it has seen some better days. When we got home this evening we were a bit more thankful for our electricity now knowing the effort that is put into keeping Saigon electrified. High voltage power line workers that work in rush hour traffic on bamboo ladders...We salute you.

The craziness that is routine maintenance.