Brothers in Arms

I just happened to stroll past ‘The Place of Shouting and Walking about a Bit’ (The Royal Shakespeare Theatre) this morning when I saw a busy group of backstage staff unloading a truck full of bits and pieces that I presume were for the latest production. I have to tell you , the memories came flooding back. Those were the days. The 1980's. Money in your pocket and a working ‘day’ that started properly at 7.00pm. The Union ruled and all was right with the world. What tales of camaraderie and loyalty I could tell. So I shall,
For instance, I remember the day when at least six of us were carrying an extremely heavy piece of scenery across a relatively empty stage. All appeared to be going well when the cry suddenly went up to ‘Stop!’ which we did abruptly. The cause of our sudden halt and interruption of our well-planned work pattern? Somebody had left a power tool plugged into a wall socket. Disaster. An electrical cable lay across our chosen route impeding our progress stagewise. Major problem. Notwithstanding a couple of important issues that needed to be addressed post haste and whilst as it were, 'on the hoof';
1. Health and Safety. (We could have had a nasty accident. There may be repercussions.)
2. Demarcation. (Whose job is it to remove offending plug and cable?)

What to do?
After a few moments of mumbling, grumbling and projected descriptions of the worst possible scenarios, we did what any sensible Stage Technician of the time would have done and sent a runner to Stage Door to ask them to send out a message (via tannoy or telephone) to the Electricians Department, who in turn would send out a message to the Duty Electrician who in turn would arrive and remove the offending plug and cable from the wall. Result? No more than 30 mins of the working day lost and smiley faces all round. In short team work at its very best. No need for the matter to go further. We were a body of men working as one. Like a well oiled spring.
Happy days.