- By Admin
PILE DRIVER
The constant heavy banging of the pile driver reverberated around the whole town. It had a sound that conjured up visions of a major building project which in this ship building place always meant something interesting and progressive – it was known for the nuclear submarine building programme. Helen thought she would trace the sound back to its source.
The noise got more and more powerful the closer she drove towards it. An exact spot was hard to identify but she parked up in the general area and started to walk. She followed the heavy thud, thud going towards the bridge over the estuary. Finally with ears covered she saw the excavation site within the ship yard boundary right next to the dock. The dock where submarines were sometimes to be seen waiting for repairs.
The excavation site was full of equipment. Two very tall cranes, several diggers, much that was unexplained and alien to her. People scurried around like ants – and the pile driver stood suddenly silent. It looked technically magnificent and proudly stretched towards the nearest crane, its body bulkier and with so many parts to it, that it could almost be described as a modern sculpture.
Helen wasn’t technical but the whole site excited her – the complexity of such a project. The secrecy of much of it teasing the brain. Soon it would all be behind walls only seen by the workers of the high security nuclear site. Helen wished she had the capacity to be an engineer. Hairdressing was a means to an end. The kind of thing lots of girls ended up doing in this working town. That and beauty courses – she sighed. How narrow was her existence. She dreamed of doing something spectacular and as the noise from the pile driver re-started she made up her mind. She would apply for an apprenticeship with this company. She would become part of a secret world. She could do it. She had studied hairdressing – she could study something far more technical. She could do it. She WOULD do it.
She drove home slowly her mind buzzing. She gradually came back to reality. There was no way she could tackle a highly technical course. She parked outside her house. The thought struck her that she had managed to obtain and indeed maintain, a mortgage on this property. All on her own. She had a boyfriend – but they mutually consented that a certain distance was best maintained. He liked freedom with ‘the boys’ and she liked being independent all round. She had even got selfish living alone and found her boyfriends habits annoying when he came to stay.
She was twenty five and vaguely wondered if she was destined to live alone. Most of her peers were married with two kids by now which she didn’t in the least want, or envy. She had unmarried friends but they talked of marriage at some point. Helen didn’t. She thought of her work and how she could better it – not that she didn’t like it. It was a skill and she felt pleased when she made someone look good. She had her own salon. She was proud. She was actually expanding too. She had rented part of the large salon to a beautician which gave her more money and the two careers complimented each other. More clients were coming now to have several treatments on the same day. She reflected on this achievement. There was no doubt she was on the up. In fact she was doing better than her boyfriend who was in the building trade with a boss to account to.
Helen contemplated this. She was her own master. She had discussed with her new colleague that maybe they should go on courses to acquire even more talents. It had been greeted with enthusiasm. Happy outcome. So, in fact she was becoming more technical. After all she ran her own business, did the book keeping, tax returns and was expanding. Her mind explored all this with a good dollop of excitement and contentment. She could do it. She WOULD do it.