Dead Man's Shift

In preparation for an open house day on a school that we have a maintenance contract for, we spent a night burning weeds on the parking lot. This had to be done at night so that there would be the least amount of parked cars around. Last year we were done by 2 o' clock, as we had done some burning in the days beforehand and the weather happened to be on our side until the very last second. This year it took all night, because after a very hot day, in which by the way we'd already worked full hours already, it began storming something fierce.

That kept up to within an hour or so of when we started burning, and which meant that the

weeds were still very much saturated and rather more resistant to flame than they otherwise would have been. Best laid plans and all that.

And so the night ended up being cold and clammy, and pretty much never-ending.

I have a very large amount of footage, most of it blurry and low quality, but enough of it is good enough to share.

 Most of the videos were recorded with my smartphone, but I did also have along a camera for some high(er) definition sparks.

Some of us were more bad-ass than others: dual-wielding flamers, like some sort of hoodie-wearing Terminator (Warhammer, that is, not Schwarzenegger).

Others were a mix of bad-ass and silly.

No prizes for guessing who.

As per usual...

Early on there was a lot of optimism and fun to be had. Burning at night is very beautiful because you can trace pretty much every spark. Because of the darkness surrounding you, there's little outside distraction, and so the world becomes a very small place; and all of it is fire and flaming comets.

The hours while away to Imagine Dragons, Kasabian, Big Black Delta, Prof and other assorted feel-good music.

But later on at night, somewhere beyond half past 2, everyone goes into zombie mode.

 Slow shuffling steps and constrained movements speaking of tiredness in every limb. It's already been a long day, and the burning has not progressed as well as hoped. Some of us had been under the impression that it would've been done by now. From feel-good and uplifting music I graduate to the metal madness of the Doom soundtrack; BFG Division, Rip and Tear, Mastermind and more.

Olivia's Doom comes on and I am creeped right the fuck out.

That song, especially at this time of night, tired as I am, just isn't right. It is a discordant hell, a clamour of sounds, and not even close to being music at all. The voices are scary, but there's a sick delight in seeing what they offer.

What can I say? Sometimes you walk a tight-rope and manage to keep your balance. You don't read too much into it.

Then comes the Dead Hour; The hour in which people sleep the deepest, and where the ill slip from dream into oblivion.

This is the quietest time of the night. The world around is asleep and there must be some sort of bleed-over from this as, in the utter quiet, with thousands dreaming within shouting distance, the mind goes very small, maybe seeking to go to the same place as where the dreamers go. It wants to hide itself away, it wants to shut down, and it partially does. It flickers and the world goes dream-like.

The cars that pass on the road beyond the treeline are symptomatic of something off with the world. There must be something wrong with their drivers, their occupants. A sickness in the soul, in the mind. They shouldn't be here, they're lost in every way. They're unmoored, homeless, and profoundly alone.

The mood shifts and we all feel it.

For a while nobody speaks, and everyone tightens up, hunches in on themselves. Keeping themselves close.

There are some desultory efforts to reach out, to connect, to feel less alone.

Some succeed and keep the darkness at bay. It is the old saying; "Inching towards daylight," and that's a hell of a lot easier with someone by your side.

But not me. I'm not one of them.

For a short while, I am removed.

 No footage here.

 Unnoticed, the time passes and then all of a sudden the night comes to an end.

And still we go on. 

But the darkness lifts with the coming of true light, and as the end comes in sight, optimism makes a welcome reappearance. Because even if this doesn't get done, soon we get go home.

At this point there's a spring in everyone's step.

Pleased with the night's progress, the First Lady is already up to her usual antics.

But still, despite appearances, the night has taken its toll and everyone is pretty much tapped out.

But then, under a steadily brightening sky, come the final moments, and it is done.

At this point my status is 'Fucking tired'.

Quite happy it's done and even a little satisfied, even though the occasional missed patches of green contrast quite clearly with the recently scorched areas. Someone's going to have to come back later today to do some spot-checking.

Not me though.

I did what I needed to, and rather a bit more than that.

 Time to go home.

I'm very happy I didn't have to drive as everything occasionally went a little wobbly.

We also had been given a bunch of pizza around midnight or so, but as my dietary habits have profoundly changed recently, the few pieces I had weighed too heavily on my stomach and Ruben ended up being the one to take them home.

After this I went to bed and slept for four hours. I would've wanted to sleep a lot more, as I definitely needed it, but the biological clock is an asshole, and so were the workers outside my front door. And let's not forget about the demon birds, with their unholy cravings.

So instead of being able to do the healthy thing, unable to catch up on sleep, I ended up just watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine and other random crap on the internet. Later in the day I slept a little on a fold-out chair next to the pool.

Tired and aching,

but there's worse ways to spend your day.