Monday 30 October 2017

#297 The incredible complexity of everything

I sat looking out the window at the cranes. Construction was everywhere. You couldn't turn your head in this city without facing an unfinished building. Beneath them, layers of soil, foundation. Exposed concrete. Metal.

Putting bricks on top of bricks and cementing them was the limit of my imagination when it came to building work. The incredible complexity of the project would always be there somewhere, underneath a thick black fog that covered parts of my mental map of the world. I just wasn't interested.

Buildings were for going into and coming out of. Housing and working and servicing my needs without failure or complaint. Protecting me. Sheltering me from pelting rain and sweltering heat. Holding food and staircases and books and shelves and cupboards. Buildings were there for me and always would be there for me but I did not care how they were built.

No sir.

Which type of soil is best? Which materials must be used? What regulations apply? How do international approaches compare? Is the thoroughness of structural surveys appropriate? None of these questions ignited in me a burning desire to learn more. My mental map would remain covered.

This is how most people feel about life and other people.

4 comments

Fizzfan said...

You’ll be very uninterested to know there’s a lot of clay soil in London, which is a bit of a worry for insurers especially if there’s a lot thirsty deciduous trees around. Summer that suck it dry, winter it gets all waterlogged. Movement of houses foundations can result and big pay outs. Apologies if you’ve just yawned.

I too have no interest in buildings unless they’re extraordinary, but people?
I guess the caring side of things is largely reliant on how much you rely on something and how much you recognise the loss of it will effect you.

I don’t understand how practically anything works. I’m still mystified by phones and TV.

Profound Familiarity said...

Fizz I am somewhat interested to learn that.

Sharp as a razor as usual, yes caring is indeed borne out of necessity. I said that with a little too much authority but I like the principle. No such thing as a selfless good deed and all that.

Fizzfan said...

I’ve just watched For The Love Of Dogs.
I think I’d give up several nights sleep to care for a homeless puppy or kitten.
People don’t have the same effect on me though. Wonder why?

Profound Familiarity said...

Beats me. I'm more of a cat person.