Thursday 25 February 2010

Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station (Part Two)

Hello again! Right, where did I get to? Ah yes! The cooling towers!

Then we went into a large building with masses and masses of machinery in it. It was deafening! We had to wear the earplugs we had been given. They were bright yellow. I have always been a bit apprehensive about earplugs. I just don't like the idea of sticking something in your ear. I've always been quite careful about my ears! I try not to go to discos (partly because I hate them - I hate dancing and I hate dressing up and I hate the music the rest of my year like and I hate social events like that) and I have a limit on the volume on my ipod. I think it's stupid having a roaring noise belting into your eardrums. That and numerous discos could completely ruin your hearing! I'm starting to sound like an old fart (excuse the phrase) so I shall go back to describing my 'Adventures At Didcot Power Station' as the title promised! Then we discovered that the lift that would take us up to the control room place was being used by another group being shown around so we had to take the stairs. I continued my enthusiasm, saying "Come on guys! It's good exercise!" Now, those of you who know me will know that a loath exercise so everyone in our party did a double take! Hannah said, " But you hate exersice." I said "Ah, no, I hate sport!" She did still look slightly confused, but I just carried on up the stairs! We got to a sort of viewing area that overlooked the main boiler thingys. There are 4 units apparently. The are all identical (he didn't know whether they were identical to the last pipe when I asked, but he said the plans were all the same) but they work completely separately so that if one breaks down, the others will still run. They do something to do with boiling something which makes something else happen. It all got a bit confusing but it was good to look at! Then Fred showed us the shifts of engineers. They work shifts of 12 hours but they get about 15 days off a month - 8 all in one go at one point! I was debating in my head whether I should consider being an engineer in later life because I loved the sound of 8 days off in a row! But then I decided that, no. It wasn't the right career path for me. BUT... then we went to see the control room. There are 4 areas of control panel desks and 9 MASSIVE screens - 3 for each unit. Apparently, the computer engineer staff people stay at their desks all day working the computers and making sure nothing goes wrong. Fred said "They even have their lunch in there!" At the word 'lunch', I decided that this was the job for me! Sitting at a computer all day, chatting and eating lunch! Sounds like my perfect job! Well, my perfect job would be doing something or other at the BBC, preferably radio and preferably Radio 4 or 5live! But being a computer person who eats lunch would be almost as good! I wonder if they have any pasta.... Anyway, I'd better go to bed now. But 'Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station Part Three' will be up some time tomorrow, probably about 10pm because that's when I seem to be doing most of my blogs - just before bed! Right then, G'night everyone! xxxxx

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