Would he like to be a sailor, a policeman or a vet, a soldier in the army, or the pilot of a jet? No! He has decided (to all he makes it plain) he doesn’t like their offers; he wants to operate a crane!

So, when his learning days are over, and his stiff exams are past he can call himself a ‘craneman’, and now he’s free at last to have the longed for interview (where he proves he’s bright) well able to be a craneman on a building site.

The crane saves a builder time, men and money. To move loads without it would not be funny! So every builder loves the crane but without our craneman there would be no gain. His job is really most unique, some might consider it both lonely and bleak. He misses all the jokes that go around among his work mates on the ground. His day begins with some aerobics and it’s not a job for agoraphobics!

Leaving his friends, perhaps some foes, up and up and up he goes into his box (hung out to dry) suspended there ‘neath earth and sky. So his long and lonely day will start, no ‘craic’ up there to cheer his heart. Not much time to gaze o’er land and sea. His job is to move stuff from A to B.

A 4-cable winch on the crane’s long arm ensures each load is conveyed without harm. The cables are secured by a heavy weight hanging over each load, to keep it straight. Someone on the ground below directs where every load must go.

Our craneman moves the arm with skill, the winch’s cables drawn up until they hang precisely above the load, then, released, descend slowly to the road, to where the waiting hands are able to hook a huge load to the powerful cable.

Up goes the loaded cable in the air, clearing obstacles with room to spare. Then the crane’s long arm is swung around to where the load is needed on the ground. Our craneman slowly releases the winch and the load arrives safely, it’s really a cinch!

Hour after hour, his work continues, cooped up in his box (has he aching sinews?). As tons and tons of material is moved, the worth of the craneman’s skill is proved. Day after day, high up in the sky, he’s alone up there where the songbirds fly. Then, unwinding stiff limbs at the end of each day, he climbs back down to earth for a hot cup of ‘tay’.

Without our skilful cranemen we would be lost, for if building work slowed, there would be a cost.
So, to all lonely cranemen we take off our hat, they are speeding our building, no doubt of that. The cranes go round and round, the cables up and down, enabling new building to go up all over Dublin Town.