We had safety harnesses but did not have instructions on how

We had safety harnesses but did not have instructions on how to use them. So we put on the harness, tied it off on the platform rails and hung by the harness to scrape the outsides and bottoms of the platforms. Absolutely stupid! And a misuse of the harness.

One day my dad walked out of the control room, looked up and saw us hanging by a single rope. I never saw him move so fast. There was a thunderclap as the air filled in behind him.

He was up the tower like a flash. We were told in no uncertain terms to safely get down to the ground. Then dad ‘tore a strip’ off the guy who ran our crew.

I was pretty impressed. Clearly, dad understood the massive implications of something untoward happening to one of these kids.

I also tried selling vacuum cleaners and Fuller Brushes (google Fuller Brush). I could not sell water to people in the Sahara dessert.