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Articles by Chris Whittaker

It’s a Peon’s Life for me  

Chris Whittaker

Chris and his wife Julia split their time between York and Jubar in la Alpujarra. Chris is an artist as well as writing regularly for the Moor Times. You can view his web site at www.goggleme.co.uk. He has also been known to do a little DIY around his house. He continually loses his tools so marks them with a blue spot so that he knows they are his. If you come across any then please contact Chris so that he can retrieve them. I am told there are a few at his son-in-laws hotel and restaurant in Mairena, Las Chimeneas.

Peon (pronounced pay-onn) an unskilled labourer - not to be confused with a peasant, Songs of Praise, a motorway toll, or even an Argentinean dictator…

7.10am. This is my third consecutive day of being a peon.  I don’t want to be a peon any more.  I want to be an artist, an intellectual and bon viveur.  I want to get up when the campo is aired and the sun is warming your bones.  Being a peon involves rising early at this time of year, and it is a very different matter from enjoying the wonderful spring early morning.  Going out on the cold and setting up the cement mixer and tools, connecting recalcitrant wiring, and pouring buckets of cold water through long and difficult hose pipes does not bring joy to my heart.  

Antonio is my boss.  I am paying him, but he knows what he’s doing, and I am just a day labourer.  Antonio is an albañil, a builder, with many skills.  He understands construction and he is a quantity surveyor, by eye.  He works hard and relentlessly.  When he’s happy he sings quite tunefully, and when he’s not happy he sings to cheer himself up.  He is known for one-liners of great wit, most of which I fail to grasp the point of.  I, in my turn, try feeble jokes in poor Spanish.  We both nod incomprehensibly and carry on working.  Manolo is a man of skills and considerable energy.  I was slightly appalled to realise that he’s two years older than me, and this is his retirement job.  But he can’t draw as far as I know.

When he’s working on the ground, a good peon will ensure that he never falters in the supply of cement, bricks or whatever else the maestro requires to hand.  If Antonio’s working on scaffolding, then the same uninterrupted level of supply is required, only everything has to be lifted 3 or 4 feet in the air.  Barrows come big - and full of wet cement, surprisingly difficult to move on a level terrain. On a messy site, they can be very tricky indeed.  A failure to supply at the moment required, or to understand the precise tool called for, will be greeted by a shrill, imperative whistle, which I have grown to be philosophical about.  

Albañiles always arrive at 8 o clock.  They are tough and don’t require cereal before they set off for work.  I imagine that Antonio rolls out of bed with exactly the right time to spare to get to his place of work, throws a few clothes on, picks up his lunch box, eyes the dawn, spits and sets out, practising looking hard.

At 10 o clock it is getting quite warm, and we all stop for breakfast, including the peon, who by this time is desperate for a second fix of coffee.  Antonio has la tensión, so he doesn’t drink coffee.  Instead his breakfast is much more healthy - a can of beer, slices taken from a chorizo with a frighteningly sharp clasp knife, and some fruit.  The fruit is always peeled carefully, and it is explained that unless he grew it, it must be peeled, for safety.  This is a man who balances on rickety scaffolding using an unearthed jackhammer.  Food for thought?

Our next break is at 2 o clock, for exactly one hour.  A welcome lunch, and some rest.  Three till five is usually a comfortable pace.  In the summer, builders frequently work till half past seven.

It was all worth it!  The cement dust in your boots and gloves, the cold water down your knees and the conviction that you’ve somehow broken a limb without noticing.  We now have a fantastic summerhouse, substantial and airy – well, it actually hasn’t got its roof yet.  And additionally, an extension of the vine gazebo at the front of the house in the form of huge pillars and chestnut beams.  It looks wonderful, and the bulk of the hard work is over in 3 days.

My son-in-lawis a cracker at this sort of thing.  He combines acting as relief peon, and sometimes principal peon, with harassing the builder’s supplier by telephone and achieving astonishing results at short notice.  He has an abundance of energy and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to tap into young people’s energy flows.  But your timing has to be right, and the moment must not be missed.  Also it has to be said, although he never loses face on site, he sometimes nips inside to borrow my hand cream.  But don’t tell Antonio.

© 2010 Chris Whittaker

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