The Show, Blow and Go Men
From my Friend L.M.:
I suppose it’s an indication of our good intentions - we are destroying the planet by trying to improve it. On any day of the week you can see a new profession operating in the streets. He - it is usually a he - is involved in the beautification of our environment.
I call him a “Show, Blow and Go men”. He arrives, he blows stuff around and then he leaves. They are not gardeners, but rather external cleaners. They walk around with petrol driven blowers on their backs and holding the exhaust pipes in their hands, their function is to clean by blowing the dirt, leaves and dry grass from one property to the next. Besides the noise they generate which must inevitably lead to their own deafness, all they are doing is moving stuff around. Occasionally you may see one of them sweeping the pile of dirt they manufacture into a pan and then into a bin, but mostly they just blow it into the next door property.
So far so good, but they’re doing something much more harmful. Their blowers are lifting solid particles into the air and that’s the same air we breathe. Walk near to where a blower is operating and you breathe in a lungful of particles. Some of these are ‘heavy’ and have been lifted into the air by the blower. You breathe them in and they settle in your lungs.
Your lungs naturally produce a mucous to trap the particles and tiny hairs in your lungs wiggle to move the mucous and particles out of the lung. You may even notice something in the back of your throat, which is actually mucous. You get rid of the mucous by coughing or swallowing. If the particle is small and it gets very far into the lungs, special cells in the lung will trap the particles and prevent them from getting out. The result can be lung disease, emphysema or lung cancer.
I suppose it’s an indication of our good intentions - we are destroying the planet by trying to improve it. On any day of the week you can see a new profession operating in the streets. He - it is usually a he - is involved in the beautification of our environment.
I call him a “Show, Blow and Go men”. He arrives, he blows stuff around and then he leaves. They are not gardeners, but rather external cleaners. They walk around with petrol driven blowers on their backs and holding the exhaust pipes in their hands, their function is to clean by blowing the dirt, leaves and dry grass from one property to the next. Besides the noise they generate which must inevitably lead to their own deafness, all they are doing is moving stuff around. Occasionally you may see one of them sweeping the pile of dirt they manufacture into a pan and then into a bin, but mostly they just blow it into the next door property.
So far so good, but they’re doing something much more harmful. Their blowers are lifting solid particles into the air and that’s the same air we breathe. Walk near to where a blower is operating and you breathe in a lungful of particles. Some of these are ‘heavy’ and have been lifted into the air by the blower. You breathe them in and they settle in your lungs.
Your lungs naturally produce a mucous to trap the particles and tiny hairs in your lungs wiggle to move the mucous and particles out of the lung. You may even notice something in the back of your throat, which is actually mucous. You get rid of the mucous by coughing or swallowing. If the particle is small and it gets very far into the lungs, special cells in the lung will trap the particles and prevent them from getting out. The result can be lung disease, emphysema or lung cancer.
