A couple days ago, I took on a new challenge in my life.

I never ever thought that I would be doing this. Ever.

Me, the clumsiest person in the world, a person who falls over in public places and who is not able to travel by coach because I always end up in a different location to the one planned … At the end of the day, I am the person who ended up in England with my own responsibilities and no one knows how I managed that (I’m still unsure myself?)

Someone smart once said to me, that if you can laugh at yourself you have fun guaranteed for the rest of your life. And that somehow is how I keep going.

So, my sense of humour actually helped me to step out of the shadow (step up from behind the camera to the forefront) and bravely install an Easy-Fit Protective Guard.

Pump House manufactured Easy-Fit Guards, are weather resistant, steel mesh and offer a safe solution to vandalism and accidental damage of our expensive AC units and heat pump units. The package includes a wall frame, four arms, two side panels, one top panel and one front panel. There is also a bag of fixings included containing an allen key, screws, bolts and washers. (Yes, I have learned all this because I have never worked for an air conditioning and refrigeration company before. So, for a woman this is a completely unsexy industry).

First of all, I watched our handy product manager, Tony Horne, install this guard before I started on my own and tried to remember every step by step. I really have to admit that it was simple to understand and remembering the process was easy.

The truth is I didn’t drill the holes into the wall (Gosh help the people around me if I did), but everything else, I did install on my own.

Before I secured the frame to the wall I screwed the arms to the frame using the allen key which was included in the packaging. After that, the frame went up on the wall and was secured by bolts and washers. The frame has eight holes (Small Guard) so engineers can choose which one is the best to secure. I reckon two on the top and two on the bottom is enough to secure the frame.

Once I had the frame fitted to the wall I added the side panels. This was the easiest process out of the whole installation! So, whilst holding the arms, I started from the bottom to slide them and click them into place. Easy! I did the same with the second side panel.

Next it was the top panel; this was a bit heavier than the side panel.

The last bit was to secure the front panel to the frame.

Standing in freezing cold temperatures and filming some scenes over and over my hands turned blue (I thought my fingers would fall off) as I struggled to hold the front panel - it was a little bit heavier than I thought (for a tiny woman like me). So, we had to repeat this scene a couple of times until I managed to secure the front panel to the frame. The funny thing was, that I dropped the allen key…Then I dropped the screws… Then I walked away using inappropriate language about the cold weather and wishing the summer weather was still with us. I had a runny nose, which I don’t think comes across on the film, but I did successfully manage to install our Easy-Fit Protective Guard and I was very, very proud of myself!  

Not only did I face my fear, but I faced the camera and I faced the guard: ‘Woman vs Guard.’

I am delighted to tell you, that the Pump House installation process of the guards is indeed, really easy and even I could manage to put it together, a woman without any previous experience in this industry.

This is another thing crossed off my bucket list, which was really good fun.

On the other side – doing this when really cold and without gloves was difficult in itself because of the risk of frozen fingers and icicles from my nose, so please be aware of this!

Massive respect goes out to all of the engineers who do this every day no matter the weather conditions, I think you do a brilliant job! Thumbs up to all of you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwniECm05jE