A Finn Life by No Means

On my first slating job with Bob, it was a tenement building, so we went through the skylight window. He went first with a coil of thick rope and climbed up to the point of the roof, he seemed to sit on the roof with one leg under him. The rope was coiled round his shoulder, he put both hands on the roof and levered himself up a bit at a time until he reached the top. I was watching him with head stuck though the skylight, he sat down on the point of the roof and shouted “Hi Pat, I am going to throw down the end of the rope, catch it, pull it tight and walk up the roof”. I nearly had a fit! I was terrified and that is putting it mildly. The rope came down and I grabbed hold of it and started to get out through the skylight on my shaking knees. He shouted again, “pull the rope tight and stand up”. I did so and found myself on my feet. “Now lean back slightly and start walking up and mind them slates”. I did as I was told and it was quite easy, when I was nearly at the top I learned forward to catch hold of the ridge with one hand and suddenly one foot slipped. Bob grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and yanked me onto the ridge. I was gasping. “You silly buggar, I told you not to learn forward! Let that be a lesson to you. Are you alright”? I took another deep breath, “I’m ok” I replied.