Today I've a different angle on yesterday's photo that I've title, ‘Dozing Off'. It better shows what was in front of the bulldozer as he cut a trail down the escarpment for us.
I guess the operator would gauge where he was by looking at either side of the blade through the swirling dust. Certainly from his seat he couldn't see what was directly in front of the blade. I do recall that every so often he'd park up and walk to the edge to see his progress.
The swirling sands in the desert were bad enough but this was a very dusty job, fine clouds of gypsum and limestone dust constantly swirling around the blade and the tracks. The driver just used his headscarf over his mouth and nose for protection from inhaling and ingesting the fine particulate matter.
Add to that the mechanical rumbling of the machine and the grating of the steel tracks on the rock and the desert heat and it was far from a pleasant work environment.
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