Industrial Walks and Knocker Ups

Sometimes, walking through more industrial parts of town is a really colorful experience. It's full of graffiti art, brightly colored trash receptacles, sun drenched building sides and bright blue skies (when caught on the right day!). 

The industrial parts of Seattle can feel pretty lonely at certain parts of the day or week. These photos are from a late afternoon on a Sunday, so all the workers were at home enjoying their free time. The world they inhabited during working hours becomes a quiet and empty place. When the workers are there, it is full of the buzz of the industry, and the hustle of moving machinery.

Industry creates all sorts of jobs for people, including some unexpected jobs. During the Industrial Revolution, there was quite the strange job available for the morning birds among us. It was called 'knocker up.' It sounds like a job for someone whose responsibility is to get people pregnant. But the term knocked up wasn't used in print until after the Industrial Revolution was already weening toward an end. The people who were employed as a knocker up had the grave responsibility of waking up sleepers early in the morning so they could successfully get to work in time. Most knocker ups would use a long stick to bang upon the door of the sleeper. The knocker up mustn't leave their door banging post until they are certain their client is awake, bright-eyed and ready to conquer the day and their own job responsibilities. One knocker up was more of the creative sort and instead of using a stick, this person would use a pea-shooter, which is like a blow pipe that would use dried pees as ammunition. Sadly, the very thing that made their job relevant, an increase in industry and technology, eventually lead to their downfall. The industry fueled innovation, the innovation created the alarm clock, and the knocker ups purpose became obsolete.