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BC-Lighthouse-Keeper181 karma

certain stations are set up different depending on the principal keeper. They are essentially your all powerful god on a station.

Currently, I wake at 3am, go outside and monitor the weather, check to make sure the light is still on and then report the weather over the radio telephone.
I do this again at 6am and at 9am. Also at 6 I have to check and record temperatures for Environment Canada.

10 to 3 is work time where we do different tasks on the island. Painting, lawn mowing, general up keep and what not.

After 3 is my own free time where I can do what I wish and I usually go to bed by 7 or so.

This would be 7 days a week. No weekends. I do forgo the 10 to 3 work bit on the weekends tho.

The other keeper would be responsible for more reports at 12, 3, 6 and 9 at night.

BC-Lighthouse-Keeper169 karma

That movie is 100% realistic, if it was 100 years ago. Living as a keeper today is really very little like that. No need to shovel coal but there are engines that need to be tended to. They run on diesel now so no shoveling but occasionally you have to move large barrels around.

The nice thing about most modern places is you don't share a dwelling. Each keeper has their own place to live so you have a lot more privacy then what it was like when there was only one keeper dwelling.

I will say, I absolutely love this movie and while there is no way for me to get out and see it in theaters, I will be buying the DVD as soon as it comes out.

BC-Lighthouse-Keeper148 karma

It does not bother me much as I still get 8 hours a day, it would be similar if I was doing a night shift or something along those lines. Since it is 7 days a week you get used to the routine and so it just becomes habit. You modify your daily routines around this and everything goes smooth. Since you are not compelled to follow the masses around you in their waking habits, it actually becomes very easy.

BC-Lighthouse-Keeper143 karma

25 of the 27 stations in BC are mandated to have 2 people on the station at all times. This is in case there is an emergency or something happens. The other 2 stations have full road access and so they are not required to have the 2 keepers because in an emergency someone can get to the station in a pinch.

I don't get bored myself. It is actually more like there still is not enough time in a day to do all the things I want to do. Lucky for me the station I am currently at has full internet but not all of them are so lucky and your connectivity is limited. Some don't have cell service or anything, your only form of communication is the radio telephone.

BC-Lighthouse-Keeper87 karma

Tasks are done as they are needed. If your house runs out of fuel, you will have no heat and that is not something you want to happen in the colder months, so you are sure to check the level of the fuel each week.

Many of the tasks that are needed to be done are kept in a log book, similar to what you see in the movies. There are log books for weather, log books for tasks and log books for paperwork. This paperwork needs to all be submitted monthly to the Canadian Coast Guard hub that you are working with.

Any way you look at it, it is government work so there is a ton of paperwork that goes with the job. The nice thing is that if I don't feel like painting the lighthouse today because it is cold out, I can do it tomorrow. You need a fairly good sense of responsibility to keep things going.