ROFLMAO-ing here!! Only the truth can be so funny! My dad was an Installer/Repairman for Southwestern Bell waaaay back before the break up. One of the things he did was repair wet cables. It was called "burning" cable.....you picked a pole connection point as near as could be determined to the trouble source (wet cable) and sent electricity through the cable.

That gave you a clue as to where the electricity was not running correctly, so you climbed down the pole, went a couple blocks, and tried it again.Keep this up until you find the wet spot.........

Dad's boss sent him out one day to "burn this cable". He was on his first pole, and suddenly, several blocks away, all sorts of fire engines, police, etc. were converging in the alley.

He wondered what was going on, so he climbed down the pole and walked up there. There, on the pole, at the top, was a flaming, gooey mass of melting plastic, lead sleeving and copper wire.........he burnt the cable, all right. There was a dry birds nest in it which caught fire. A 500 pair cable had just burned completely in two. It took 72 hours straight to get it fixed......when the Boss tried to reprimand Dad, he said:

"But boss, you TOLD me to go burn the cable!" No reprimand was put in his file.