Builders to the scaffold

St Ives must be the scaffolding centre of the universe. From the Island to the Malakoff, the stuff clings to buildings like some rampaging vegetation. Building repairs are necessary, but the suspicion is that sometimes scaffolding is left disfiguring the area long after it's needed because it's more convenient for the scaffolder to leave it until it's needed elsewhere rather than have to store it. The current record must go to the builder who has had scaffolding up at a house in the town for the last ten months - for a loft conversion!

It took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel...