Home and Away
Posted on 2008-Mar-11 at 03:04
Bum.
Bum bum bum bum BUM.
Forget Darwin. Darwin’s off. As a matter of fact, it looks like everything is off and I will soon be out of a job.
Isn’t it funny how things can suddenly turn on a pin head? It was all looking so good. Darwin was arranged for April, Fundy had put in notice on his mechanic’s job, and it had even been worked out so that we would fit in an interesting field trip (Fundy involved as well) in Karratha on the long drive north. It would have been the perfect chance for him – and me - to see some really unusual and remote Aussie wildlife and outback. More Boot Trees, maybe. We couldn’t wait!
I don’t know if I jinxed it, but the night before the see-saw tilted on the cosmic fulcrum, I burbled away happily to my Dad on the phone. “I just can’t believe how well it has all turned out,” I confessed, slotting in the happy details of our planned drive along the Western Australian coastline and our eventual set-up in Darwin. “It really is just too good to be true”.
Famous last words.
It is a fact that things that seem too good to be true usually are and the very next morning my boss called me to a meeting. To cut his story short, he was upset at how our backers have been treating him and he wanted a way out. HE wants to be his own boss. HE wants to own the glory. HE was spitting the dummy.
It’s not a definite, though it is sounding that way. He wants to dissolve the company and start again. This is all fine and dandy I suppose, but the competition clause means he can’t take any clients with him (fair enough) and also that there would be a necessary latent period of around six months between ventures. He wants me for this new company but there would be no Darwin and I would have to find something else to do for the six month interim.
I told him not to worry about me and that I would see out the current position as far as it went and then he could talk to me again if/when another position was available and I would think about it in terms of whether the opportunity was right for me at the time. Then I thought “Shit” and “Poo Bugger Bum”.
It’s strange, but I’ve never lost a job before. And now it seems bizarre that just a few days ago I was listening to a segment on the radio exploring the reactions of people who unexpectedly become retrenched; how they act in response to the news and what they do. As I listened I thought (obviously forgetting to touch wood) how fortunate that that had never happened to me.
*Ahem*
I lamented all this to the Fundinator as we were stuck in traffic on the Kwinana freeway trying to make our way out of the city for the long weekend. We had splashed out on a little silver hire car for a three-day jaunt around the south-western forests, ostensibly to recharge our batteries after a number of weeks of hard slog but also to have a look around the area before pinging off to the wilds of the Northern Territory. The demise of the latter plan had all gone down just hours before our departure and Fundy was as surprised as I was. Like a light switch suddenly flicked, our future had unexpectedly become uncertain.
We threw around a few potential options should things really hit the fan and then, pulling off the freeway onto a clear country road, decided not to worry about it any more. What will be will be. The future is always uncertain and, who knows, perhaps we will just go on up to Darwin on our own and any old how. This job had been a lucky chance gig anyway. For now we were on our way to the Karri forests of Pemberton and that was all that mattered. *Hi Ho Silver, and awaaaay!*
Actually, we were lucky to get a booking. We had only come up with the idea the week before and had had no idea of the imminent long weekend (these falling at different times of year in different States of Australia), so it was a pleasant surprise to find that we had the Monday off work without even trying.
Unfortunately, when I rang a recommended Pemberton hotel, they informed me that all their standard rooms were booked out. So were all of their more expensive deluxe version. They did have a “budget” room available, however – this being essentially the same as a standard room but without air-conditioning and in need of “an update”.
“What, so it has scary swirly retro pub carpet then?” I enquired.
“Yeah” said the guy on the phone, “And wallpaper to match.”
“Exxxxxcellent!” I grinned “ We’ll take it!”
Despite a few road works, it was a pretty cruisy drive with only one U-turn and both of us content to listen to the radio and let our minds wander as the countryside rolled by. It was the Fundinator’s first time out of the city since arriving in Australia (oh the bane of being car-less!) and it was fun to watch his reaction to the wide open landscape.
Knowing that kangaroos especially like to emerge onto grassy country plains at around sunrise and sunset, I had told the Fundinator to keep an eye out for them as we drove. Accordingly, and like a small boy, he travelled with his nose pressed to the window. Unfortunately however, after about three hours on the road we had spotted none. The sun was all but set and I was feeling guilty, like I had lied.
Then, just as Fundy was about to declare that there was obviously no such thing as kangaroos and that they were evidently a creature made up by the Australian tourist board to lure hapless travelers to this country, we saw one. All by herself, scratching her belly and staring absently from the middle of a clearing: a Western Grey.
Fundy’s face was a picture. “Oh my God” he said “WOW! They are real.”
After that he sat silently back with a beatific smile on his face, occasionally mumbling “Wow – I’m here. I’m really here. I'm in Australia” and looking like he wanted to pinch himself.
I giggled at him and felt all proud of this land. Of course, we saw many many roos after that - big old males hopping along, mothers with pouched joeys and whole families feeding - but it is always the first one that stays in your memory. And the look on Fundy’s face will stay in mine. :D
To be continued...
Bum bum bum bum BUM.
Forget Darwin. Darwin’s off. As a matter of fact, it looks like everything is off and I will soon be out of a job.
Isn’t it funny how things can suddenly turn on a pin head? It was all looking so good. Darwin was arranged for April, Fundy had put in notice on his mechanic’s job, and it had even been worked out so that we would fit in an interesting field trip (Fundy involved as well) in Karratha on the long drive north. It would have been the perfect chance for him – and me - to see some really unusual and remote Aussie wildlife and outback. More Boot Trees, maybe. We couldn’t wait!
I don’t know if I jinxed it, but the night before the see-saw tilted on the cosmic fulcrum, I burbled away happily to my Dad on the phone. “I just can’t believe how well it has all turned out,” I confessed, slotting in the happy details of our planned drive along the Western Australian coastline and our eventual set-up in Darwin. “It really is just too good to be true”.
Famous last words.
It is a fact that things that seem too good to be true usually are and the very next morning my boss called me to a meeting. To cut his story short, he was upset at how our backers have been treating him and he wanted a way out. HE wants to be his own boss. HE wants to own the glory. HE was spitting the dummy.
It’s not a definite, though it is sounding that way. He wants to dissolve the company and start again. This is all fine and dandy I suppose, but the competition clause means he can’t take any clients with him (fair enough) and also that there would be a necessary latent period of around six months between ventures. He wants me for this new company but there would be no Darwin and I would have to find something else to do for the six month interim.
I told him not to worry about me and that I would see out the current position as far as it went and then he could talk to me again if/when another position was available and I would think about it in terms of whether the opportunity was right for me at the time. Then I thought “Shit” and “Poo Bugger Bum”.
It’s strange, but I’ve never lost a job before. And now it seems bizarre that just a few days ago I was listening to a segment on the radio exploring the reactions of people who unexpectedly become retrenched; how they act in response to the news and what they do. As I listened I thought (obviously forgetting to touch wood) how fortunate that that had never happened to me.
*Ahem*
I lamented all this to the Fundinator as we were stuck in traffic on the Kwinana freeway trying to make our way out of the city for the long weekend. We had splashed out on a little silver hire car for a three-day jaunt around the south-western forests, ostensibly to recharge our batteries after a number of weeks of hard slog but also to have a look around the area before pinging off to the wilds of the Northern Territory. The demise of the latter plan had all gone down just hours before our departure and Fundy was as surprised as I was. Like a light switch suddenly flicked, our future had unexpectedly become uncertain.
We threw around a few potential options should things really hit the fan and then, pulling off the freeway onto a clear country road, decided not to worry about it any more. What will be will be. The future is always uncertain and, who knows, perhaps we will just go on up to Darwin on our own and any old how. This job had been a lucky chance gig anyway. For now we were on our way to the Karri forests of Pemberton and that was all that mattered. *Hi Ho Silver, and awaaaay!*
Actually, we were lucky to get a booking. We had only come up with the idea the week before and had had no idea of the imminent long weekend (these falling at different times of year in different States of Australia), so it was a pleasant surprise to find that we had the Monday off work without even trying.
Unfortunately, when I rang a recommended Pemberton hotel, they informed me that all their standard rooms were booked out. So were all of their more expensive deluxe version. They did have a “budget” room available, however – this being essentially the same as a standard room but without air-conditioning and in need of “an update”.
“What, so it has scary swirly retro pub carpet then?” I enquired.
“Yeah” said the guy on the phone, “And wallpaper to match.”
“Exxxxxcellent!” I grinned “ We’ll take it!”
Despite a few road works, it was a pretty cruisy drive with only one U-turn and both of us content to listen to the radio and let our minds wander as the countryside rolled by. It was the Fundinator’s first time out of the city since arriving in Australia (oh the bane of being car-less!) and it was fun to watch his reaction to the wide open landscape.
Knowing that kangaroos especially like to emerge onto grassy country plains at around sunrise and sunset, I had told the Fundinator to keep an eye out for them as we drove. Accordingly, and like a small boy, he travelled with his nose pressed to the window. Unfortunately however, after about three hours on the road we had spotted none. The sun was all but set and I was feeling guilty, like I had lied.
Then, just as Fundy was about to declare that there was obviously no such thing as kangaroos and that they were evidently a creature made up by the Australian tourist board to lure hapless travelers to this country, we saw one. All by herself, scratching her belly and staring absently from the middle of a clearing: a Western Grey.
Fundy’s face was a picture. “Oh my God” he said “WOW! They are real.”
After that he sat silently back with a beatific smile on his face, occasionally mumbling “Wow – I’m here. I’m really here. I'm in Australia” and looking like he wanted to pinch himself.
I giggled at him and felt all proud of this land. Of course, we saw many many roos after that - big old males hopping along, mothers with pouched joeys and whole families feeding - but it is always the first one that stays in your memory. And the look on Fundy’s face will stay in mine. :D
Hot Wheels and the Kangas
To be continued...
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