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Sydney and Valentines Day
Feb. 15th, 2008 11:33 amIt seems that another chapter of my life is drawing to an end. Nothing earth-shattering, but I'm losing my day driver, who is a thoroughly good egg. Together we have run a clean cab and provided friendly, efficient taxi service.
It's always been a highlight to chat with Jamie for a few moments as we handover. He's cheerful, even at the end of a twelve hour shift, has a great sense of humour, as honest and efficient a cabbie as you'd find anywhere, and a joy to work with.
But he's finding the long hours and poor pay a barrier to further progress in life, and for someone contemplating marriage and a house of his own, I wouldn't recommend cabbing either.
I've decided to take next week off, pending my departure for a two-week holiday, so I've probably shared work with Jamie for the last time, and when I come back in April, there will be a different driver. Maybe a different car.
Maybe I'll find something else to do, because I cannot say that I love the long hours and poor pay either, much as I love the job itself.
I'm always living on the fringes of sleep. I need to get enough rest to drive safely, but I don't get a real lot of free time in my life. This was brought home to me yesterday.
I finished work just after midnight, and got my head down for a bit of a kip before the alarm woke me at 0130. Time for a shower and a cup of coffee before DD and I were on the road to Sydney. I drove to begin with, but a bit after Goulburn, an hour on the road, I handed over to DD, who took us the rest of the way. Freeway driving in the wee hours of the morning isn't great for keeping awake, I've got to say.
I'd intended to get to Bradleys Head on the North Shore to see the Aurora come in, but it was after five when we neared the CBD,a nd I directed my daughter to Mrs Macquaries Chair instead - this is the long point of land across Farm Cove from the Opera House. It would have taken another half hour to get to Bradleys Head, and with Aurora scheduled to dock near the Harbour Bridge at 0545, well, we might have mist out.
Drizzle and dark. No sign of Aurora. DD kipped out in the parked car, while I took a few photographs of the Opera House. Eventually I sat out of the rain under a tree in a folding chair, just me and a few damp joggers.
The light gradually improved, and there, pushing past Bradleys Head like a mobile mountain, was Aurora!
She powered up the harbour, gradually slowing as she neared her berth, and I got off any number of photographs, most of them blurry through the light rain and low light.
Passengers were lining the upperworks and balconies. Every second or so a flash would go off aboard as they took in the Sydney views of skyline, Opera House and Bridge.
She's a big ship, right enough, and I dreamed of the days aboard, when I'll explore her as she takes me to foreign ports and parts. Just over a week to go and I'm off to join her in Hong Kong.
I got a quick shot of RingBear perched on a fence rail, and then we headed off to the airport, where we found a great planespotting location near the control tower. Looked like the Airbus A380 of Singapore Airlines had made its landing, so we made our way to the domestic terminal, where we could have a bite of breakfast at the Qantas Club.
No view of the runway from the club, however, so we went out and found some window seats near the end of Terminal 2, watching the aircraft. Eventually the high tail of the A380 moved, swivelled around behind the International Terminal on the far side of the airport, and the great beast itself became visible a few minutes later, taxiing past to the northern end of the main runway.
I took several photographs as she turned, paused a moment on the runway threshhold, and moved majestically off on her take off run. She seemed to take a very long time to get airborne, but she finally rotated and climbed away.
As unlikely as a block of flats taking to the air, I thought. This is one big bird, and we're talking hundreds of tonnes of metal here,
A short stop at the Occitane shop to buy a present for Kerri, and then I took the wheel for the ride home.
Made it past Campbelltown, and I was fighting fatigue. Handed over to DD again, and grabbed some snoretime.
We had to change over again an hour later and I finished the trip.
But, even with an hour's sleep at home, I wasn't anywhere near ready for twelve hours of driving ahead. I decided to delay the start of my shift, and eventually abandoned hope of starting at all.
Kerri came home, and after dinner we went out for coffee at Artoven, just spending a bit of husband/wife time of the sort we so rarely get during the week. Like my day driver, Kerri and I see each other in passing. A few words in the darkness when I come home before dawn, maybe a few more as she leaves for work.
Of course, we have Sunday together, but it's not enough.
And that's another reason why I'm so very much looking forward to two months of her uninterrupted company.
Taxidriving, much as I love it, can go drive itself for a while. I'll get back in late April, my batteries recharged, and take it up again.
It's always been a highlight to chat with Jamie for a few moments as we handover. He's cheerful, even at the end of a twelve hour shift, has a great sense of humour, as honest and efficient a cabbie as you'd find anywhere, and a joy to work with.
But he's finding the long hours and poor pay a barrier to further progress in life, and for someone contemplating marriage and a house of his own, I wouldn't recommend cabbing either.
I've decided to take next week off, pending my departure for a two-week holiday, so I've probably shared work with Jamie for the last time, and when I come back in April, there will be a different driver. Maybe a different car.
Maybe I'll find something else to do, because I cannot say that I love the long hours and poor pay either, much as I love the job itself.
I'm always living on the fringes of sleep. I need to get enough rest to drive safely, but I don't get a real lot of free time in my life. This was brought home to me yesterday.
I finished work just after midnight, and got my head down for a bit of a kip before the alarm woke me at 0130. Time for a shower and a cup of coffee before DD and I were on the road to Sydney. I drove to begin with, but a bit after Goulburn, an hour on the road, I handed over to DD, who took us the rest of the way. Freeway driving in the wee hours of the morning isn't great for keeping awake, I've got to say.
I'd intended to get to Bradleys Head on the North Shore to see the Aurora come in, but it was after five when we neared the CBD,a nd I directed my daughter to Mrs Macquaries Chair instead - this is the long point of land across Farm Cove from the Opera House. It would have taken another half hour to get to Bradleys Head, and with Aurora scheduled to dock near the Harbour Bridge at 0545, well, we might have mist out.
Drizzle and dark. No sign of Aurora. DD kipped out in the parked car, while I took a few photographs of the Opera House. Eventually I sat out of the rain under a tree in a folding chair, just me and a few damp joggers.
The light gradually improved, and there, pushing past Bradleys Head like a mobile mountain, was Aurora!
She powered up the harbour, gradually slowing as she neared her berth, and I got off any number of photographs, most of them blurry through the light rain and low light.
Passengers were lining the upperworks and balconies. Every second or so a flash would go off aboard as they took in the Sydney views of skyline, Opera House and Bridge.
She's a big ship, right enough, and I dreamed of the days aboard, when I'll explore her as she takes me to foreign ports and parts. Just over a week to go and I'm off to join her in Hong Kong.
I got a quick shot of RingBear perched on a fence rail, and then we headed off to the airport, where we found a great planespotting location near the control tower. Looked like the Airbus A380 of Singapore Airlines had made its landing, so we made our way to the domestic terminal, where we could have a bite of breakfast at the Qantas Club.
No view of the runway from the club, however, so we went out and found some window seats near the end of Terminal 2, watching the aircraft. Eventually the high tail of the A380 moved, swivelled around behind the International Terminal on the far side of the airport, and the great beast itself became visible a few minutes later, taxiing past to the northern end of the main runway.
I took several photographs as she turned, paused a moment on the runway threshhold, and moved majestically off on her take off run. She seemed to take a very long time to get airborne, but she finally rotated and climbed away.
As unlikely as a block of flats taking to the air, I thought. This is one big bird, and we're talking hundreds of tonnes of metal here,
A short stop at the Occitane shop to buy a present for Kerri, and then I took the wheel for the ride home.
Made it past Campbelltown, and I was fighting fatigue. Handed over to DD again, and grabbed some snoretime.
We had to change over again an hour later and I finished the trip.
But, even with an hour's sleep at home, I wasn't anywhere near ready for twelve hours of driving ahead. I decided to delay the start of my shift, and eventually abandoned hope of starting at all.
Kerri came home, and after dinner we went out for coffee at Artoven, just spending a bit of husband/wife time of the sort we so rarely get during the week. Like my day driver, Kerri and I see each other in passing. A few words in the darkness when I come home before dawn, maybe a few more as she leaves for work.
Of course, we have Sunday together, but it's not enough.
And that's another reason why I'm so very much looking forward to two months of her uninterrupted company.
Taxidriving, much as I love it, can go drive itself for a while. I'll get back in late April, my batteries recharged, and take it up again.
