Roos blues
May. 12th, 2008 04:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringSaturday was fairly traumatic. After hitting the roo on Friday night I was feeling pretty low. Killing an innocent animal was bad enough. It's not the roo's fault that we humans came along and built roads. Killing an animal for food is one thing, but I just feel bad about ending the life of a gentle creature that never meant me any harm.
Having said that, I felt even worse at the thought of what could have happened. Forget the drunk passengers, the abusive and violent. I can handle them, or at least do my best. No, it's not the crazies with knives that bother me. It's the herbivores.
If that roo had hit at a slightly different speed or direction, it might well have gone up over the bonnet and through the windscreen. Quite apart from the danger of me running off the road or into another car while dealing with the disaster, even a fatally damaged roo is capable of causing enormous damage with those powerful hind legs thrashing away, each one tipped with a whopping great claw. They can kick the gearshift or steering wheel as well as taking great chunks of flesh out of you.
I do my best to avoid kangaroos. I keep a good eye out ahead, and I slow down if I see them on the side of the road. It's when they jump straight out of bushes in front of me that I'm helpless. This one, I was going at the speed limit, doing my best to drive the most efficient route, taking the corners at just the right speed and angle. In a half second the roo was there in front of me, one bound and I hit it. Absolutely nothing I could do about it.
That's why I always say that the kangaroos are the worst part of the job. Any time, any where. No warning, just bam! and your night is shot.
Then there was the shame that I'd damaged a lovely car. My day driver had complimented me, saying that I was the only driver who brought the car back clean. And here I was bringing him a beat-up car.
All in all, I was about ready to chuck it in for Saturday, stay home in bed with a good book, have a good night's sleep, spend some family time. But I got into uniform and drove round to the day driver's place. I was actually quite relieved that the car wasn't there.
I drove into town, parked, and went shopping. Wanted to buy Kerri a book for Mothers' Day, you see, and any excuse to go into Borders works for me. Found the book I wanted, and (of course) spent a happy half hour browsing. I also got a book on the iPhone. I certainly haven't found all the cool features of the gadget yet, and this book looked pretty comprehensive.
Took a look into Mac1, the Apple shop. I'm extremely tempted to return to the Apple way of life, and taking a good look at the Macs just reinforces my perception of cool and elegant. Microsoft is all very well, but I'm getting pissed off with the way things stop working. Linux is too much like hard work, but Macs are just a pleasure to play with.
The only thing stopping me from buying a Macbook is the lack of money. Or rather the need to pay off the holiday. My earnings are earmarked for that for a long while, rather than buying more gadgets for me. I can live on happy memories for months yet - I don't need a new computer just now. But when it's time to replace this one, I'll be looking very seriously at a MacAir.
Anyway, my best strategy is to keep driving and earning money. It's really pathetic what I make as an hourly rate, but it adds up. And I like driving.
After shopping, I swung past the day driver's place. Just to confirm before taking the night off. The car was parked outside, and when I checked, it had been tidied up, bumper out of the boot and flapping plastic tied up out of the way. You'd have to take a second glance to see it had been damaged.
So I worked a normal Saturday shift, albeit starting late at 1630 instead of 1500. Then again, Saturday afternoons are pretty quiet. You don't get the frenzy of people heading for the airport, so losing an hour and a half on a Saturday isn't quite the disaster it would be on a Friday, when the afternoon is the peak earning time.
Picked up a few wedding guests from a hotel, taking them to the reception at the Boathouse. Flattered them shamelessly, but they deserved it. The ladies looked wonderful in their finery, it had been an absolutely perfect day for a wedding - sunny, still, and the leaves were lovely - and they were in a happy mood.
I love having happy people in my cab, and I guess it showed, because hours later when they wanted to come back, they asked base for me. I had a job in another part of town, so base found another driver, but they sent me a message telling me that I'd made a good impression.
All in all it was a good night. Better to be back in the saddle pulling in money for me and the owner than sulking at home.
In between jobs I read my iPhone book. Did I mention how much I love my iPhone? It's a totally cool device. Other companies, they just don't seem to understand the elegance of the Apple way of doing things. With Apple, less is more. Try to copy an iPhone or an iPod and you get something that invariably has more buttons and is harder to use.
Finished my shift at three. It's always a bit of a gamble picking up passengers after two in the morning. Not the passengers themselves, though I've got to say that as the night runs on the sensible people are more likely to be home in bed. It's where they want to go. If I get a job out to Tuggeranong or Jerrabomberra, it's a long way back to gas up and clean the car, and I might end up late for the day driver. But my last job was a short one, and with half an hour left, I declined the chance to do any more. Gassed up - at 72.9 cents a litre it's getting very expensive - ran the car through the wash, vacuumed it out, checked under the hood, and parked it in the day driver's driveway. Another night spent productively.
But I really value my two nights off a week!
Having said that, I felt even worse at the thought of what could have happened. Forget the drunk passengers, the abusive and violent. I can handle them, or at least do my best. No, it's not the crazies with knives that bother me. It's the herbivores.
If that roo had hit at a slightly different speed or direction, it might well have gone up over the bonnet and through the windscreen. Quite apart from the danger of me running off the road or into another car while dealing with the disaster, even a fatally damaged roo is capable of causing enormous damage with those powerful hind legs thrashing away, each one tipped with a whopping great claw. They can kick the gearshift or steering wheel as well as taking great chunks of flesh out of you.
I do my best to avoid kangaroos. I keep a good eye out ahead, and I slow down if I see them on the side of the road. It's when they jump straight out of bushes in front of me that I'm helpless. This one, I was going at the speed limit, doing my best to drive the most efficient route, taking the corners at just the right speed and angle. In a half second the roo was there in front of me, one bound and I hit it. Absolutely nothing I could do about it.
That's why I always say that the kangaroos are the worst part of the job. Any time, any where. No warning, just bam! and your night is shot.
Then there was the shame that I'd damaged a lovely car. My day driver had complimented me, saying that I was the only driver who brought the car back clean. And here I was bringing him a beat-up car.
All in all, I was about ready to chuck it in for Saturday, stay home in bed with a good book, have a good night's sleep, spend some family time. But I got into uniform and drove round to the day driver's place. I was actually quite relieved that the car wasn't there.
I drove into town, parked, and went shopping. Wanted to buy Kerri a book for Mothers' Day, you see, and any excuse to go into Borders works for me. Found the book I wanted, and (of course) spent a happy half hour browsing. I also got a book on the iPhone. I certainly haven't found all the cool features of the gadget yet, and this book looked pretty comprehensive.
Took a look into Mac1, the Apple shop. I'm extremely tempted to return to the Apple way of life, and taking a good look at the Macs just reinforces my perception of cool and elegant. Microsoft is all very well, but I'm getting pissed off with the way things stop working. Linux is too much like hard work, but Macs are just a pleasure to play with.
The only thing stopping me from buying a Macbook is the lack of money. Or rather the need to pay off the holiday. My earnings are earmarked for that for a long while, rather than buying more gadgets for me. I can live on happy memories for months yet - I don't need a new computer just now. But when it's time to replace this one, I'll be looking very seriously at a MacAir.
Anyway, my best strategy is to keep driving and earning money. It's really pathetic what I make as an hourly rate, but it adds up. And I like driving.
After shopping, I swung past the day driver's place. Just to confirm before taking the night off. The car was parked outside, and when I checked, it had been tidied up, bumper out of the boot and flapping plastic tied up out of the way. You'd have to take a second glance to see it had been damaged.
So I worked a normal Saturday shift, albeit starting late at 1630 instead of 1500. Then again, Saturday afternoons are pretty quiet. You don't get the frenzy of people heading for the airport, so losing an hour and a half on a Saturday isn't quite the disaster it would be on a Friday, when the afternoon is the peak earning time.
Picked up a few wedding guests from a hotel, taking them to the reception at the Boathouse. Flattered them shamelessly, but they deserved it. The ladies looked wonderful in their finery, it had been an absolutely perfect day for a wedding - sunny, still, and the leaves were lovely - and they were in a happy mood.
I love having happy people in my cab, and I guess it showed, because hours later when they wanted to come back, they asked base for me. I had a job in another part of town, so base found another driver, but they sent me a message telling me that I'd made a good impression.
All in all it was a good night. Better to be back in the saddle pulling in money for me and the owner than sulking at home.
In between jobs I read my iPhone book. Did I mention how much I love my iPhone? It's a totally cool device. Other companies, they just don't seem to understand the elegance of the Apple way of doing things. With Apple, less is more. Try to copy an iPhone or an iPod and you get something that invariably has more buttons and is harder to use.
Finished my shift at three. It's always a bit of a gamble picking up passengers after two in the morning. Not the passengers themselves, though I've got to say that as the night runs on the sensible people are more likely to be home in bed. It's where they want to go. If I get a job out to Tuggeranong or Jerrabomberra, it's a long way back to gas up and clean the car, and I might end up late for the day driver. But my last job was a short one, and with half an hour left, I declined the chance to do any more. Gassed up - at 72.9 cents a litre it's getting very expensive - ran the car through the wash, vacuumed it out, checked under the hood, and parked it in the day driver's driveway. Another night spent productively.
But I really value my two nights off a week!
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Re: I am glad that you are all right
Date: 2008-05-12 01:10 am (UTC)Only 11 months until Christchurch then i can hug you hard in person. Until then this will have to do (((((((((((((((Pete))))))))))))))