the street sweeper machine rolled past. The trash that had piled up in the gutter was swept away. There wasn’t a lot, just a plastic bottle and some paper were at last, gone. I don’t know why people think they can just dump stuff on the nature strip and that’s it’s ok. (actually I do know why, but I’d rather not say) I really hate the assholes who think they’re doing the right thing and dump stuff in my empty garbage bin. I just tip it out into the gutter. I’m not touching that shit, especially if it’s dog crap. But enough of that. Let’s move on to more pleasant topics. I started listening to some excerpts from an album called Melbourne in 60 Seconds. I didn’t really understand the concept, but that’s not important. Actually, I now I thought I’d better read what it was, and it’s because every song is 60 seconds long. That’s why there are 2,000 tracks on the album. (I’m kidding)
The Slaughtermen – Ferrie in the middle (who came up with the name for the band) has a smile. Doolan at left, not so much
The only reason it came to my attention was because Slaughtermen bass player, Mark Ferrie (he’d probably hate me saying that) has a track on it, and there was a video of him talking about it on youtube. In the video Mark says something about Melbourne being a “punching bag” during the covid “pandemic”. Well it was fully deserved in my opinion, and further reinforced, given that Dan Andrews was rewarded for it by being re-elected recently. Why, I don’t know. Melbourne is a weird place. It’s the perfect place to be “from”. Nobody should stay there too long. If anyone has a right to an opinion about the place, it’s me. I spent decades there. It was great, believe me. I enjoyed most of it when it was good, but at some point the fish pond got too small for me, anyway.
That was supposed to be a pivot to a less annoying topic, but I don’t have much to say today. As I said on Monday, I have a lot to say but I’m trying to avoid politics. I hate talking about it, but these are the things that shape our existence in some way or other, whether we like it or not. That’s the the trouble with the world really. Most people want to be left alone by the government. They will begrudgingly pay taxes if the roads are fixed, and the schools educate their children in a sane manner using common sense, but that doesn’t always happen. The other problem with politics is that it attracts the wrong people. Most of the drones wanting to be politicians, couldn’t run a lemonade stand. They’re lifers who have figured out how to work the system. There are no term limits either, so you get these geriatric fools who have no clue, running entire cites, states and countries.
Only a chosen few will know who this is…hello?….
Ah, I don’t wanna talk about it. Everything is politics though. The interactions you have at work have a political element to them. You can’t just say and do what you like. I never really liked actual ‘work’ in the workplace. It was too political, unless I was working at the meatworks in Footscray, or something like that. With manual labor, you just do it. No questions asked. If any of you punks think that I don’t know what living in Melbourne is about, try working on the Angliss’ mutton chain for a few weeks. It’s closed down now, but there’s nothing quite like it. Think of an enormous, noisy, steaming hot room with pools of blood, entrails and sheep embryos on the floor. The racket is incredible, and imagine the smell. Freshly killed sheep are hanging upside down on hooks as they slowly move past you. The bodies are still warm.
The back breaking work stops briefly for a photo. It’s never this quiet. Someone should write a song about it.
You have to stand there in the one spot in a pool of blood and guts doing the same thing over and over for hour after hour. My job one particular time, involved grabbing one leg and hooking it onto an adjoining hook. I did this for eight hours, all day long. There was an address by the union rep one day, and we all got to step away from the chain for about half an hour. It was funny. The guy commenced his spiel by saying, “You blokes are all gonna need a good job if you wanna have a wife and kids and have a good life. Otherwise you’ll just be sitting in the shit house pulling your dick all day long. Is that what you want? That’s why youse should all join the union.”
I’ m still laffing at that one.
For those of you who haven’t seen it. This is better than a BBC documentary. Not really, but it was made in Melbourne.