MOOMINS M.C.

'

And you gotta ask yourself.............do you feel lucky?
Well do ya punk?

Well I am feelin pretty lucky actually, thanks for asking!
Last night, my good buddies down on the southern territory Taswegia, Wolfy and Trent had phoned with an offer I couldn't refuse.
They came up with the bright idea that at the year's end I should be travelling down to the fair isle over the other side of the creeek that seperates it from Melbourne.
You see the Falls Music Festival is on at that time and they proposed I come down for some R & R.
They along with Kim even offered to pay for my air fare and put me up.
Now I have mentioned before the incredibly humbling kindness shown to me by many great mates before and this was yet another example of this kind of behaviour which, once again came out of the blue and if I wasn't on my hospital bed, I would have surely fallen off my seat, pssiblly causing more injury to my already battered chassis and panelwork.

It still blows me out.


Had a couple of firsts today.
Had my first hydro therapy session today I didst.
Yep this fine specimen of land lubber had a taste of the life aquatic and deemed it to be good.
Spent a bit of time walking in the pool, then performing some moves that wouldn't be unusual in some tai chi class.
But by far the best bit was just being able to float ( with the aid of a few floatation devices ) for a while.
Just exist in the water, with no particular point or purpose.
Float half in the world of h2o and half in air, mind just blank for the first time in a long time.
No distracting assessments of which vehicle to purchase when the time comes for that, no attempted anticipation of emplyment, no useless analysis of body parts current and prospective functions, no unnecessary worrying about readjusting to "normal" life.
Oh what contented bliss and diversion!

When i got back I had another first.
That being my first upright shower.
Yes sirree, none of this sitting down business for this little hunk of truck fodder, that's strictly for cripples!!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Speaking of cripples, got some new cripple bling from my ocupational therapist at my review today.
A couple of fancy finger straighteners that double as resistance training devices for my right 5th and 4th metacarples ( that's fingers for the medically ignorant ), you know, the ones that got mashed by the semi trailer.....trailer.


After all that, I was paid a visit by my housemate Cam and "pommy chick" Laura.
We took off for a quick bit of spliffage and then to the rub a dub for some quenching ales.
And a good proper winter day it was out there too.
You now the overcast, threatening to rain all the time type, with a bracing breeze pushing the crisp, fresh air along.
Laura having blessed our shores with her fine presence will be flying back to the land of grey ( or England as some prefer to know it as ) this weekend.
Just short of a year long trans national sojourn that saw her, amongst other things, working as a jillaroo in the Queensland outback.

Our main source of amusement was that ritual performed every day at 7:30am and 4:30pm every day.
That's right, the clearing of the clearway in time for the peak hour traffic.
We spotted four vehicles offendingly at rest in one of these zones and bang right on 4:30pm the tow truck turns up.
Two blokes in flouro orange vests jump out and proceed towards the innocent vehicles ( it's not their fault their owners left them exposed like that ).
One proceeds to take mug shots of the first car whilst the other one hooks up a tow line.
Before you know it the city dwelling four wheel drive is crudely hauled up onto the eagerly waiting tilt tray and they're away like they've stolen it.
This got me thinking.
If you turned up with orange vests and a tow truck and a camera, you too could walk away with a new car!
No one would think anything suspicious if you did it at a clearway time.

Whilst all this is going on, a weedy parking inspector is placing fines on the four cars behind it.
I'm not sure if he managed to get one on the UAV ( urban assualt vehicle ), but I wouldn't put it past him.

Following this one of the owners turns up to find a ticket on his windscreen.
Now I figure if he can afford those shiny aftermarket 18inch rims, he can afford a ticket for blocking a clearway.
:P

Next arrived a mum to find her people mover newly adorned with a little piece of paper.
She didn't look at all impressed but seemed to take it on the chin.
:(

Next to arrive was a young asian gentleman with parents in tow. His boy racer also sporting a new paper motif on the windscreen.
Looking at it in disbelief, he shows it to his folks who also look at it in dibelief.
They check the parking meter ticket bought at the machine and surely the allotted time had not run out, so why the ticket?
More disbelief.
:|
They then proceed to scan the footpath up and down to see if they could spot the inspector, but he'd long gone, off to decorate more cars.
Still in shock they spot the clearway sign and all becomes clear.
Well almost.
There's still one more car.

Now by this time, the tow truck had promptly dispatched the first car and had hurriedly come back to hunt again.
Now can you imagine what it must be like turning up to see your car being hooked up to the tilt tray and on closer inspection finding that you also had a ticket?
The couple pleaded with the towies but "rules are rules" and after more mug shots, their pride and joy was whisked away to some cold and unhomely compound to be incarcerated for the duration of the owners getting their poo in a pile.

You should have seen the look on these people's faces!
:0
There's that last glimmer of hope which disappears as quickly as the truck disappears into the distance, followed by the anger, then the laughing denial and then finally the resignation.

But all this is nothing compared to the woman who's UAV had been so hastily transported away.
She walks down the footpath all very confident, probably thinking how nice the car's heater will be when she gets in out of the cold.
She walks past the spot where her car was parked and about two parking spots later, her walk becomes progressively slower until she comes to a confused halt;


"I'm sure I parked here somewhere........hmmm."


She turns around and walks back to where her AUV ought to be and it finally dawns on her that it's gone!!!
She followed this with more confused pacing up and down the footpath whilst ferreting around her quite capacious hand bag for her phone.
Lonely, cold, violated, she stood there.
Before she was a confident city woman with a four wheel drive.
Now just like all the other plebs roaming the streets in a manner unheard of........on foot, in the cold miserable Melbournian winter.
An empty shell!
For a moment the realisation must've dawned on her.


"I'm without my car. Yet I'm still here. I am not my car."


Maybe that's just hopeful thinking.
And just as she was about to take off, the now empty tow truck arrives to take away the couple's car.
She realises the error of her ways and starts to interact with the driver and cameraman / assistant.
One can only imagine what was said.




I'll finish today's waffling with a little saying I've started using recently.
I used to think that there's always someone worse off than me.
Now I just say:


"It's always funny!"


"If it happens to someone else!"




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