Tour Interlude And Catch Up

I feel it is time to interrupt my ongoing “Not A Midlife Crisis, Just An Extended Tour” series of posts with a bit of a catch up on what else has been going on in daily life the last few months. This will be a bit “warts and all”, so strap in.

Well, to start with, we are back at work. I do appreciate having a job but the industry is a complete shit show. People needed an income during Covid, so, many experienced staff left to find a job in other industries. This was pretty easy because it turns out aviation workers have great transferable skills and are dedicated, task focussed employees.

 Senior management of aviation companies in this country contributed to the severity of this shit show by using Covid as a cover to remove many more staff and to substantially cut the wages of the staff who remained - despite BILLIONS of dollars of government support to retain staff and be ready to ramp up again, post pandemic. 

Personally, that was a base cut of 20% for me - on top of the almost two years of no real income. Every remaining work group in my company took a hefty haircut on pay despite our part of the operation always being profitable (Other sections of the company were horrendously poorly performing which dragged us all down) yet they expect the same commitment from their staff. Hence, staff are leaving in droves.

 So, it isn’t much of a stretch to imagine that there is NO good will remaining from staff in this industry. The companies are getting exactly what they are paying for and not a jot more. We have been treated like an expendable commodity. Funny thing is, aviation is such a time critical, safety critical jigsaw puzzle that must be timed with the precision of a symphony that any small part, not done right, will derail it. Fair remuneration and a feeling of being valued goes a long way to making people turn up to work and to making things run smoothly…….something the “Chiefs” seemed to have overlooked….so they blame “an Indian (labour) shortage”. Nope, it is far simpler than that - it is a “goodwill/remuneration shortage”.

After 20 years in this particular job it is quite distressing to see how things are but the only way to cope is to just control the things I can control and not worry about the rest. I see most of my colleagues taking the same approach. As professional as ever where it counts with the peripheral bullshit being ignored.

Clearly, this whole Covid thing has left a lot of us feeling a bit lost and this comes from several angles. I got sick of the bullshit (yes, more bullshit!) that the local council were loading onto us and the incompetence shown in turning a large group of highly engaged volunteers into a small group of ambivalent local residents with regard to our trailcare work in Cornubia Forest. So I resigned as one of the Team Leaders but noted I would remain as a member of the program. I eventually received an email thanking me for my work over the last 10 or 11 years and acknowledging my complete resignation from the Trail Care Program! They couldn’t even read my email correctly! Anyway, I have still been helping out but apparently my volunteer hours don’t count because I’m not officially on the books!  WHATever..... 🙄

On another front I decided to get off my arse and do something positive that I have been meaning to do for 15-20 years. Something that would actually help my fellow Australians. I rolled up my sleeve and gave blood. Apart from the 50 questions (which were for my protection) it was a pretty easy process and I felt absolutely fine afterwards.

The free feed after the donation was appreciated too! They said “help yourself” but I was very restrained.🤨

I even got a sticker! 😆 Now three months until I can do it again.

I still don’t own a car, having sold my beloved Toyota Prado as the pandemic struck. I just can’t bring myself to stump up for the purchase price of a stupidly inflated second hand car and also can’t bring myself to commit to a 12-18 month timeline for a new vehicle. Why? See the reference to the 20% less income bit above.

So, I’m making do with my stable of bikes. (bikes are cheap😜) With all the rain this year that makes for a sometimes tedious mode of transport. But at others, bloody good fun. 😎

Speaking of bikes, obviously I have been escaping reality and having a whale of a time touring the south east of the country on my Africa Twin.

 I’m doing it because I have minimal commitments at home this year. The Boss is working her backside off with her business so is in the office for long hours, Number 1 child is at university and Number 2 child is final year of high school, with a car and a licence, so I don’t see him much either. But an interesting development recently was Number 1 child obtaining her motorcycle Learners licence! She decided on a nice little Honda CB125e to gain experience. (I joked about her becoming an Uber Eats delivery rider.😆)

 So, I am now a riding instructor!🫣

Our first ride saw me holding my breath quite a few times and not getting out of second gear for the entire ride. However, after that ride Number 1 child has a grin that cannot be extinguished.

Just a week or so later I decided it was time to get Number 2 child a more appropriate dirt bike for his size and ability. An SWM RS300 with just 560km on the clock came up for a very attractive price so a quick trip to Sydney to pick up said bike occurred licking split. It was exactly as advertised and looked just like the 300 version of my Husky TE510 from 2007. (SWMs are built in the old Husky factory in Italy and ARE Huskies from around 2012)

And we got it out onto the trails the following weekend.

Both kids came along and experienced their first “proper” dirt biking. Hell, it was my first time riding these type of rutted, loamy MX tracks.  I have only ever previously done trail riding. Suffice to say...

It.Was.Awesome!

Will.

Lucy.

Lucy was keen and it was so cool watching her skills and confidence grow throughout the day. (I may have created a monster!) I am sure this confidence will translate to her road riding too.

Will loved the new bike as it fitted him much better. In fact I loved it too and I will be purchasing another for myself.😉 Who needs a car?!

.

Yeah, it was a great day out with my kids. Two young adults of whom I am very proud.

As for my bicycling this year? Yeah, it has been pretty quiet on that front. I’ve only done 64 hours and 1092 kilometres year to date according to Strava. That would be the least I have done since about 2007 when I first got into mountain biking.

Part of the reason is that most of my riding has been done with two of my neighbours who have become good mates. Unfortunately, one moved to Singapore in September last year for work and the other commenced a major renovation on his house in October which has seen him very busy since.

 Of this riding almost none has been mountain biking as I don’t have the fitness for it. No, most has been easy road rides on my CX bike.

Better than nothing….just. I really do need to get the exercise regime going again as the weight is stacking on and puffing walking up stairs is soo common. 😆

Anyway, there goes a warts’n’all of the last few months. It possibly reads as a bit negative but I am just trying to be honest about how I (and many of my colleagues) feel at the moment. It just sucks to see the travelling public being treated with the same contempt that the staff are, yet having it blamed on a labour shortage. The labour is there, they are just employed in workplaces that pay a living wage - which isn’t aviation in Australia at the moment. 😔

Obviously, I have also been living the “wring the maximum out of life while you can” mantra this year. This approach  has been reinforced in the last few days with Warren of Motorcycle Paradise blog fame sharing the fact that he is coming home to fight a serious health issue. I absolutely wish him all the best in his fight. I really enjoy his blog, what with the way he just gets out there and does stuff on bikes in many different countries. 

Best of luck with the fight mate. 😔

 I will continue to squeeze as much into and out of life as I can.

In this vein and on a positive note, I have done another five days on the bike in the Flinders Ranges and will have an update on that soon. Well, once I get some time at home to have a crack at editing some video.

Cheers and thanks for checking in.