Back from Moving Hell

I got back from Sydney yesterday, tired as anything and I slept from about 9 to 7 this morning. I'll have another post about it later today.

Moving Hell

I'm not sorry I helped Erica and David move, however it was an absolute pain to do so.

Neither was terribly organised (David maybe more so than Erica) and both bitched and blamed each other for their problems. But, each still had their bedrooms untouched until the day of the hire truck was available, which meant an extra 90 minute delay while they dismantled their beds and took stuff of desks and so on. In addition to all the furniture and stuff in the house, Erica had a double garage filled with a classic mini, and most of the possessions of her dead grandmother. Another friend of Erica's who turned up to help for 1/2 a day told me the following story.

Erica approached him and said that the reason they were being "evicted" from the old house was that 'David never mowed the lawn'. A day later David approached him and said that he'd just discovered that the reason they had to move was because the lawn wasn't mowed. Apparently every time he approached Erica to get the keys to the shed where the lawnmower was kept, Erica would say that she was 'asleep' or that it would rain that afternoon!

Had they sat down and discussed it, they probably could have come to an arrangement (like leaving the shed key somewhere that David could access). As it was, they just didn't communicate. It made me feel like the troubles I'd had with Kevin initially were nothing in comparison!

I helped with minor packing and shifting on the Sunday, and with three out of the four truck loads on the Monday. I probably moved 60-75% of the heavy bulky stuff myself, while Erica and David argued between themselves. I twisted my right ankle Sunday and it got worse and worse all Monday. Erica didn't seem to stop for food though I made a point of stopping regularly for food and drink.

We started about 10am loading the truck and finished about 3am that night. I had actually collapsed with exhaustion and pain in my ankle about 1am and sat down and ate dinner instead. Erica had planned on taking photos of the new place for a record, but left it too late (i.e. after we'd moved stuff in) to do so. She did however spray anti-cockroach surface spray all over the house and in the garage just before we moved stuff in. It stunk like death and made me cough a lot. Erica started having pains in her chest about 2am and they packed the truck and left it for the morning to unpack. After three hours sleep I started unpacking the truck (it had to be returned by 9:30am or they'd charge an extra days rental. It was fortunate that the council was doing roadwork next door as the noise from the tailgate loader blended in.

That was all done well under time and I had a shower and breakfast while they returned the truck. When they got back Erica went straight to sleep and later woke up with a terrible cramp in her leg. David (once again) drove me to the Station. He tanked me for my assistance but not once did Erica. While she was asleep she decided to lend me a doona cover to replace the old one I'd taken down for bedding, but used to protect stuff moved on the trolley.

They are still moving and cleaning, I know, and some hard decisions will have to be made. A third of the stuff stored in the double garage has been left for community pick-up and half of what was transported will probably be sold or given away. the time to do that though should have been before the move. I just hope that after they finish up at the old place, they move Erica's cat Chatty with them (she was watching everything in a curious fashion).

I've moved a number of times in the past myself, and helped others to move as well, but never has any of these moves been as badly planned or executed as this one. Despite all the frustration and fatigue, I enjoyed the stacking of the truck and using the tailgate. But I'll be fucked if I do this again for either of them.

Coming Home

There were some minor difficulties getting back to Barnsley after the adventure in St. Clair. Thousands or pilgrims are in Sydney for the World Youth Day (which mysteriously takes a week to happen) and it affected public transport.

The train back to Newcastle stood at Strathfield for half an hour while several trains used its rail line going the other way (and other trains curiously stood just off from the station). As it was so late, the express for once didn't stop at Cardiff, and I was forced to alight at Fassifern and wait for the next regular train.

As I was on the platform there seemed to be a party of pilgrim there (a number had very prominent crucifixes). There was a whole slew of announcements about "staying behind the yellow line" and so forth. The last one said "passengers wishing to travel to Cardiff should travel in the rear four cars". This is sound advice on an eight car train and I automatically moved to the centre of the station. So did the pilgrims. hen the next train came, it was a two carriage "rattler" from Morisset. The pilgrims were surprised at how small it was, and it just seemed to funny to me.

It was another hour before I got home, and Pegasus was all over me with licks and jumps. I slept well last night (with the weirdest dreams). It just so nice to sleep in your own bed!

Graffiti fun

Don't read the following if swear words upset you.

 

This morning I was walking Pegasus and Bobby and noticed some graffiti on shop walls but mostly one the road. At first it read (in white) "WSC" sometimes with a stylised "Kerf" underneath. I came across several of those. Then I read in black in a different hand on the pavement "We Suck Cock". 'Uh, Ok' I thought and walked on. The next white "WSC" had underneath it, also in white but a different style "We Smoke Cones".

I could just imagine the sort of "graffiti battle" that had gone on. The first person had written "WSC" and felt proud about it. The second person had written in black and of course if you saw that you'd think all the WSC mean such, so when the first person saw this, they hastily added the addenda to clarify!

Don't know why, but I found that really funny. I can imagine all sports of "graffiti wars" where the punters try and alter existing marks and try and correct the corrections. May the next step is the second person coming back and altering the explanation so that it reads "We Smoke Cones and suck cock". Yeah, I know the humour is very sexist, but in the main it's teenage males that do this sort of stuff. I came across some a few years back in the process of doing some, and told them to get their spelling right.

For about four years there was a wonderful colour graffito wall at the local shops full with stuff that'd been commissioned by the previous leasee of the chip shop. It didn't get touched for almost three years. The youth around here get really bored I think, else why would they have burnt down a rubbish bin and destroyed a telephone box last year (yeah, I live in a red neck zone)? I had a chat last year with the woman who was running a massage clinic in the tiny shop between the beauticians and the chip shop (it's now a portable accountants) and she wanted to reach those kids and develop their creativity, but her shop didn't last.

Australia pope protest laws "unconstitutional": court

From Yahoo News:

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Anti-protest laws imposed for Pope Benedict's visit to Sydney this week, which could see protesters arrested for annoying Catholic pilgrims, were unconstitutional, a court ruled on Tuesday.

Under the laws, protesters could be arrested or fined A$5,500 (US$5,340) for wearing anti-Catholic T-shirts or for handing out condoms in protest at church doctrine on sex and marriage.

Civil liberties leaders said the laws stifled freedom of speech and were open to abuse by police who were mounting an Olympic-style security operation for the papal visit.

The Federal Court in Sydney ruled on Tuesday that the law relating to annoying and inconveniencing pilgrims went beyond the intention of the local state parliament.

"We now have a lot more confidence to take to the streets to condemn Pope Benedict's policies against condom use, against contraception, against homosexuality," Rachel Evans from the "No Pope" group which challenged the laws.

"We are glad the court has ruled that we do have the freedom of expression to communicate our political views on Saturday."

Evans said "No Pope" protesters welcomed young Catholics in Sydney, but would hand them coat hangers to protest against backyard abortions, condoms to promote safe sex, and stickers with gay themes to promote the rights of homosexuals.

The anti-protest laws have acted as a lightning rod for various protest groups which plan to rally on Saturday as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims march to a papal vigil.

The court ruling comes as hundreds of thousands of young Catholics gathered for the opening mass of World Youth Day, the church's largest youth festival aimed at revitalizing the church.

Reflecting the religious fervour in Sydney, "Ratzinger Rules" was spray painted on a war memorial overnight. Josef Ratzinger is the birth name of Pope Benedict.

Pope Benedict texted thousands of young pilgrims in Australia on Tuesday, urging them to renew their faith.

"Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI," read the first of the Pope's daily text messages which will be sent out during World Youth Day.

In Australia, home to the world's biggest gay and lesbian Mardi gras and where abortion and stem cell research is legal, the Catholic church's teachings often fall on deaf ears.

Some 5 million Australians describe themselves as Catholic, but less than one million attend Sunday mass and the number may have dropped to about 100,000 in the past 5 years.

The Pope will attend World Youth Day events from Thursday, culminating in a Sunday mass before some 300,000 pilgrims.

The Pope has said he will apologize to Australian victims of sexual abuse in the church. Broken Rites, which represents abuse victims, has a list of 107 convictions for church abuse, but says there may be thousands more victims as only a few go to court.

"I'm glad there will be an apology, but the church needs to do more to alleviate the living hell of those who have endured the ultimate betrayal," said sexual assault lawyer Vivian Waller. "The church must embrace justice rather than playing legal charades," she said, claiming the Catholic church in Australia regularly used the legal system to avoid sex abuse cases.

Hurray! Not that I intend to be at the protest on the weekend, but why should tourists (whether religious or not) have more rights than locals? I bet the Beijing Olympics are like that too.

An Artists Dilemma

Two friends of mine - Carol Wood and Susan Butcher - are underground comic artists who besides producing Pox magazine are currently contributing to Artillery:killer art on text. Now Artillery is an arts magazine distributed for free in California, and a few other locations (like New York and Chicago) across the United States. They do fictional cartoon biographies about artists - the current issue features one about Munch.

But here's the thing - neither Carol or Susan get any feedback about how the strips are received - they get no feedback at all. I just had a phone call from Carol who was experiencing an artistic crisis. They are really good at doing parody pastiche (see image left), but without getting any feedback for over two years, she was doubting whether she and Susan should continue contributing to the magazine.

There wasn't much I could say to her, as I've had similar experiences with my own stuff. And I'm really at a loss to find out just if and how their stuff has been received. They tried contacting the editor but they don't really say anything in response.

Suggestions please.