Roadies

Monday morning a couple of the guys, president Ron VB and Don M. Stopped by as they have been recently to "try our cappuccino machine" that someone loaned us. We hash out the previous game and it gives them an excuse to take a half hour off from there work as Air Conditioning installers. While there were here they asked if I wanted to come to work with them on Tuesday to get some extra cash. I said yes and they said they would pick me up at 715.

I woke up early slapped on 30+ spf and covered myself with bug spray. The flies are ridiculous right now and they seem to want to crawl into your head. There is a dance here called the fly dance that you can see people doing randomly along the street, or on the field. There is no need for music for this dance. Its interpretive.

The boys were only 20 minutes late so that was not bad. I have yet to have someone be on time, and the word ish is thrown around alot when discussing meeting times. I piled into there cramped work van. 3 of us sitting in the front seat, phonebooks, papers, duct tape galore, empty beer bottles, water containers, at least 50 cigarrettes, and all the tools, duct, and equipment you could think of were jammed into the van. Ron told me that Jaime, his son, used to sleep in the duct as they were driving around to the various jobs. Anyways, we first stopped at a Croation AC supplier named Izzy. He donated the swamp cooler for our house so I was eager to thank him. His accent was thick and he smiled constantly showing off a huge gap between his teeth. He loved Ron and Don and invited us in for coffee. We sat had coffee and ate cookies with him for about 30 minutes. Izzy spent most of the time trying to get Ron and Don to quit smoking.

We got what we needed and left. Ron and Don talked about how rich Izzy was and that he was addicted to working. We pulled up to the first job and were greeted by a short old man chain smoking and looking at us while we talked to him. He didnt say one word, then his daughter appeared and told us he did not speak english. He also was Croation. We were invited to drink coffee with him as well. He told us through his daughter that the work would be there still after coffee. It was super strong coffee with thick black mud at the bottom of the cup. We learned that they moved to Australia during the war, when his daughter was 4. We asked her if she remembered Croatia, and she said she only remembers images of the war. Like snapshots in here head. They go back and visit often though. After coffee I was thinkin that this was a great job as we had been at if for a couple hours and had not done anything. Then we got started and went up to the roof where Ron and Don walked around with ease while I was scared to death and informed them they did not have to pay me but I would not be gettin on the roof anymore. They just laughed and said that was the plan anyways, for me to hand stuff up and tape the duct on the ground. 4 Hours later the Croations were enjoying cool air in there home.

On the way to the next job it came up that Jacinda (the girl pitcher on me team) was going to try to get her dad to play this weekend. But he could not make it, when I asked why Ron and Don laughed and said, "we havent told you about him?" I said no and they informed me that he was bigger than me and Ripped like a body builder. He was a Kiwi from New Zealand, and ex SAS wich is like Navy Seal mixed with Army Ranger. Apparently he gets jobs once in a while that other people dont want to do. As was the case this weekend. He was called and asked if he would mind delivering a ransom. 20 Million Dollars. To some Thai Pirates. That had hijacked a australia ship in unprotected waters. I am not making this up. Ron and Don then informed me that he does stuff like this all the time. "hes an adrenaline junkie mate." "he cant sit still." That night at training I asked Jacinda if her dad made it back, "yeah, he came in this morning," she replied like it was no big deal. Crazy.

Then our last job was a Middle Eastern man. "oh looks like this guy is a Musy" don said. While the guys were on the roof I asked him where he was from, "heh, Iraq..." and gave me a glass of water. He was a very nice guy, but Ron and Don told me not to drink the water because he had heard my accent. "Dont tell him where your from mate and dont let him hear your accent.." too late I said and they laughed. We went into the house to install the vents and I heard a baby in one room. We went in and it was a toddler, disfigured, on a breathing machine, and completely flat head like he had been laying down his whole life. It was awful. Ron asked the Iraqi what happened. He said, "since he was bond." I was terrified. It sounded like he said he was bombed. And Ron thought the same thing. Then he said again "always like that since he was barn" I breathed with relief when I realized he had meant born, and we finished. They gave us a Pepsi and cookies and we were on our way.

On the way home Ron stopped at the "Bottle Shop" and bought a six pack of beer. These guys worked there asses off and it seemed this was a ritual. "Roadies Mate!" "Best Part of the workday!"

This explained why they usually smell like brew when they get to training. HA!

Interesting first day.