Of Goats And Madness

Here is a typically nutty Meeka story: A couple of years ago, Brian and Sunshine were out prospecting when a goat came up to them & wouldn't leave. So they phone Hazel and say, "We found a goat, do you want it?"  The line reception was poor, so what Hazel heard was "gate". A gate would be handy, she thought, so she said, "Yes, just chuck it in the back yard." So next thing she knows she has this overly friendly goat trying to get in the house. Not having a collar or anything to identify it as hers, she painted it with food colouring dye (!), so suddenly there's this rainbow-coloured goat wandering around. A few days later at work someone says, "I just saw your goat driving along with John in the front of the ute." Turns out the goat really liked going on outings & sitting in the car. Eventually it ran off with a herd of cattle somewhere on the outskirts of town and no one's seen it since (hope it didn't end up in the alien offal pit).

The heat is building; we are now up to the 40's each day. Scott, who works at Centrelink, is slowly going stir crazy; there's pretty much nothing to do after work except go to the pub, which gets boring and expensive. He confessed to sitting in his motel room under the air con watching eight hours straight of "Dexter" episodes (I start backing away slowly at this point) and then ringing his wife in Perth to say "I'm going mad". He tried to rope me into applying for the one job he has listed at the job centre, which is the position of Child Protection Supervisor. It would have to be the most depressing pointless hopeless job in town! A huge number of the aboriginal kids don't even go to school; they just run loose day and night like animals, no education, no culture, nothing but screaming drunk parents and fighting as role models. They're exactly like the Feral Boy in the Mad Max movie.

We met Marty the crane driver from one of the Kentor Gold mines; it's great to hear about the "on the ground" realities of the companies I read about on the stock exchange. Everyone (especially me!) tries to pump the mine guys for drilling progress and other potential "bonanza" news; gold fever gossip is a favourite topic at the pub. Apparently all the mine workers will leave between now and February (it's too hot to work). The town's already quiet enough when the mines are running, god knows what it will be like without all the road trains & stuff. I've already seen actual tumbleweed blowing down the street...