Kickin’ It Oldschool

Mungin-diarers.

Remember the days when you had to make your own fun. I’ll admit that I was on the cusp of the generation that had to ‘play’ for fun and use our ‘imagination’ but really by the time I was 10, there was plenty to entertain me without me having to use much effort. For example my Playstation 1 with Tony Hawk 2, T.V., the internet and the move from VCR to DVD.

I have had two jobs this week which has doubled my strike rate for last week. They were both in the same day, one a transfer to Moree and the other a Nana-down across the road at 0400. Doing so few jobs, I feel the move out to sunny mungy has forced me to claw back my imagination and use my adaptation skills to make life a little more interesting. It has been a challenge but like I said, it has been completely necessary!

As you may have read in my previous entry, Myself and a colleague decided to pay what seemed like a huge sum of money for not a lot of gym. Regardless, we were excited and we were getting stuck in, pretty well, to the routine. Our muscles were aching and we were feeling good. One day at work the phone rang…assuming it wasn’t going to be a job (our work phone rings a lot and it is rarely used for its intended purpose) I picked it up and was greeted by the owner of the Gym on the other end. It was odd that he would have the number for the station because when the application to the gym asked for my work number I had put ‘000’…who knows…small town?
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the phone call was to inform us that the gym was to be shut down due to the lack of membership and interest. It took a lot of self control not to yell down the phone, “No wonder…you’re charging $100 a month for a treadmill and a rowing machine!” but I managed to refrain.
So in one fell swoop, our afternoon activity was destroyed…along with a fair amount of station morale.

Lucky for me, I managed to draw back on my childhood ingenuity and realise that I had a whole gym right in my own backyard!

I saw the old, gigantic tractor tyre and realised I could get a great work out flipping it over, running around it and flipping it back. It might look a bit funny to the neighbours and even Herb the old goat was bemused by the activity but let me tell you…it really works the glutes!

I saw the large pile of dirt off in the corner of the yard and realised I could work the upper body by shoveling it from one pile to another and then back…I was really working up a sweat but my hands were starting to hurt.

Finally, I picked up an old Besser Block and by lifting it up and down I was pretty much curling a set of dumbells!

As you can see, the child in me was working overtime trying to find anything that could be used in place of what is so often readily available elsewhere.

A famous past time for many is taking the dog for a walk. I dont have a dog, but I do have a goat. It was time to unleash Herb on the town of Mungin-dizzay. The poor thing was always cooped up in the one pen. He is always looking longingly towards the grass on the other side of the fence…not to mention the lady goats over the road! So, we thought it might be a good idea to let him get a bit of fresh air and go for a stroll over to mow another lawn.

Now a bit of a side note to this story is that Herb isn’t the most friendly goat in the world. He has a tendency to butt people when they aren’t watching and ofcourse he was in fine form when it came to walk time.

Despite having to keep our distance from Herb’s fairly sizeable horns, the walk was fairly un-eventful. In saying that, the support car spooked him, (the support car was the ambulance because ofcourse we must be able to respond with or without our goat), we ran into approx 6 dogs along the way which did not fly with Herb and he wanted to sample every patch of grass the whole way to our destination.

We finally made it and dropped him off at Kai’s place to give the lawn a good trim. Unfortunately for Kai, the Agapanthus in the front garden looked way tastier than the boring old grass he was supposed to eat. We came back to pick him up and found 10 well pruned plants and Herb with a long green leaf hanging from one side of his mouth.

Again, the child within was not only substituting a goat for a dog to create entertainment but also making silly decisions that would not make mum happy…

Boredom is a funny thing…it makes us do things we would never normally do. I would not have considered baking an ‘activity’ before I moved west but now I do! The only reason I helped mum bake as a kid was so I could lick the bowl and make a mess. As boredom sets in, the child emerges and the cycle is complete… now I bake so I can lick the bowl and make a mess! Turns out the brownies I made were delish and and the kitchen was left a total mess.

So thats it…the makeshift gym, the makeshift dog and the makeshift…well no, I suppose the brownies were real, but you get the point…
Boredom isn’t so bad if you can harness the kid inside and create the fun yourself.
Who am I kidding…Im so bored it isn’t funny! Keep the comments coming because you’re not just making observations or asking questions…you’re saving a life!

Just before I go, Happy Birthday to my mum who is living it up in Italy and also happy Anniversary to Mum and Dad for last week.

I hope you are all well and not having too much fun without me!

Regards,

Officer Dixon.