Snap and Scribble

The three month point, in any job i’ve ever done, is always a critical period. It’s when i’ve had enough and start seriously thinking about leaving! Well, i will have been here three months in a week or so – and the three month itch has set in already.

It’s partly the job and partly the place. The job’s mostly fairly boring – and mostly way too stressful. Almost all – or maybe all – of the stress comes from having to manage Community Development Employment Program workers. The CDEP is an Aboriginal “work for the dole” scheme that’s been going since the Whitlam years in the 70s. It was phased out in all of the rest of Australia last year, i think, and it’s supposed to be ending in the Northern Territory by the end of this year (maybe – nobody seems to know).

In common with many work for the dole schemes around Australia, the participants seem to think that actually doing any work, or even showing up, is optional – just something to do when there’s nothing better to do. I know, in some places, the people managing these workers take no notice of whether they’re there or not, or ever do any work or not, and just put them down as being present for the full week.

I don’t do this – mainly because the person who was managing them before didn’t do it, but partly because if i did that none of them would ever do any work at all. And there’s work that needs doing, and someone has to do it. Unfortunately, though, if i didn’t have to manage these guys, i could probably do all the work they do, and more, in the same amount of time. But i still haven’t really got the time to do that, as well as the other things i have to do.

I doubt this will change, even when CDEP gives way ot what the government claims will be “proper jobs”.

If i could go home after work and have a glass of wine or two to relax, the effects of this stress at work might not be so bad. But i can’t – because you have to have a permit to drink here, and i haven’t got one. The federal government’s new legislation banning alcohol on Aboriginal land came into force yesterday, so the chances of me getting a permit in the near future seem slim.

Nobody knows exactly what effect these laws are going to have. But among other things, bottle shops in the NT have to see ID and record your name if you buy more than $100 worth of alcohol in one go – or more than 5 litres of cask of wine! (For any foreigners who might be reading this – wine “casks” are boxes with a plastic bag inside, with a tap on it.)

And nobody knows yet what the effects of the ban will be in Maningrida. The law allows the government to exempt individual communities from the ban – but i don’t know if they’re going to exempt us or not. They should, because this town has had a successful alcohol management scheme in place for over 10 years now. We’ll see, i suppose…

And the place… Well, it’s nice enough. But it’s dead boring. And the dogs are a real pain in the arse. They’re a big psychological barrier to walking around – even the locals don’t like them, and lots of people carry sticks when they walk. Why nobody does anything about it, i don’t know!

The crocodiles are, of course, a bit of a barrier to swimming too. And cycling’s difficult – even when you get away from the dogs, because the dirt road out of town’s really hard to ride on.

I almost applied for another job this weekend. But i really think i need to force myself to stick it out here and do at least a year.

But if i’m going to survive in this place, i’m going to have to get a boat. That, of course, is easier said than done – for a couple of reasons. Firstly because, as usual, i have to be different from everyone else. I want a sailing boat – and everyone around here who’s got a boat’s got a tinny with a big outboard. (A “tinny” is an aluminium dingy, usually somewhere in the region of 12 to 15 foot.)

I could possibly buy one of those off someone in Maningrida, but i’ve got buckley’s of buying a sailing boat here. So i’d have to buy it in Darwin and get it here somehow – which is maybe not so hard, but adds just enough extra difficulty to operation to make a difference! Really, though, it would be silly to buy a boat here, anyway, regardless of what sort it was – because most of the engines are probably clapped out. And, of course, there may not be any for sale at the moment.

One thing i’m vaguely thinking about doing is buying a tinny and converting it to sail. At least, that way, it would be the sort of boat i want – as i don’t like most of the sailing dinghies that are available in this country. That would be interesting – and probably quite difficult, as well as taking a while to do. The big drawback of that is that i’d really need to do some welding on it – and i can’t weld, and even if i could, welding aluminium requires specialist equipment that probably isn’t available here. But i reckon i could just about manage by bolting stuff together. There are technicalities (which you don’t want to know about) which could make it a bit tricky – e.g., you have to use all the same metal as the boat hull – but it’s not impossible.

Oh well. We’ll see, i suppose…

In the meantime, my garden is helping to keep me semi sane. I’m eating stuff out of it now – pak choi and kang kong, mainly. But i’ve had a few snake beans so far – and there’s lots more on the way!

Tags: Life // Add Comment »