Poem: The 40C Day

Here is a Poem I  wrote about a job I did in 2019. It was such a bad day that its now a repressed memory, but when I focus I distinctly remember the set of unfunctional stairs leading up to an even worse heat well. And I had to carry the soil and mulch u the stairs by the bucket:




Get up out of bed
Dreading the day
Food, and fuel, and rent
Gotta earn my pay
Postpone as much I
Can not bare the thought
Oh God!
A 40 Degree Day!

Load up the shovels
Wheelbarrow and rake.
Old Cleveland, The Storey
Then Kingsford Smith Drive
The Traffic’s abhorrent,
Oh God!
I’m Starting to Bake!

The Driveway is full
Of soil and of mulch
And a 30 degree slope
To walk oh so much
Concrete and Masonry
Surround me, no shade
Oh God!
No shade from this bunch.

I hoe in and break
Sweat Immediately
Top dress the gardens
Then mulch them fully
The maximum’s 40 C
Then climb massive stairs
Oh God!
Its 50 up here!

Eight hours boiling
Alive for this man
Why do this these Days?
Desperate does what can.
Without other income
No choice but what pays.
Oh God!
Airtasker be Damned!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Corporate Class drain on economy, Productivity Commission Reveals

Image
  Corporate Class drain on economy, Productivity Commission Reveals 09-04-25 The Productivity Commission’s 2025 Bulletin has revealed that the Corporate Class is the most inefficient sector of the economy. While the productivity of most skilled Trades increased their productivity; the “Administration and Support Services Sector” has seen a decline in labour productivity over the same timeframe. The Productivity Commission’s Annual Bulletin (accessible here: https://www.pc.gov.au/ongoing/productivity-insights/bulletins/bulletin-2025/productivity-bulletin-2025.pdf ) reveals that the “Administration and Support Services” industry saw a decline in labour productivity. Meanwhile, Labour productivity in agriculture, construction, transport, and manufacturing increased. The Utilities industry saw labour productivity decline slightly. Despite this decline in corporate productivity, the ABS reveals that the industry saw the fourth largest wage rise in 2024 (see here: https://www...
Read more

Review of "The Big Book of Australian Folk Song."

Image
Got a copy of this classic. Its more of a reference book, than designed to be read cover to cover. It includes various folk songs from the colonial era until the 70s when it was published. It's a good addition to my few folk albums. I've got a signed copy of Text Egan's album "The Shearer's" from the faces of Australia series. I've also got a few of Redgum's albums downloaded, though that's unlikely to be in here because they came later (and a full discography of them would warrant a coffee table book of its own). I've also got a few of The Bushwackers' covers of the classics. Almost every agricultural profession has a "Lament" about the Hard Yakka and the poor food. The Shearer's, naturally, have countless songs, but the cane cutters have at least a few, with 2 versions of their "Lament."  
Read more

Attempt to organise Airtasker Fails; Scabs rampant on Platform

Image
In April 2024, I attempted to Unionise Airtasker. Airtasker is a gig economy platform that engages contractors to bid on customer's jobs advertised on the platform. As a former Airtasker worker, I know how bad the platform is. It is a race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions. A few years ago (in 2020) I wrote an as yet unpublished essay comparing Airtasker to the infamous "Bull System," of casual labour. As part of this essay, I screenshotted various examples of jobs completed on Airtasker withing about 6 months of each other, demonstrating that Airtasker is is practice a race to the bottom. My investigation into Airtasker's standards exposed a completely unregulated market. Airtasker claims it is complying with its legal obligations, but it is clear to me that that are doing the bare minimum to cover their arses. For example, I uncovered numerous instances of renumeration below the Award Rates of the time.  There was an example of 8 hours "Landscape L...
Read more