Happy New Year and here’s 2020. My first ride sharing of the decade began on Friday the 10th of January. I have been working as an archaeologist in the field in King County. Snow interrupted the work, so I decided to work Friday and Saturday night. My very first passenger was a generous rider who had donated money to Australia after seeing the devastating fires on the tele. Yep, most of my passengers that evening apologised for what was happening in my country of birth. My heart would sink every time. I have also donated to the NSW RFS and will donate more to WIRES in a couple of weeks. Wires looks after animals in NSW and the NSW Rural Fire Service has been battling these massive fires since September. I mentioned to my rider that the farm my father and stepmother would go to every weekend for fresh produce, was burnt to a cinder. Along with the apple pie shop in Bilpin. Truly devastating. Over the past few months my aunty and father would send me photos of the smoke. Even a mate of mine had to evacuate his building because fire alarms were being set off by the smoke flowing in from around the country. It has been Australia’s worst fire season with over a billion fauna killed. A total of 20 million acres burnt. Due to anthropogenic climate change, Australia’s bushfire season is becoming unbearable and much longer. Politicians from both side of the fence have downplayed it and it is only going to get worse. Even the fire commissioner stated in a recent interview, that burning off is becoming harder due to longer fire seasons. I remember Australia had four seasons growing up. Now summer starts in September. Any dry location in Australia can turn into an inferno. All it needs is a spark from an arsonist, a cigarette butt, a lightning strike, or even something simple as a piece of glass on dry glass.
Now the bloke was a student from Compton. He described the reputable location as safe in certain areas. Day to day he’d walk to school with his mates. He’d feel safe in numbers and not have any issues at all. Obviously he spoke the truth because he was sitting in my car. Good on him. I feel like that’s same the world over. Every city or town can have a bruise that stands out. I grew up on the Gold Coast in Australia and would hang out in western Sydney from time to time visiting my father. Sure I got beaten up in primary school multiple times. Eventually I learned how to defend myself from the bullies that would beat me. Looking back there was only four people that hurt me physically in school, then I learned how to defend myself. Verbal abuse became more common when I got older, it eventually gave me a thicker skin. I’d eventually laugh off the criticism and move on. Australia can be a harsh place, whether it’s people giving you crap, a spider biting you on the tongue or a bush fire roaring at your doorstep us Aussies survive and move on. That’s our Aussie spirit. We’re a hardy bunch. Anyway sorry slight tangent. Don’t judge a location by one small part!
After dropping him off at a bar in town. Another ping. A lady from Whidbey Island who works at Whole Foods. We obviously discussed the minimum wage that Amazon has to offer, since they’re owned by the ginormous bookstore.
A short trip and off she went. Another Sheila who needed a ride. Her friends mother is an archaeologist of all the professions. Not full time though. She only works on specific digs she’s interested in. Usually on the east coast in Virginia. Colonial sites from America’s inception. Fascinating.
My next passenger was a bloke I’d already picked up once before. A plumber. He remembered me. We talked about him retiring and him possibly doing uber instead. I gave him as much advice I could give. Then we discussed my blog and how ads get me paid. One of his former employees who worked for him for over a decade, left him to start his own company. The former employee paid for advertising, so he could generate business. Now this bloke would have to fork out money for advertising, so every time a potential customer would click he would have to pay Google. A click here and click there the competition was paying $1000 to get his name out there. Crikey crumbs! Who was clicking on these ads? You guessed it, my passenger 🤣😂. Not bitter at all. Nah I would do the same if I found out my competitor had to advertise to get their name out there. Now my passenger didn’t need to advertise because he is a veteran plumber that knows a toilet plunger like the back of his hand. We discussed America’s biggest issue blocking toilets. Every toilet is indeed different. The flicker for Kohler, a brand of toilet, has over 500 different ones. Some dunny’s you have to hold the flusher down, some you just flick down real quick. I personally have lost track of how many loos I have blocked due to the incapability of being able to flush. Even a mate of mine from Australia believed that American toilets cannot handle the almighty waste from down under. My passenger also went into his own experiences assisting the rich with their plumbing issues. Yep no matter how rich you are, a plumber is going to see you at your worst. Whether it be, the state of your house or the state of your plumbing a plumber is going to judge you no matter what. Messy house, cluttered room, or the inability to maintain your toilet oh boy the stories are endless. It is not a glamorous job at all. I would not want to be a plumber at all. Australian toilets are designed with a half flush and full flush option and yes they even flush a different direction. It is called the coriolis effect. Nah sorry it has nothing to do with this at all and more to do with the manufacturer.
Anyway enough about plumbing and more about my next passengers. I found out if you have a DUI you’re a felon in Canada. They won’t allow you to enter Canada at all if you are caught drink driving. Pretty harsh. I had mentioned I had popped over to White Rock the day before because I now have my green card. My passenger was jealous. Sorry mate I didn’t mean to brag.
Then I had a tiler in my car…talked about tiles for most of the way. He liked my hat though. My new kangaroo leather hat. Used to have one, but it shrunk or my head got bigger. One of the two or both. 🤷🏽♂️
More and more passengers discussed the fires in Australia. One even discussed the Spanish fires last year and how bad they were. Didn’t hear about them. Heard about the ones in the Amazon and the California ones. Just nothing about the Spanish fires at all.
One passenger studying to be a journo wanted to document war. Be in the thick of it. Filming bullets and missiles zipping around people. Even hitting people. Awful. Not my kind of work at all. In fact, it seemed a little morbid and dark for my liking.
Next was a bloke who said he can do me a deal on vehicle body work. Cheaper than the average. He gave me his number, so if I want to get some scratches buffed out, he would be my guy. Cheers mate.
Then I had an owner of a day care center and some students and a bloke who make Russian dumplings. Apparently they’re delicious and I’m going to have to try them. Then dumpling man told me all about Mt. Baker including a fact I didn’t know. it has the record for the highest snowfall on a ski field.
Finally I had a rather drunk USPS employee who discussed how bad it would be to privatise the US Postal Service and how the government needs to do away with private healthcare. We concluded that, it would mean higher taxes, but healthcare is the one thing we don’t mind our taxes going to.
After a full night of discussing Australia’s bush fires crisis. Most of my riders wanted to help out as best they could. I did somehow get a three star rating that night with finally some feedback. It must have been right at the beginning of the night when I took a corner to sharply and hit the median strip. I forgot to mention this at the beginning. Yep I even got a wheel alignment done that day. Think I buggered it up to the point where my car leans to the left again. So frustrating. Anyway 19 Trips uber and 2 trips Lyft. Not an awful start to 2020. Next up smashing Saturday!
