The Thirsty Thursday, begun with a paint specialist from Sherwin Williams. He didn’t have coronavirus, thank goodness. He told me how there are far more colours being invented these days than ever before. The advancement of technology in paint has grown due the computer age and the blend of different chemicals. I told him my grandfather used to work in paints he taught me how to mix paints when I was young. Him and my father taught me how to pain an interior of a house. Undercoats and all. In my life I have helped paint five homes. Twice with my father and three times with my mum, nan, and grandfather. We discussed wallpaper and how infuriating it is to remove. I had to do that once when I was 14 in my dad’s house. Strip by strip I thought would be the procedure, no! The glue is awful and it comes of fragment by fragment. How irritating. Occasionally you would get a nice big clump and get an overwhelming amount of elation from it being removed. It isn’t fun at all.
My passenger told me about going to Leavenworth soon. This was before the quarantine. Leavenworth is a wonderful German town in the state of Washington. Stunning architecture, great beer, cheese, choccies, and bratwurst. The chocolate shop there was started up by a bunch of Aussies.
Two students were next one studying molecular biology and she was very intrigued about how the coronavirus will effect the planet. The other was an urban planner. They were talking about if a cure could be found before it ravages the planet. The urban planner was also interested in my Archaeology career and how I worked in Cambodia in 2007. We discussed how the ancient city of Angkor was planned. It was very sophisticated until they built themselves into mass flooding events. Yes they have dramatic monsoon seasons, but the hypothesis that was being tested in Cambodia was that the Khmer people destroyed themselves with mass urbanisation. The old theory used to argue that the Siamese invaded Cambodia and destroyed the Khmer Empire. It was poor city planning that lead to the Khmer people to move their capitol to Phnom Penh. “Phnom” means mountain or hill in the Khmer language. They moved to higher ground to escape mass flooding events. Later the French rediscovered Angkor and believed it was a lost city. I’m sure the locals laughed at these people thinking it was lost. We knew it was there. Temples with large amounts of vegetation covered them. I managed to see many of these ruins covered in dense woodland. An ultralite was used to observe anomalies in the landscape. Then the ground crew on walkie talkies would investigate them further. Sure enough after the locals would cut through the jungle with machetes they’d uncover a shrine or an entire building. Years before LiDAR. We were still using traditional archaeological techniques to uncover lost buildings that had been taken by nature. It truly is a remarkable place. I felt like an explorer working along side the University of Sydney and the EFEO. What a privilege it was. I miss it. Archaeology isn’t just about ancient ruins, it’s about connecting the dots to find out what actually happened to an ancient site or people?
My passengers were impressed with my knowledge. I told the urban planner to look at the past to help plan for the future. It’s the best anyone can do. Mistakes were always made in the past and people either ended up failing or they found a solution. Build on the knowledge we have and move forward utilizing it.
Next bloke dealt with awnings…but wanted to become a caregiver. A rewarding job I’d imagine. After dropping him home I had a journalist professor in my car. She asked me about how business was in the pandemic. I said it hadn’t changed too much. I’m just cleaning my car a lot more. However I was trying to think of an alternative job to do. The journo asked me if any of her students can interview me for a project. I said “why not?” Uber driving in the time of coronavirus. Sounds like a book. The lady asked “have you signed up to instacart yet?” “No I haven’t, what’s that I asked?” She told me it was a grocery store delivery service. Apparently people were getting paid $17-$30 / hour. Wow! Better than minimum wage. Basically you go to a grocery store get an order on your phone via an app and you follow their shopping list. Bag every item. Pay for it with a card then leave and drop off the goods at their home. Not a bad idea really. I signed up after dropping her off along with Post Mates and Viking Foods.
Ping! I picked up an Irish bloke and his mates coming back from Vegas. One was a lineman. A lineman fixes powerlines on a power pole. According to my mate Zach he gets paid really well and loves his job. Oh wait sorry he isn’t a lineman. He usually tells me though that linemen aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. It is a hazardous job though and requires hazard pay for their dangerous job. All it takes is one live wire and it could shock or kill a person. Anyway this Irish bloke was happy with his job and didn’t seem too dingbatted to hold a conversation. He was from Keurig and said it is very green there. I can only imagine how green it is. They were going back to Vancouver to head back to Ireland because of the coronavirus. Understandable things were becoming crazy. Get out while you still can!
A former flight attendant was the next customer who stopped working after a serious head injury. He sustained it in the Panama crabbing. It was a vacation he took a while ago. Now he teaches English to foreign students. We discussed how drones are becoming more common in work places and how they could improve society, but also shatter it at the same time.
I then a DUI victim in my car who had smoked weed illegally while driving. He just plays Call of Duty now👍. My last two passengers were next a lady who works at Old World Deli. Then, finally, a Luxury Car Salesman from Florida. In town on business heading to Vancouver. He apparently had sold a lot of cars to a bunch of famous people. No names were mentioned. This annoyed me slightly because I wanted to know names! Why would you say they you sold cars to famous people and not divulge any further information. He didn’t even tell me the name of the company he works for! Who cares man? Not like I’m going to show up to your company and harass famous people! Florida is so far away from my mind I honestly don’t care.
It was a steady day. I had four rides with Lyft and five trips in Uber. Next up a fruitful Friday!
