I am settling down better all the time. My last gross pay was 89 pounds, of which I received 70 pounds clear. 60 went straight into the bank so that is not a bad start.
Two more fitters have started, there was barely enough work for us before! On Sat.I started laying a compressed air pipeline from the power station to the mill. This will be a good lurk if I can stay on it. Rudi Paulitz is the welder and my job is to cut and trim the lengths of pipe ready for Rudi to weld.
Our 2 Italian labourers, Angelo and Giovanni, have to do any lifting/carrying etc of gas bottles, fuel for the portable welder, cans of tea from the power station—the essentials of life.
The only snag is the sun. Already it is uncomfortably hot, but the best part of the job is that the bosses leave us completely alone.
Went to the movies to see the Great Dictator, dated and disappointing. I have been going to the movies a lot since I got here mainly because there is nothing else to do!! Having said that, time is passing very quickly and it will be time to leave soon enough.
Fri. Oct 5 Wittenoom
It has been an idle sort of a week. Our job on the pipeline is unbelievably cushy. We seem to spend hours waiting for the crane, or petrol, or oxygen - or anything. We have organised ourselves with a billy can so we don’t even have to walk to the power station for tea now.
I have been doing a lot of gas cutting, which is all good practice. Rudi is one of the worst sort of Germans. He is very arrogant and he really looks down on the two Italians, who, of course, despise him in return. Technically, Rudi is the boss on the job, but whenever he tells Angelo or Giovanni to do something, they look at me to get confirmation as to whether they should do it or not. This seems to piss Rudi off more than a little!
Went to the pictures on Wed. and saw 10 North Frederick St. and another film. Not a bad show. On Thurs. night I took a walk into town to watch the roller-skating - must have a go sometime.
The sun is getting hotter all the time so I have bought a big straw hat to wear on the job. Time still going fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment