A couple of months ago on the way back from our Sunday boat trip, I saw a vehicle coming the other way that had what appeared to be a shed on the back of it, like a snail carries a shell. I thought it was fantastic! It was like a model T sort of front, and a railway carriage type of back, a little truck designed to be a motor home. I've always been interested in building a vehicle like this myself, and since the 'Great Australian Road Trip' is a thing that old folks do when they retire, a germ of an idea is forming here.
Working at the studios, I've been impressed with the extremely high standard of work that is being produced and the range of talents and skills that these largely Australian/New Zealander/British technicians have. There are some amazingly creative and talented folk working here, and I feel humbled to be among them and have learned a great deal. The painters in particular, (although also the steel fabrications team, the sculptors and .... well the list is long) have been an inspiration to me. They are able to make a well constructed piece of furniture that is made of some non significant bit of timber into something regal with real texture and interest in a couple of hours. This week I tried to paint 3 boxes that had been made to look like treasure chest type things, to look like old leather. It took me all afternoon, but with help, they really DID look like they were old leather. I kept having to resist the urge to open them up...honestly. They were just boxes with dummy hinges and locks... but they really did fool you. Fascinating it is.
Some of these painters and sculptors drive exotic cars that I've seen from time to time outside on the roads. I mean the kinds of cars that I'd be interested in owning myself, such as old double headlight Mercs or a round bonnet Holden or a hacked Beatle etc. Something about the car tells you a lot about the person, not always that they are a carburetor head, but perhaps more often that they have an appreciation of good design. I saw a beautiful girl (sculptor) pull up outside our workshop in an old classic olive green Holden 'Special' a few weeks ago to see Pete about working for us. She'd been with construction but had been laid off at the end of the job she was on.... When she got back into her car she started it up, and then tried to start it up again whilst it was already running....making that awful noise that you get when the starter tries to re-engage in the flywheel! Then, because she was embarrassed, she did it again, before she remembered that the next thing to do was put it in gear. (Maybe she used to have an automatic or something...I dunno) So I remember thinking that (a) it was a shame to treat such a lovely car like that and (b) it was never-the-less a testament to her interest in being different that she had chosen to drive something that (from experience) I know will be costing her money to maintain.
Anyway, so the point is that people at the studios are a bit different.... and it was with a sort of 'aah THERE it is' kind of 'knowing' when yesterday I spotted that truck I'd mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago. I really wasn't surprised that something so different would have been associated with the film industry. Here's a couple of pics:
I showed them to one of the guys in our workshop and he said that they are 'common' in NZ... so there's a thing.
One thing I learned when I was painting the leather look boxes was that it's a good idea to wear rubber gloves... as it took me nearly 20 minutes of scrubbing them in the bath to get the crap off my hands... and like a good reporter, I bring you a picture of the resultant mess in the bath. (Too much info?)
Yesterday, I went to a CNC company that is also a design company of sorts to pick up a couple of bits that they'd cut for my CNC router. I was interested to see what their machines were like. They have a couple of laser cutters and one router. The frame design for the one of the laser cutters and the router were almost exactly the same as the one that I've nearly finished building. One of the owners showed me around and even cut a bit of acrylic on the laser cutter to show me how it works. This was VERY interesting to me, the process is quite different from the router, and most notably, is quiet. I'm going to HAVE to get a laser for mine in the fullness of time. (I'd always planned this, and have made the thing to adjust for the extra bed depth that is required). On the way down the motorway to this company, I noticed this:
...which from the single police car in attendance had just happened. As I got closer, it appeared that the fire had been started from a discarded cigarette butt, since it was burning along the edge of the road. I've seen this before... and actually put out a fire that had just started at a set of lights, with a litre of water that I had in the cab.
On the way back, this side of the motorway was at a standstill, and the Police closed the motorway that adjoins this (Smith St). As I was driving by it when I took the pictures, some of the people were slowing down to get a look. This behaviour has always been a mystery to me and leads me onto the next thing I was going to tell you about which is something that pisses me off every day I drive down to the coast.
This motorway has (by UK standards) a low average volume of traffic and it has four lanes. One would imagine that with the extra lane, and less traffic than typical on the British roads, that you'd be able to travel without any big issues and overtake cleanly. I mean, in the UK, people tend to tailgate each other in the fast lane because the slow lane has lorries and caravans, the middle lane is full, and the fast lane is probably going to make progress past it all. We all know the result. HERE, the behaviour is similar, but in a weird way. What happens is that when a new vehicle joins the flow of traffic, they immediately indicate to come out of the inside lane into the second lane. The inside lane is largely unused! Everyone sits in the second, third and fourth lanes, and you can't get past! What's THAT all about? It's illegal to undertake, but if you're moving faster than everyone else...then you have to. I'm thinking of incorporating it into the PhD...
This was the view outside earlier this week.
The birds are SO loud in the mornings! One type is the cockatoo. It looks lovely, and is all white. It sounds HORRIBLE! It's like a beautiful Brandsholme daughter that smiles at you... and then opens her mouth to regale you with who said what! Ha ha. Another thing is that the Myna birds are systematically attacking the cat! They have a loud and persistent squawk when they're doing this...and since the cat is out and about at dawn, this also wakes us. Daile has been going for a walk with one of our neighbours at 6.30 for a few weeks now, and lately they've been getting attacked by Plovers, whose chicks have recently hatched. Plovers lay their eggs on the ground and then fight off anything that comes near. They are absolutely resolute and fierce. They'll attack anything.... well almost anything. These were a bit big even for a Plover...
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