Smooth Operators
<######BEGIN PODCAST SMOOTH_OPS S1EP6 ##-->
|
<insert sponsor=DAI for RoundSpace> |
||
|
<insert sponsor=baked for Davis Custom Outdoor Gas Racks> |
||
|
<insert audio_theme(intro) for SMOOTH_OPS> |
||
|
Cam: |
G’day, listeners, and welcome back to another episode. I’d like to... |
|
|
Pete: |
Sorry, mate, if I can just interject. |
|
|
Cam: |
Of course, friendo. What’s up? |
|
|
Pete: |
Nothing. Not even the ratings. |
|
|
Cam |
Huh? Sorry, mate, you’ll have to explain. |
|
|
Pete: |
Well, I’ve got a note here from our producer that the younger audience no longer use the word ‘episode’ |
|
|
Cam: |
I don’t understand how that’s relevant |
|
|
Pete: |
Well, they use the word ep |
|
|
Cam: |
That’s more of a sound, isn’t it? I mean it barely qualifies as a word. |
|
|
Pete: |
Nevertheless, old boy, we are trying to skew a little younger. That’s where the numbers are at, apparently. |
|
|
Cam: |
Well, can’t argue with the nums, can we? |
|
|
Pete: |
Sorry, the numb what? |
|
|
Cam: |
Nums, mate, nums. It’s how the kids say ‘numbers’ these days |
|
|
Pete: |
Checkmate, friendo. |
|
|
(a beat passes, some frisson) |
||
|
Cam: |
Welcome back to another episode of Smooth Operators, brought to you by SmoothUnits Male Groomers - we’ll help you manage your bristles. In the comfy chair, as always, is my friend, colleague and co-host, Mr Peter Laughton. How are you, Pete? |
|
|
Pete: |
Mate, we’ve spoken about this... you don’t really care. Let’s get on with it. |
|
|
(laughs) |
||
|
Cam: |
I think we need to address some of the rumours, Pete. |
|
|
Pete: |
I maintain that the foot odour was not mine. And fur- |
|
|
Cam: |
Not about your socks, mate, I wanted to talk about the fact that you’re a recovered former boilermaker? And, since I’m a practising boilermaker, I wanted to ask you about life after welding. |
|
|
Pete: |
Well, Cam, as with everything in life, the moment that I’ve learnt something, it’s no longer interesting. Boilermaking has been with me all my life... since birth, really. Growing up in the family business in a small town taught me a lot... that I wanted get out of there. |
|
|
Cam: |
You were born with an oxy torch in your hand? |
|
|
Pete: |
Not quite. Grandad started the business with Dad, and both my brothers weren’t interested... |
|
|
Cam: |
Mmm. Christmases get a little awkward, do they? |
|
|
Pete: |
(laughs) Nah, we’re all good now, but returning to a small, archaic workshop after four years of expanding horizons, ie a bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, did lead to some ‘quality’ father/son bonding time. Vigorous conversations were heard by all. |
|
|
Cam: |
You do have a voice suited for public speaking. |
|
|
Pete: |
(laughs) But back to the point: what next? What else but Antarctica? Why, you ask? Queensland summers; engineering workshop floors covered in dirt; days after days of building storms; the humidity and the sweat. I think of myself as something of a climate refugee. Which is all good until that Antarctic summer you signed up for turns into a winter, and temperatures of minus 30 turn to plus 30 after a short 4.5 hr flight from Wilkins to Hobart. |
|
|
Cam: |
60 degrees for the seat of Celsius is quite a swing on the political polls, my friend. How did you cope once you got home? |
|
|
Peter: |
Well, I had a beard and then I didn’t, but generally it was a whole of lot nothing for a couple months while readjusting to the heat. Then once people found out I was home... welding. Any-hoo, old boy, as a boilermaker for the AAD, what’s kept you at it? |
|
|
Cam: |
Welding? Like coffee, it’s a habit I just can’t quit. |
|
|
(a beat passes, sounds of someone slurping coffee from a mug) |
||
|
Pete: |
Tell me more. |
|
|
Cam: |
It’s probably because I was a late starter. I’d had a previous career in advertising and graphic design that never really sat right. I decided I needed to change gears and get something a bit more hands-on. I love welding. I love fabricating. |
|
|
Pete: |
Boilermakers can do everything, can’t they? |
|
|
Cam: |
There’s one thing we can’t do, Pete. |
|
|
Pete: |
And what’s that? |
|
|
Cam: |
We can’t let the team down. |
|
|
<insert sponsor=baked for RoundSpace “Speaking of teams...”> |
||
|
<insert audio_sting(midpoint) for SMOOTH_OPS> |
||
|
Pete: |
That’s very true... although it’s usually in the form of some gruelling, uncomfortable suffering. |
|
|
Cam: |
Martyrs, Pete, we’re practically martyrs. |
|
|
Pete: |
That’s very true, in typical workshops. How are you finding it down here? |
|
|
Cam: |
This must be how racehorses feel, mate, when they’re released into the long paddock. Courtesy of the AAD, I’ve got oodles of training and tickets. I feel like I can do or make almost anything. What the kettle boils down to is this: it’s really about the thrill of a creative solution to a mundane problem. |
|
|
Pete: |
You might find it mundane on the mainland, but down here we have very limited spare parts and no shops around the corner. |
|
|
Cam: |
I love it that we’re forced to fix things by necessity rather than just throw things out. |
|
|
Pete: |
Necessity is the mother of invention. This must lead to many interesting jobs down here... what do you normally get up to? |
|
|
Cam: |
Basically, if it’s made of metal, I modify, repair or fabricate it. I’ve done everything from structural steel to repairing $3.00 stainless steel tea infusers. |
|
|
Pete: |
Ooh, was that your work? Thanks, mate — my cuppas have never been better. What does it for me is the sense of community, and doing a good job for the sake of doing a good job. That, and this real-world immediate feedback-loop that we’re in when we help each other out. Basically what I do all day is jump from seat to seat, helping make the station go round. |
|
|
Cam: |
It’s at this moment I’d like to point out to our listeners just how much effort Pete puts in to this station. If there’s something that needs to be done and no-one else has found the backbone to get started, you’ll find good old Peter R Laughton out there doing the job like his career depended on it. He’s a goer. |
|
|
Pete: |
Well, my next gig kinda depends on it... gotta get that four on my performance review, you know. But seriously, within the community there’s plenty of us going above and beyond to make this place what it is and unfortunately most of it goes unseen. We’ve got some really great people down here who go above and beyond. |
|
|
Cam: |
(muffled, probably holding hand over the microphone) Say “flexibility and adaptability,” mate. I heard that expeditioner services would pay 20c per 100 streams for every time we dropped that phr... |
|
|
Pete: |
(interjects) That’s all for this ep. Big shout out to RoundSpace and Davis Custom Outdoor Gas Racks for sponsoring this episode. See you next time. We love you... byeeeee! |
|
|
<insert audio_theme(outro) for SMOOTH_OPS> |
||
|
<end transcript> |
||
|
<end> |
||
