Sunday night

Sunday night was a corker. 105,000 viewers at the Domain for the Tropfest Short Film gig. Another 5000(?) at Victoria Park for the Mardi Gras Fair. Also punters at Olympic Park for the Swans and shitloads at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre, for the annual Junk and Trinkets Fair.

I take a middle-aged fella from the gay Fair to Marrickville. He locks onto the ABC's Caroline Jones, on my radio. He sings the praises of Phillip Adams, assuring me that Adams is indeed alive. I tell him, 'you're a sick puppy!' When I seek his opinion of Margo Kingston, he goes into overdrive,

Mate, we've got to have some old lefties still, just to keep the home fires burning. But geez, she could use a stylist !'

He makes the mistake of telling me he's an ex-primary school teacher. Given he's an affable chap in a jovial mood, I go for the jugular. Here's his response,

Old lefties don't die, they just 'retire' to education administration, like me. I got out of teaching purely because of the Child Protection Act. I even requested a transfer from teaching primary kids to pre-school kids, to avoid the false accusations so common against male teachers. Of course the boys are missing out. Sometimes all they need is a hug, but no male teacher in his right mind would consider such a thing.

I ask him why we never see any male, Teachers Federation representatives on television,

For the simple reason the Federation is a womens club and has been so for years. Plus, with the advent of women in the Federation, us old radical lefties have lost power. We're now laughingly called, 'the Leftovers'. The days of Marxism, Trotskites and Third Order Internationalists have been rolled by 'pragmatism', 'rationalism' and 'Lathamism'.

I'm tempted to question him, on the smartness of flying the gay rainbow flag on the Teachers Club in Surrey Hills. How some parents are put off by such 'out there' statements. How some parents don't care for 'childless adults, shooting apples off their childrens heads'. But I leave him alone, it's not a fair question.

Redfern is extra quiet through the afternoon and evening. I imagine lots of folk have caught the afternoon buses to Walgett, for TJs funeral. No rock warnings, sirens or scurrying junkies, terminally late. During the afternoon, I take a bloke from Star City Casino to Redfern. He's from Sri Lanka and runs a security company in Redfern. I suggest he's got one of the toughest jobs in Sydney. He responds,

Listen, when I first moved here, I was robbed in the first two weeks by the Redfern mob. While only $400, I'm really angry. I was going to move eventually, but now I'm staying - fuck them. Of course, all Aborigines are not bad, just the ones around here. They're not right in the head. I'm an ex-military officer from a war-zone and I know how to clean up this place. I've even offered to use my business to help the police in Redfern.

The police should offer you a contract, I tell him, but he just shakes his head. On alighting he gives me his card. It reads,

SERVICE AND TRAINING
SQN LDR (RTD) P.F.___________Approved trainer and assessor. Life support & training

-security certificates
-green card
-traffic control
-first aid
-fire arms
-handcuffs & baton
-fire extinguisher
-confined spaces
-taxi training

After midnight, I pull up outside the Soho nightclub in Kings Cross. An ambulance waits in front. After a while I realise the ambo is rocking. I can see a male head jerking around inside. He's either doing heavy CPR on someone, or he's pulling his pants back on ! About a half hour later, I spot the ambo outside Maccas, on the Park Street rank. As a male and female return to the vehicle, I question them on the Soho job. They confirm they were working on someone, before transporting them to St. Vincents, in a stable condition. Imagine that - you're waiting in line for a Big Mac, and reflect that 30 minutes earlier, you've just save a life. Cool.

Later, there's a few Subaru WRXs out, for the weekly run with ramraids and the police. The cops are ready, with a heightened presence of pursuit vehicles, but I suspect the roads are too wet and greasy for any serious work to be done. The continual drizzle provides steady work for me though, allowing me to finish a little early.