She’ll Be Right, Mate

You frequently hear Australians using the phrase “she’ll be right, mate” in the context of some risky or dodgy activity or a repair job that isn’t perhaps quite all it should be. It’s indicative of a laid-back attitude and, I think, a sunny optimism. It appears to be catching.

Saturday morning saw Carl and I at the England’s Road tip, home of a vast compost producing enterprise and vast mountains of compost. Unfortunately, the man who operates the JCB to load the compost into your hired ute, or whatever, was nowhere to be found. Not to be deterred, we started shoveling after I’d wandered off to the recycling depot and negotiated the loan of a $2 dollar shovel.

After a while, Carl decided to turn the ute round to make it easier to fill and I distinctly remember saying “she’s looking a bit low.” To his credit, Carl distinctly remembers me saying this as well. He also remembers ignoring it. Some shoveling later, it was obviously full. Also obviously, it wasn’t going anywhere as the back mud flaps were bent back whereas the front wheels had only a tenuous relationship with the ground.

We looked at each other and started shoveling out, until some sanity had been restored. It was at this point that the phrase was uttered and buoyed up by this, we crept over the entrance speed bump and wobbled off the nearest garage to get the back tyres pumped up.

It was an interesting drive back to Sandy Beach. We were remarkably slow pulling away from traffic lights, much to the amusement of a lorry driver. Corners were a challenge and only to be taken slowly. In Coffs, we spotted a police car outside the Plantation Hotel so took a detour which unfortunately involved four 90-degree turns. We were sweating at this point. A fine queue built up behind us on the hill by the Big Banana. Various responsible citizens glared at us when they eventually overtook.

Half-way home, at Moonee, another police car lurked and there was no escape. We stared straight ahead, striving to be nonchalant, and all was well. As Carl remarked: “If he’d had his radar set for stupidity instead of speed….”

Anyway, we got home, slightly frazzled (“I was cacking myself there, mate”), and did another three, smaller, loads that day with the ute on an even keel to top up all our vegetable beds and lay the foundations for a three household veggie cooperative. There’s nothing like optimism when it proves to be justified. And the man with the JCB turned up as well.