Nov1

Laura & Mark - 1st November 1999

Today is Monday, but we're not working yet. Laura will start tomorrow, during which time Mark will continue looking for work. We did get a little closer though: Mark called another advert from the newspaper about process work. They asked him to fax his CV and said that he'd hear something from them if he was suitable, although they really wanted people who were available for longer (surprise surprise). So today was another relaxing day as Laura prepared herself mentally for the work and Mark prepared himself mentally for the hunt.
We played lots of Yatzee and watched some TV, we also did a little more shopping, but all in all we were too tired to do anything exciting. Perhaps we should apologise for the lack of exciting news at this point and explain our situation a little. Having decided to put our energy into more day-to-day things we were now spending our time in much the same way as people do all over the world. We have not been spending much time or money on sight-seeing as we know that we have plenty of time for this in the months that we will be staying in Adelaide. Instead, we are slowly regaining our strength and a little routine in order to survive the weeks of work to come. This is why we are not filling this diary with pages of description of beautiful and interesting places that we've visited; not just yet anyway. Once all is sorted out, we will definitely be visiting the beautiful hills that surround Adelaide, tasting wine at the vineyards, cycling both up and down the coast, learning to surf, going snorkelling, visiting Kangaroo Island, Victor Harbour and Waterfall gallery. But just at the moment we are concentrating on living, not too expensively and finding good jobs.
Tonight we cooked a large lasagne that was absolutely delicious (and in fact took most of the day to cook anyway). This we ate in front of another episode of Neighbours, the Simpsons and Good News Week, before getting an early night as the alarm would make its annoying buzzing noise at 6.50 the next morning.

Laura & Mark - 2nd November 1999

AAAAAAAAH! What is that annoying Beep Beep Beep sound? That is the sound that indicates that it is time to put the alarm clock on "snooze". So Laura did.
AAAAAAAAH! Beep Beep Beep! Well, time for another 4 minute "snooze" (this alarm clock being the only one in the world that supplies a pathetic 4 minute snooze, rather than the accepted 9 minutes).
AAAAAAAAH! Beep Beep Beep! Groan! Time to get up, and hurry!
It was 7 o'clock (or a little bit after) when we rolled out of bed and started to get ready for the long day ahead. Laura showered and got dressed. Mark showered and got dressed. Laura got her packed lunch out of the fridge, Mark made himself some breakfast. Laura had a little breakfast, Mark got his stuff together (addresses of employment agancies to visit). By 7.44am we were leaving the flat and running for the tram. At 7.46am we saw the tram leave, without us. So we got on the next tram and worried all the way into the centre of Adelaide.
Once there, we caught the free bus to the bus stop where Laura would catch another bus to her Cheap as Chips shop. Mark decided to go with her before returning to Adelaide to job-hunt. We caught the 222 successfully and then got out at the wrong stop, about a 400m uphill climb from where we should have been. So satisfied with our highly unsuccessful start to the morning we said goodbye: Mark headed to the bus stop and Laura went in to appologise for being late (only 1 minute, but long enough for the others to already have started their "introduction").
Mark - I caught the bus back to the centre, and then went straight to the Information SA office to talk to my friends and do some internetting. Gail, one of the friendly ladies that we always chatted too, invited Laura and I to a netball game, to watch her daughters play in a "Grand Final" the following evening. She wrote down her address and phone number and I said I'd check with Laura, but it sounded like fun.
Next I went to the Centrelink office to look in the computer for new vacancies. While looking through the jobs, I realized that I could also print out the names and addresses of employment agencies that registered with Centrelink, so those seemed like a good place to start. I printed out the details of four agencies in the area and set off again. First stop was just opposite the Centrelink office, where I tried to enroll. However at the reception they told me that I had to be an australian citizen in order to be on their books. This being a slight drawback I decided to go on to the next one. Here they told me the same story. The other two that I'd printed out turned out to be just as useless: Government Agencies (only for unemployed Australians). Getting a little fed up with these set-backs I went to buy a drink in the nearest supermarket and sat down to reflect on what to do next. It was by now already midday and Laura should be calling soon, so I decided to wait for that bef!
ore I went on. But after a quarter of an hour I went on anyway and stopped in a food court to look in the Yellow Pages for some more employment agencies. I found three which were on the way to the one that Laura got the job through (which I was planning to go past anyway) and set off once more, with a little fresh hope in my heart. I had just arrived at the first one and was visiting the little men's room when Laura called (this is one of the troubles with mobile phones, they go everywhere with you!). We had a quick chat and arranged that I would go home after trying these agencies as none of them seemed to be any good. We then aranged that Laura would just come home after work and we'd eat there before going off to our Tuesday night film.
The conversation over, and the toilet visit too, I went into the office to throw my details and CV at someone. They told me that they had some work going, but that I really needed a car for it as the work was on the other side of town, and on-call. This was the only kind of work that they handled and they also told me that the other two I had written down were part of the same agency and therefore: no good.
So the final visit to be paid was to the Worksmiths Recruitment agency (which Laura got the Cheap as Chips work from). Here they were very friendly and helpful (makes a change), and I had a long chat with Kerry, the secretary. I told her that Laura had called to say that she was having fun, and Kerry replied that there had already been one girl who left that morning, and maybe that would be a chance for me. I explained that all the agencies I had been past were goverment owned and wouldn't help me, so she gave me a list of agencies that would help me that were in that area.
So I set off again under the burning sun to seek out these new hopes: the first of which was two kilometers away. I enrolled with ease and they said they probably wouldn't find anything because it was such short-term, but they would never-the-less try their best. The next on the list was closer but I couldn't actually find it, as the property had been taken over by a hairdresser (where I didn't think I'd be given a job). After missing the next one the list I went instead to Woolworths (supermarket) to buy some food (I didn't have one of Laura's tastey packed lunches with me). Just outside the supermarket I found the last agency on my list (oops, missed a few). I went in and managed to enroll there and at three other places before going back to Worksmiths. There I had a long chat with one of the friendly men: Michael, the same guy who had interviewed Laura, before going home. By this time I was exhausted and had a little sun stroke. So I went straight to bed until Laura got home.

Laura - Arriving at work late I then found out that I should really have worn more comfortable shoes. The high heels were lovely and posh and felt great for the morning, but working out back in the storeroom in the afternoon I could feel the blisters developing. Everyone was very friendly, and my training seemed to consist of working in their store, and being corrected when we got things wrong. For the whole morning I was tidying stock up (it really needed it) and putting things back in their places (moving the toys back into their section from the kitchen section). I also helped with putting an endless array of christmas goods on display, and squeezing them into the tiny spaces available to do so. By lunchtime I was all tinselled out and was pretty sick of the sight of red and green wrapping paper too. I have to admit that the time had flown by and settled down happily to eat my sandwiches.
The afternoon started with the arrival of 5 huge pallots full of boxes. We unloaded the boxes and placed them in different corners of the storeroom according to their contents. The christmas corner actually filled most of the storeroom by itself but there was some hardware and food too (mainly boxes of shortbread). We were then designated a corner (I got the shortbread) and we started unpacking things and pricing them using a completely unsophisticated price gun. It may well be that they are the same all over the world, they are certainly the same in all cheap as chips stores and this is how they work: To enter a code of numbers and letters you simply select the numbers you need and the completely wrong letters. When you need a "2", you select the "2" on the price gun, when you need a "B" you select the "O" on the price gun. All very silly. It turns out that if you want the "F", which is the 6th letter of the alphabet, you have to choose the "S", which is the sixth letter star!
ting from "N". This of course means that when you need an "S", you choose "F".
Well, that silliness explained and all our readers totally confused I will continue with the story of the afternoon's events. Once I had finished with the "shortbread plain selection", the "shortbread chocolate selection", the "shortbread gift selection" and the massive 1kg "shortbread family selection", I moved on to picture frames and lots of other stuff like that. By the time 17.00 came I had almost emptied my corner of the storeroom and left the rest for the following morning. I caught the bus to town with reasonabe success (the first three buses that went past the stop where I was waiting were labeled "special", "sorry, not in service" and "no pick-ups after stop 26" respectively, I was of course located after stop 26).
A brisk walk through the centre of Adelaide and I was just in time to catch the next tram home, arriving at the door at roughly 18.20.
As Mark wasn't feeling well and Laura's feet had dropped off, twice, we decided to eat the left over lasagne and bolognese sauce, on toast. A not very exciting, but very quick and painless to make meal. We then of course watched Neighbours (still no-one wants to know what happens?) and the Simpons, and the beginning of a program where Whoopi Goldberg went to a zoo. I know that that doesn't make it sound very exciting, but it was actually quite good.
Next we pulled on our comfy shoes and caught a bus to Marion, a large shopping centre with cinema complex about half an hour by bus from Glenelg. The bus was quiet, and the total of passengers was two, including us. The driver was friendly and we figured out that he would probably be driving us back home too.
The cinema complex turned out to be a CINEMA COMPLEX! 30 screens, certainly worthy of the Metropolis in Antwerp. We chose "The Generals Daughter" and decided to come back again soon to see another one too. Or at least next Tuesday anyway. The film was good, a good story and a good script. Running out as soon as the titles came up, we were just in time to catch the 10.50pm bus home. The driver was indeed the same and so we recommended the film to him, said goodbye in Glenelg, and went home to sleep off our head- and feet-aches.

Laura & Mark - 3rd November 1999

The alarm buzzed annoyingly at an equally early time to yesterday and Laura slowly got up again. This time she was determined to be on time, so she would hurry a little and catch the tram ten minutes earlier in order to catch the bus a little earlier too. Mark also got up and had some food while Laura rushed around starting to pannic. It was another Wednesday and that meant another good newspaper full of "positions vacant" many of which would be looking for an experienced chicken boner, or an experienced sandwichmaker etc.
But Mark bought it anyway and had a bit of a browse before settling down to do a long list of cleaning and household chores. He washed the floor, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, changed the towels, and dusted.
In the meantime Laura had returned to her pricing and was getting slowly fed up with unpacking sets of 6 plastic jugs which were all usefully packed tightly inside eachother and labeling each with a seperate price!
Mark had some lunch.
Laura had some lunch (and an icecream).
Mark left to go to town in the afternoon in order to go past the information SA office to chat to Gail about the netball game which we'd decided to go to, and she would be picking us up after the first episode of the Simpsons (in other words, 19.30).
Laura was thrown out into the shop again to practise making space for stock in the rack and to put out the annoying plastic jugs among other things.
At 16.45 the couple's paths crossed (our pathes crossed) in the Cheap as Chips store. Mark wandered round looking at the goods while Laura made quiet but obvious comments like: "would sir like to buy something nice for his girlfriend?" Mark in fact bought something nice for Laura: a duster. And some christmas cards. Mark in fact didn't even buy the duster for Laura, it was all for him, but this act of selfishness rather pleased Laura anyway.
They caught the bus and the tram home together and were back in Glenelg in time to pick up a MacDonalds and watch the Simpsons. Within seconds our lovely, fresh-smelling appartment smelt of chips and grease and we settled ourselves in front of the Simpsons. As the dum-dum-dum, dee-dum-dum-dum, dee-dumdumdumdum, dee-dumdumdumdum (the Simpsons theme tune for the slightly more musically challenged than us) came up we went outside to wait for Gail. She came along and we chatted as she drove us to the other side of town where the match would be. Where exactly the match would be was in fact a very good question, but having driven past it (unknowingly) and round the block, we found it fine the second time. We met Gail's daughters Suzie, Angie and Jo (please forgive us if this is completely wrong), and Angie's boyfriend Liam (also, we beg for forgiveness for our stupidity, if we are stupid). Their team's name was ROUS, which stood for Rats Of Unusual Sizes and they were playing in purple against a team in white for the title of grand champion (of their league at least). The match started out very close, but by the end of the third quarter there was no way that the whites would catch the purples. In the meantime we watched with awe as almost all the things that you are allowed to (or indeed supposed to) do in basketball was strictly forbidden in netball. The theory was the same: get the ball through the net, but like Korfball, the players moves were quite limited. It was quite a fast game, just a little agrivating to see people shooting freely without being blocked. After the victory beer we were given a lift home past lots of interesting places like the university and the library and some pretty lights and things, picked up Gail's dog and continued until we were dropped off on our doorstep (a real luxury). We thanked her for a lovely evening and with the promise of a BBQ for her daughter's birthday in a couple of weeks we smiled our way to bed. We had made some friends.

Laura & Mark - 4th November 1999

Laura woke up to the sound of BEEP again and got up. Mark stayed firmly put where he lay. Laura ran around getting food and brushing her hair and stuff like that and Mark lay in bed. Laura went off to catch the tram, leaving Mark, yes, you guessed it: lying in bed. And he was proud of it. He felt quite contented at playing house-husband, cleaning and shopping all day. In fact this evening he would also be cooking for Laura if all went well.
Mark - I finally got up at 10.00 and had a shower. At a little after 11.00 the phone rang (mobiles can be useful things). It was someone from the "BOSS" employment agency where I'd signed up Monday (I didn't get sun-stroke for nothing then), asking if I could work today. I said "yes" and he would call me back soon with the details. At 11.30 the phone went again and he said I had to work from 12.00 until 20.00 (although I wouldn't quite make it for the 12.00 start). I would be doing something with meat in a factory. As I was a little stuck with the public transport he offered to come and pick me up and at 12.15 a BMW drew up. He raced me across town to the factory and at 13.15 I was starting my job (after being informed of all the health risks). It turned out (rather unpleasantly) to be packing the bad, scrap bit of meat that come off a freshly butchered cow up into bags. After a couple of hours the "lab-coat" I'd been given couldn't handly it any more and my T-shirt and jeans were becoming increasingly soaked in the blood. At 19.15 we were told to clean up for half an hour and at 19.45 we started making boxes for the meat bags to go in. At 20.15 I left to find a bus back home and had to wait half an hour as I had just missed one. Everyone watched me while I was on the bus and no-one sat too close (I was smelling profoundly by then). I finally dragged my blood-stained boots up the stairs at 22.05 and Laura let me in (before she nearly fainted).
Laura - I spent a happy day just generally getting on with things in the store and out in the storeroom. we got lots and lots done and had also managed to tidy up a lot of the shop too. Time passed quickly and I was making friends with some of my fellow trainees, so it was soon time to rush home to Mark's cooking. I got to the motel at just after 18.15 and found a note on the door. The note said something like: "Found a job, will be working until 20.00, so I'll see you when I get home after that, key is at the reception". So I went down to retrieve the key and let myself into the quiet flat. I couldn't find anything too interesting to eat and didn't feel like cooking much anyway, so after watching Neighbours I went off to use the internet in the centre of Glenelg. After a nice chat about how stupid the traffic lights were with a bloke at the traffic lights (surprisingly), I arrived at the internet centre. The sign on the door said "closed" so I hobbled back to the supermarket to pick up something tinned to heat up for my supper. I settled upon Ravioli and made a little omlet to go with it. By the time I had finished all that and the washing up, I felt well and truly exhausted and decided to watch some TV. After just over an hour of trying to keep my eyes open, I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed, thinking that Mark would be home any minute (it was by this time almost 21.30). Unfortunately he still didn't get home, so I got into bed to watch some more TV. At 22.05 I suddenly thought that he wouldn't be able to come up and knock on the door as the outer door would be locked to, so I poked my head outside the door and there was Mark, walking around the corner of the street.
Reunited, Laura went to sleep, while Mark had some food and put his blood-stained clothes into some water to soak. And then himself into the shower to soak, before going to bed too.

Laura & Mark - 5th November 1999

We got up together this morning as Mark thought he should go to "BOSS" bright and early to quit the meat-packing and Laura had another day of training at the Prospect Cheap as Chips store. We caught the tram together and then Laura caught the bus to work while Mark caught the bus to "BOSS".
Mark - Arriving at "BOSS" at 8.45, I was the first one there and had to wait for the office to open. At 9.00 it opened and I went in to talk to the man that helped me yesterday. I said that I didn't want to do it any more and he asked me to fill in the necessary forms (including tax number that we'd recieved finally in the post yesterday) for my payment for yesterday. After that was done I left (phew). But I would have to return later with some forgotten details (doh!). I went past Worksmiths again but they had no more news about the Cheap as Chips warehouse job, so I went back home. I bought some food and had some food myself, before going off out again. This time I went to the bank to activate my card (which I'd also recieved in the post yesterday) and to get some money out. Back at the motel I paid for the room for another week. Finally I headed back towards the centre, but I missed the bus. Then I missed another bus because it took a different route and finally I was too late to meet Laura from work as I had promised. I called "Boss" to say that I couldn't come past anymore and passed on my details by phone. I then took the next tram to the centre, thinking I could wait for Laura at the bus stop there.
Laura - Another day of not-very-interesting-to-write-about work which I thoroughly enjoyed once more and it was 16.30 in no time at all. I was busy in the front of the shop at this point so had a good look-out for when Mark would come in. Unfortunately by the time we were closing at 17.00, he still hadn't come, so as agreed I headed home. Daniel, one of my fellow trainees who wants to be an actor offered to give me a lift, so I accepted gratefully. He took me back to Glenelg (he lives in the next town up the coast) and we chatted about the work that he's done in acting until now. He was an extra in "In a Savage Land", a guy in army uniform, smoking a cigarette at a station at some point in the film, and he's done some other stuff too. I was home nice and early for a change, thinking that Mark would either be there, or had got an appointment for another job. He wasn't and he hadn't so I gave him a ring on the mobile and found out that he was still waiting for me in the centre.
Mark caught the next tram home and Laura sat and nursed her feet and legs, waiting for his return. When Mark did get home he got straight down to cooking dinner: steaks, chips and peas and carrots. Food digested and washing up washed up we watched "Tootsie", or at least Mark watched all of Tootsie and Laura went to bed before the end, exhausted from work.

Laura & Mark - 6th November 1999

It was finally Saturday, but this didn't mean much to Laura as the alarm woke her up for her last day of "training" (=work). Mark stayed in bed and enjoyed his Saturday morning, while Laura went off to battle with the Saturday bus timetable and still try to get to work by 9.00.
Mark - I got up at 9.00 and showered and had breakfast. I went off to the supermarket to do the shopping for the weekend (yippee, crisps again) and also bought some more cleaning stuff. I started to clean the flat again and did the whole place inside-out, particularly the mouldy spots. At 15.30 I went off to catch the tram, satisfied with the clean air and sparkling appearance of the flat. I went off up to Prospect to meet Laura from work, in plenty of time.
Laura - A Saturday, and I have to work, something must be wrong. It didn't matter to much though as the thought of the money I would be earning spurred me on. I spent the morning clearing up more stock and checking to see if the barcodes worked, while chatting happily in a Saturday spirit to colleagues and customers.
After a fabulous all you can fit on a plate for $6.50, Chinese food, lunch I went back to the store for the last afternoon of the week. I was sent to the front of the shop and spent the whole afternoon helping to paint green holly leaves and red holly berries on the windows.
Mark came in and bought a book, and we left together. We caught a bus home and were in time to try not to watch "Beethoven's Second".
At this point we were pleased to hear that the months of campaigning on the TV and in the newspapers was finally over and the votes for or against the Republic had been cast. "Yes" = Australian Head of state, and the ties with Britain would be severed. "No" = no changes, the monarchy would still choose the "government general". The "Yes" campaign consisted of a quite clever television clip in which Bill Clinton toasted to Her Majesty the Queen of Australia, which does seem very silly. The "No" campaign was concentrated on pointing out the weaknesses in the "Yes" campaign, and simply repeating that there is nothing wrong with Australia as it is now. At 21.00 the results were announced (although it was already obvious before then what the outcome would be) and "No" won by 54% to 46% (roughly). This meant that nothing would change, and new campaigning for next time could start again soon.
We cooked chicken in paprika sauce with rice for dinner and watched another film ("Spy Hard") during which Laura decided to go to sleep. Mark followed once the film was over.

Laura & Mark - 7th November 1999

Aah, Sunday at last and after a tiring week we had a long lie in. We decided to spend what remained of the day catching up on our bits and bobs. We spent 2 and a half hours on the internet, writing our diary among other things. Once that was all done, we felt thoroughly exhausted again and went back home to play Yatzee and cook dinner: Chilli con Carne, an ever-increasing cheap favourite.
We watched the double bill of the Simpsons, and Happy Days, and Daylight, and Mark had a nice long chat to his parents in between. That being the full excitement of our day we will stop here with this account and move on to more interesting things.