The totally off-topic thread

[Meggsy]

Starting a week's committment tomorrow night at 2100 with the Rural Fire Service in comms.

Good luck Erk. Looks like the next couple of days could be very challenging for all involved in the NSW fires.

 

[erkpod]

Good luck Erk. Looks like the next couple of days could be very challenging for all involved in the NSW fires.

Thanks. The next few days look bad.

I'm based near Penrith at the bottom of the Blue Mountains. RFS are concerned about the 3 fires joining up & making one big fire.

I hope all the crews & the locals are safe.

 

[Simo]

Starting a week's committment tomorrow night at 2100 with the Rural Fire Service in comms.

How does that go with your shift work roster or is it allowed by work???

 

[amaroo]

Starting a week's committment tomorrow night at 2100 with the Rural Fire Service in comms.

Great stuff! Hope you end up with nothing to do.......it doesn't look like it will turn out that way.

May the winds and temperature be in your favour.

 

[erkpod]

How does that go with your shift work roster or is it allowed by work???

I'm lucky.

Because my employer is a state government organisation & it's in my award, I'm allowed unlimited emergency services leave during a bushfire emergency like we are now in.

 

[Simo]

I'm lucky.

Because my employer is a state government organisation & it's in my award, I'm allowed unlimited emergency services leave during a bushfire emergency like we are now in.

I was thinking that but was not sure...

I hope you have absolutely nothing to do for the week

 

[erkpod]

I was thinking that but was not sure...

I hope you have absolutely nothing to do for the week

I wish that was the case.

I won't be sure of my exact role in the team until I get there but there's usually a lot of behind the scenes stuff & forward planning that usually gets done on nightshift.

With this sort of fire, there probably will be night backburning.

 

[Simo]

I wish that was the case.

I won't be sure of my exact role in the team until I get there but there's usually a lot of behind the scenes stuff & forward planning that usually gets done on nightshift.

With this sort of fire, there probably will be night backburning.

Are you a weekend volunteer with RFS???

 

[erkpod]

Are you a weekend volunteer with RFS???

I volunteer doing comms for them, yes. Under normal operations, my main time I am on duty is on weekends (usually 1 x 8 hr shift per month) that I try to fit around work (I average working 1 weekend in 2). But under these conditions, my local centre has gone to 24/7 operations.

 

[JessicaTam]

...

I am not sure waking up that early in the morning for shanks, pull hooks, tops and duffs is such a great idea. :-|

I do not understand that sentence in the slightest.

It is not that easy. Otherwise everyone would be paired up.

I understand and agree with you there, though.

 

[JohnK]

I do not understand that sentence in the slightest.

It means my golf is not going so well. No sign of any improvement either.

The good thing though is that I am able to scrap/hack my way around the course that I am still shooting reasonable scores!

 

[Simo]

Enjoyed the interview on Sunday night with Ben Roberts Smith

 

[erkpod]

That was embarrassing! Some numpty parked too close to the driver's door of my car at Blue Depot. Because I'm in shape (OK, round is a shape!) & my body is a temple (OK, it's a Buddhist temple!), I could not squeeze into my car.


So I asked the first person that I saw & asked them if they could get into the car & roll it back for me so I could get in & drive home. The security guard obliged but when I was telling him what he needed to do, I asked him if he knew how to drive a manual. He didn't.


Then I had to explain to him which pedal was the clutch so he could put it in so I could get the car into neutral. Because he could not see his feet & which pedal was the clutch, he gets his little security guard torch out & I pointed out which one the clutch was. He then put the clutch in, I put it into neutral & we rolled the car backwards down the incline.

 

[cove]

I hope I don't dream about this tonight erkpod.
Will head to Fairfield on the train knowing my car won't get parked in this week seeing I don't have a car in Sydney.

 

[erkpod]

I hope I don't dream about this tonight erkpod.
Will head to Fairfield on the train knowing my car won't get parked in this week seeing I don't have a car in Sydney.

I'd normally say to give me a wave when the train arrives in case it is me but I know it won't be me because I'll have my RFS hat on, not my train driver hat.

 

[cove]

RFS is really needed this week so stay safe and hope you beat the fire lighters this week.

 

[JohnK]

managed only three of those - I believe you actually need a decent strike to generate a "pull hook".

How about snap hooks, duck hooks etc. Lump them all into the pull hook category.

Funny thing is I do not know what is coming next....

 

[Pushka]

I've always thought it unfair that when a persons house burns down through some external issue (eg TV blowing up as happened in SA last week) that there is no Government support provided to the now homeless family but payments are always made to adults and children when a house burns down in a bushfire. Even though in both cases Insurance applies. Surely the tragedy for both families is the same.

 

[Hvr]

Actually what really annoys me is when the people who lose their house in a bushfire but don't have insurance still expect to have their losses covered.

Insurance payments contribute to fire departments yet the very people who seek their assistance refuse to pay for it. And they get priority for donations because they don't have insurance!

 

[blackcat20]

...

Insurance payments contribute to fire departments yet the very people who seek their assistance refuse to pay for it. And they get priority for donations because they don't have insurance!

Didn't the fire levy just get moved to council rates so that everyone pays their share?