The Side Biker

8 December - Today was an interesting day - no more trainees and I had to hustle almost as soon as I started. Normally, we get given a bag of stuff that was picked from the previous night, because we're only dropping off and they're overnight jobs they don't pay very well but they keep us busy during the quiet periods but if you haven't got rid of them all before 12 due to other 'real' jobs then you have to hustle to deliver. Today, I wasn't given a bag because I was going to be 'fed' all of the hots (have to be delivered in an hour or 40m, i can't remember which) and supers (have to be done in 20m), it's definitely a good thing - I had to rush around a bit but they're better paid and it's a bit more fun when you have such tight deadlines. However, this was only for the beginning of the day, before long I was loaded up with jobs for the southside. I was going to be 'the side biker'. Mostly envelopes but a couple of bulky packages including some really heavy architectural plans. The distances were pretty significant and I didn't do as many jobs but these ones pay a lot more (they're normally only done by cars). It was absolutely exhausting at times, the hills are a lot steeper when you get over the bridge and because I didn't know the streets on the other side (i'd lent my map to one of the trainees a few weeks ago) I found myself lost a few times and despite the rambled directions coming through the radio it was very frustrating. When I finally came back over the other side it was straight back into urgent jobs but at least they didn't weigh very much. Got an invite to the courier yuletide bash at the end of the month - one of the other bikers rode past me, cigarette in mouth, and yelled at me, 'heysaxdon'tknowifyougotoneofthese, hopetoseeyouthere' and pulled out an invitation from his pocket and stuffed it in my hand. He didn't even stop pedalling (and he had no brakes on his bike so he wasn't going slowly). Bizarre. All of the buildings ar gettingvery much into the season at the moment, Christmas trees in office, carol singing in the foyers, candy canes on the desks (and in my pocket) - a bit annoying at times and I don't want to sound like a Scrooge but you might feel the same if you had 'Jingle Bell Rock' in your head for half the day.
No hockey game tonight so I took advantage of having the TV to myself and rented out the original 'King Kong', in anticipation of next week's remake premiere - I tell you what, this is a film that does not need to be remade. Story was a bit tacky and the plot races along without bothering with such necessities as plausibility or decent dialogue but the action is intense, and despite looking very dated, it was still more effective than a lot of the more recent studio efforts. I'm sure Peter Jackson's effort will be worth seeing next week and it will probably be bigger and better than this, but I was totally impressed with the original and after many years of trying to track it down I can finally cross it off my list.