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Tales of the Trev

My Top 10 Bad Neighbour Stories

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Bad Neighbour Stories

Bad neighbours can make life hell, especially if you just want to be left alone and mind your own business.  Some people seem incapable of not bothering their neighbours though and I’ve had quite a few over of this sort over the years, perhaps in part because I used to live in the crappy parts of suburbs because the rent would be cheaper.

“Please Karen, I’m sorry I used my mower on my own lawn, don’t have me arrested again!”

So here are Big Angry Trev’s Top 10 Encounters with Bad Neighbours:

 

*Bad Neighbour #1: Parking-Spot Parionia Karen

Reservoir Victoria, Australia, 1996.

Was living in a block of 5 units in Reservoir.  We were probably the bad neighbours to most other residents because it was during my Uni days and used to throw lots of parties.  The cops would usually show up and ask us to keep the noise down.  We would apologise and immediately do so, but it must have irked the neighbours that this would happen about 8 times a year.

One morning I’m in the shower.  My girlfriend who had stayed the night came in to tell me the lady in Unit 5 (we were in 3) had just come to the door and told me to stop the harassment or she would call the police.  I had never even said hello to this woman so had no idea what she was on about.

Went and knocked on the ladies door to find out what it was all about.  She accused me of parking my car out the front of her place and revving the engine a lot (never happened) to harass her.  She then went on about how I shouldn’t judge her just because she’s a single mother (I would have been 19, she looked early 20’s), making it sound like I had already decided she must be a slut or something.

I informed her that I had never revved my car in front of her unit, the most I had ever done was pull up in front so I then reverse in to my allotted spot.  Told her that I had never judged her because I knew absolutely nothing about her and that for all I knew she lived with four big guys that would beat me up for even looking at her sideways.

My mother came to visit me a few months later.  She asked where she could park and I told her the end spot because no cars ever parked there.  My mother did so and within minutes this mad woman was at my door demanding we move the car.  As I went to do so the irritation on my face must have been evident as when I passed her she stared to Karen-like blather on about her rights.  I snapped at her ‘why don’t you just move then?’  and then continued to shift my mother’s vehicle.  She left us alone after that but we never dared use her parking spot again, which remained completely vacant until we moved ourselves a few years later.

 

*Bad Neighbour #2: Toothless Nutcase fakes visit by Prostitute

Reservoir Victoria, Australia, 2000

Second place in Reservoir and had moved in with my now-fiancé.  Two units this time, with ours being the one closest to the street.  The unit at the back had a husband, wife and wife’s father living in it.  Had never spoken to either of the men and to her only a couple of times.  She was missing most of her teeth, wore these awful singlets all the time that barely covered her unfortunate physique, and would be constantly hosing down their half of the driveway.  Like, constantly – maybe for a couple of hours each day!

I went away for a weekend to visit friends out of town and that evening my fiancé rings me up screaming.  Apparently the neighbour woman had come over and given her some story about a blond in an SUV showing up and when I wasn’t home had knocked on her door.  This supposed blond was asking where I was and then had left a magazine with the neighbour to pass onto me.  The magazine was like the Prostitute Quarterly for Melbourne or something – all articles about the sex trade in Melbourne and lots of ads for brothels.  One of these brothel ads had all these different messages to me written around it, things like ‘We love your Goatee’, ‘Come back soon Trevor!’ etc, making it seem like I was a prolific and favoured customer.

Took ages to calm my fiancé down over the phone to get her to look at the facts:

A:  If I actually had visited a brothel (which I hadn’t), what kind of brothel would be randomly sending out prostitutes from their business to visit their clients homes uninvited?  Was this meant to be some kind of after-sales service?  And when people visit a brothel, are they required to give their home address?  I’m guessing not.

B: If for some unfathomable reason, when you visited a brothel and for whatever purpose gave them your home address, it was unlikely they would send prostitutes then knocking on neighbours doors and asking to leave incriminating evidence.

It all made zero sense except for someone going out of their way to punk me and I finally got my fiancé to see that.  When I confronted the neighbour about it she told me the same story she told my fiancé; a blond in an SUV had turned up looking for me and gave my neighbour the magazine.  Then she proceeded to tell me that I shouldn’t be getting married if I was doing that kind of thing.  So obviously her intention had been to break up the couple next door, but for what reason I never found out.

A few months later they broke in through our backdoor and stole our TV, I found it pawned at a local Cash Converters.

 

*Bad Neighbour #3: The Drunken Dog-Beater

Werribee Victoria, Australia, 2001

For a short time I rented a house in Werribee.  Not long after moving in a drunk neighbour in his 40’s knocked on the door and asked could I please give him a lift as he really needed to get into town.  I was sceptical but obliged, part of the reason being I was only 23 and he was much older than me – I hadn’t gotten a handle of saying no to people my senior as yet.  Drove him into town and he insisted on giving me a pack of cigarettes as a thank you.

After that at least twice a week he would show up tipsy on our doorstep asking my partner where I was.  She would always lie and say I was out (I was usually tinkering in the shed) and he would protest that I wasn’t because he could see my car there.  Guy was obviously in need of a friend but I had no interest in being it.

He had 3 big dogs that would howl all the time, pretty certain he was beating them from the way he would be yelling and the anguished noises they would make.  Rang the RSPCA about it and they said there was nothing they could do – was pretty surprised and annoyed by that.

 

*Bad Neighbour/hood #4: Crime Everywhere!

Broadmeadows Victoria, Australia, 2003

Was living in a block of a dozen units in the cheapest part of the suburb.  Don’t know how much of it had to do with my neighbours but I got burgled within a month of moving in, then 6 months later came home to find a stolen car in my parking spot with its inside completely stripped.

 

Bad Neighbour/Housemates #5: The Dodgy Nurses

Cricklewood London, England, 2004

Lived in a slim, 3-story share house in Cricklewood, London.  The two girls that ran the share-house, both nurses, were very dodgy – they waited until we gave our deposit before telling us that if we didn’t find someone to replace us when we decided to move out that they would keep our deposit.  They would never give us a receipt for any of the rent we paid so we were pretty sure they were overcharging everyone in the house so that they themselves could live there for free.  My girlfriend had small items of jewellery go missing as well so we had to start locking our bedroom door.

We were on the top floor and there was another Aussie that had his bedroom across the hall from ours.  He would play the same Dire Straights CD over and over again every single night.  You’d just be starting to relax when you’d hear “We gotta move these refrigerators” come blasting out of his room.  Idiot used to sit up there drinking beer all night every night listening to the same songs, the cops even turned up once because he was throwing his beer bottles out the window onto the busy street below.

After a month we couldn’t take living there anymore so found someone to take our room and got them to give their deposit straight to us.  The nurses were livid, it was obvious they had intended to keep our deposit as well as get the deposit off the next guy.  We ended up moving a week early just to get out of there.

 

*Bad Neighbour #6: Stalked for Sex

Grays Essex, England, 2004

Pushy gay guy that lived across the road stalked me for sex.  Full story here.

The day I learned to have empathy for all women everywhere

 

*Bad Neighbour #7: The Cat Neglecter

Heidelberg West Victoria, Australia, 2005

Neighbour had a cat who he never bothered to feed or look after so I ended up feeding it.  He kept it locked outside 24/7 and I would come home to find this cat waiting at my back door crying for a pat and some food.  Neighbour saw me putting out a bowl of water for his cat once on a really hot day but said nothing so it was an indication he was probably happy someone else was looking after his animal, saving him the trouble.  When I moved out I left a note tacked to the inside of one of the cupboards for the new tenants to find, telling them about the cat and suggesting they may want to pick up where I left off.

Had a break-in there, but my housemate was home so the guy got scared off.

 

 *Bad Neighbour/hood #8: Pigeon Lady

Northcote Victoria, Australia, 2009

The lady living to our right was quite nice, but had big bird boxes full of dozens of pigeons right up against our fence, which irked my wife as she hated pigeons.  The thing that used to really annoy us though was she would throw tons of white bread scraps over the fence to our dog, despite being asked several times not to because they were bad for our dogs digestion.

One day came home to find the kid over our back fence was throwing rocks over the fence at the clean washing on our line.  Got robbed twice while we lived there, once they stole my laptop, the other time they stole our digital camera which still had all the photo’s from my 30th birthday party on it, so I don’t have a single photo from that night.

 

*Bad Neighbour/hood #9: Our Nature Strip is his Toilet

Swan Hill Victoria, Australia, 2011

In the small town of Swan Hill in Victoria we had neighbours a few doors down that would have a party every Friday night and be blasting really bad country music in their backyard.  Then one night while I was away supervising a camp, two drunk guys decided that one of them couldn’t make it home to use the toilet in time, discussed the issue and decided to take a dump on our nature strip at 3am, my poor wife having to listen to the whole performance in the middle of the night alone in the house.

 

*Bad Neighbour #10: The Grape-Guns of Wrath

Murrawee Victoria, Australia,  2015

Living on a farm you think you would be safe from bad neighbours but we got one when we bought our first property.  Things were OK for the first couple of years, then the neighbours decided they were going to grow grapes.  So they got three of these huge scare guns that went off on timers to blast every few minutes to scare the birds off.  Problem was that they were so loud you could hear them in our house like they were only a meter away!  I looked up the rules regarding scare guns in rural areas and you were only allowed to have one blast every 15 minutes and only between the hours of 7am and 6pm.  He had 3 guns on 10 minute timers so there was a blast every 3 minutes or so and would go from 6.55am to 8pm every day.  It was like we were living in a warzone and it made life hell, as well as disturbing the sleep of our infant daughter and toddler son.

I finally had enough and went over to complain.  When I arrived I found he had put one of the scare guns as close to our property line as was physically possible.  When he and I began to argue about it I said to him in a reasonable tone “Look, come over and have a cup of tea and you’ll hear what it sounds like in our kitchen”.  That chilled him out a bit and made him more reasonable, but the guns never fully stopped during grape-growing season and we were relieved when we moved away 2 years later.

 

Thankfully my family and I live in an even more remote part of the country now, where we can only see our neighbours by standing on the veranda and looking into the distance.  Lets hope our relatively peaceful existence continues.

Got a bad neighbour story?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

Being named Karen in a world of “Karen’s”

 

Ask Trev!, Transformatorium

The Transformatorium – most popular FAQ’s

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Since pictures of the The Transformatorium have begun to circulate on various social media around the globe, I get asked a lot of questions.  Much of the time, these are questions I have been asked many times before.

This picture tantalizes the curiosity!

So to address this, I put the call out on FB and Twitter for people to put forth their queries that I could answer in a Frequently Asked Questions blog, so in the future I could quickly direct people to it rather than type out the same answers yet again.  Don’t get me wrong, I love people taking an interest!  This will simply be a bit of a time-saver all round 😉

Find below the list of FAQ’s I received, and thank you to everybody who submitted one!

 

The Transformatorim – FAQ’s

About the Shed itself:

Q: OMG your house must be soooo big!  Is it?

A: The Transformatorium is actually a  separate building to the main house – a  specifically designed shed to store my collection.  We live on a big farm though, so there was plenty of space to construct the shed.

 

Q: How tall is that ceiling?

No wasted space, not even the ceiling!

A: At it’s apex it is 4 meters high, at it’s lowest it is 2.6 meters.

 

Q: Why did someone who is so obviously genetically related to hobbits build shelves so high?

What’s the point of having all that space if you don’t use it?

A: (Sigh… yes I know the questioner and yes he is significantly taller than me) I built the shelves myself to scale with the shed, and to maximize shelf space I made them all 2.6m high.  Of course that means if I want something off the top shelf them I need a ladder to get it.

 

Q: What are you going to do when you run out of room?

A: There is a second part to the shed behind the big main back wall.  If I ever run out of room I guess I will need to knock out that wall and utilize the storage space behind it.  Lets hope that’s a looong way off in the future though, as it would necessitate taking EVERY single Transformer off the shelves for the reconstruction and that would be such a huge job!

 

Q: How do you deal with heat?

Shady

A: The placement of my Transformatorium Shed is such that during the worst parts of the day it is shaded by tree’s (though I have genuine fear of one of them falling the wrong way one day).  The ceiling is also quite high and well insulated so heat doesn’t build up much.  The only part of the shed that gets particularly hot is the West facing wall around mid-afternoon.  Thankfully I only have MISB crossover figures on that wall which affords the figures some extra protection,  and I am growing plants in the garden I made out front that should adequately shade that wall within a few years.  I also have thick heavy curtains across the glass door to keep out heat and light.

 

About me and my collection:

Q: What is your evacuation strategy for the figures in the event of bush fire/flood?

Picture from 3 years ago – would need a bigger trailer now

A: Back in late 2019 I had to evacuate my entire collection due to bushfires.  Thankfully the majority of them were still boxed so I was, with the help of a mate, able to load them all up and take them to a friends house in a nearby town that was not as threatened.  They lived there for a month until the danger had passed.

If a bushfire or flood came out of nowhere now, I’d be far more concerned with getting my wife, children and pets out safely.  Toys can be replaced, loved ones cannot.

If I had time I might dash back and grab as many G1 and Masterpiece toys as possible though 😉

 

Q: WhErE iS “insert figure obviously missing from your collection here” I dOnT sEe iT.

Oh Timelines Counterpunch, where art thou?!

A: If you don’t see it, chances are I don’t have it.  My collection is big, but I can’t think of any specific Transformers toyline that I own every single figure from.

 

Q: I noticed you’re in Australia – has that ever caused problems with adding to the collection?  Import costs, local distribution, environmental damage etc?

Hard Times for Aussie Collectors

A: Yes it can be a real pain in the arse to get certain figures here in Australia, especially for me since I live in the bush and there are no stores that sell Transformers within 50 kilometres of my location.  Occasionally here in Aus we luck out and get a figure before the rest of the world, like Legacy Motormaster, but in an age where more and more figures are becoming exclusives to chain stores that don’t even exist on this continent, sometimes the choice is to either pay a ruinous price and postage to get the figure, or to just accept fate and let it go.  I certainly think my collection would be bigger if I lived in the US or Japan.

Toys Review – Legacy Motormaster & Drag Strip

 

Q: How much of your collection has had to be replaced due to damage or wear, things like Gold Plastic Syndrome, yellowing, sticker damage etc?

Poor Pipes… er…. pipes.

A: I’ve had to replace the odd G1 figure over the years, like Omega Supreme and Mirage, who were too damaged to repair.  In fact with my G1 figures I am loathe to touch any of them anymore as they are so old even with a gentle and perfectly executed transformation they can break – poor old Sludge will spend the rest of his life in dino-mode because a hip broke! I need to get around to sourcing a replacement G1 Silverbolt too due to hip damage.  For the most part I haven’t had to replace much, I’m pretty careful with my figures.  My son broke a few when he was younger, but is much more careful now,  to the point I even let him transform my MP’s sometimes.

As for replacing figures which have suffered from Gold Plastic Syndrome or yellowing, its pretty hard to do because any other figures out there on the secondary market usually suffer from the exact same afflictions mine do.

 

Q: Have you ever had a problem with figures falling over for whatever reason?  Does it cause a domino effect, or are they all spaced out enough that you can more or less avoid a catastrophe?

Figures 5 rows deep – what could possibly go wrong?

A: Oh dear Primus yes, this happens way more often than I would like!  Some shelves are fine, whereas others I feel like I have to perform some kind of delicate surgery to remove a figure without knocking over a dozen of its brethren. My son has given up now, if he wants a toy he asks me to get is as the domino effect is a shocker!  But yeah, it happens, and considering the floor is concrete I’ve had a few heart-stopping moments when a bunch of figures have tumbled and I’ve had to check if they survived.

 

Q: So many toys! Your wife must be very understanding/ hur-hur yOuR oBvIoUsLy SiNgLe…?

Through thick and thin and Michael Bay movies

A: I’ve been with my wife for nearly 20 years and married for 14 of them.  She is extremely understanding of my hobby.  She is also relieved that my son is so into Transformers, as it means I have him to share my passion with so she no longer has to fain interest 😉

 

Q: Is there any third party or customs in the collection or all official HasTak stuff?

Leftovers from the days when official Quintesson toys seemed to have no chance of ever being made

A: I have very few customs or 3rd party stuff.  I have nothing against them or those that collect them, they just aren’t for me.  I’d say far less than 1% of my collection is not official merchandise.  Most I had bought in the past were of characters that had never had an official toy at that point.  These days it seems no matter how obscure the character they are probably going to get an official figure at some stage, so I don’t bother with 3P stuff at all anymore.  I do have some tiny custom figure made by the talented Michael I am very fond of.

So tiny, so fragile, so perfect…

 

Q: TWO Unicrons?! What are you, a billionaire!?

They do add a certain gravitas to the room don’t they

A: Heh heh – far from it.  Here in Australia we got about the best deal possible through a chain store.  You could order the items at cost, then you had a full 18 months to pay them off before they arrived.  Plus you could pick up in store so no postage costs!  Because of this, I was able to slowly pay off my order of two Unicron’s without breaking the bank, and then take the ute to pick them up – it was a sweet deal!

 

Q: What are you going to do with your collection when you’re dead? (Obviously the answer is nothing, because you’re dead. But hopefully you put a plan in place prior to your fateful attempt to fit 16 tomahawk steaks in your mouth at once.)

I’m afraid the wounds are fatal

A: My son gets all my male Transformers, my daughter gets all my female ones and BotBots.  Before anyone argues this is supremely unfair due to the disparate numbers between male and female Transformer action figures, it should be noted my daughter isn’t really into Transformers so wouldn’t really want many (if any).  She also gets my complete collection of Rarity figures from MLP as well.

I’d let my family pick a few for me to be buried with (not that I would have a say in it at that stage).  If as a family they decided to simply keep a few each to remember me by, then sell off the rest of the collection to pay off the mortgage or go on an overseas trip, more power to them.

 

Q: Can I, a complete stranger located on another continent, come and see your collection?

Q: How much are the Tickets?

A: I happily give tours of The Transformatorium to locals, and if people are willing to trek all the way out here to outback Australia to see it, then they get in for free 😉

 

Q: How do you keep the shelves clean?  My own collection is getting fairly dusty but they’re packed too tight to a shelf to just pull’em down and start wiping

The dust, oh the dust…

A: Ah, now this is easily the question I get asked more than any other.  Yes dust is an issue in the shed, though not as bad as one may think.  It is its worst near the glass door, so my Movieverse figures cop the brunt of it, and there are figures there in their alt-modes there that need to be wiped off monthly.

In the rest of the shed its not too bad.  This is where its handy to have an explorative son who wants to check out all the toys.  Whenever he or I get a figure from the shelves I give that figure a quick wipe down.  In the long run though, I’ve had to resign myself to the fact that, unless I somehow magically become a millionaire and can buy gigantic glass cabinets, my shelves and figures are never going to be dust free and I am just going to have to continue to mitigate the worst of it as best as time allows.  Good thing the shelves themselves are brown eh!

 

Thank you to everyone that submitted questions for The Transformatorium FAQ.  If you have any further queries, pop them in the comments section below!

Fan Interviews & Art, Transformatorium

Transformer Fan Interview – Trent

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It’s been a few months since the last installment, but we have another entry in the ever popular Transformer Fan Interviews!  In this latest interview with Aussie TF collectors we are talking to Trent, a good bloke who is always willing to help a mate out with a sought toy, or provide some online sparring to entertain and amuse.

 

Name and/or nicknames: – Trent

 

Family? Yes

 

Career? Tiny cog in the ever churning capitalist machine

 

How would you rate yourself on a C scale, C10 being MISB Mint perfection, to the lowest C1 ‘junker not worth it even for parts’?  C6 – 99% complete but has significant wear in joints and stickers are faded. It would also appear that there are no reprolabels available for my model.

 

How would you rate your attraction to Big Angry Trev? With one being ‘very’ to 10 being ‘I purposely shave my head and paint a red dot on top in the hopes Trev mistakes it for a giant breast and lavishes it with his tongue’? – Sorry. I’m not attracted to overcooked lobster.

Editor’s Note: Smarmy arsehole

 

Fan/Collector since (year)? So, I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. I was trying to figure out when I got my first Transformer. The earliest TF memory I have was of stealing a G1 Hot Rod from the kid that lived across the street. He brought it over to play with and I thought it was so awesome that I hid it under my bed and he went home having forgot about it. My elaborate ruse came undone however when I took it to school and the taxi driver noticed that my shiny new Hot Rod was the same as the shiny new Hot Rod that the kid across the road had lost. So I sadly marched over to his house and proclaimed that I had found it under the lounge! Hooray!! After that I recall a G1 Optimus and Ultra Magnus showing up as well as a Kup. It kinda snowballed from there. I stopped collecting once I hit year 6 or so and agreed to sell all my TFs to assist with some family financial troubles.

I watched a bit of Beast Wars when I was a teenager but it wasn’t until my 20’s when I saw an Armada Starscream in K-Mart that my interest rekindled. I loved that Starscream and still have it today. I collected quite the number of Armada, Cybertron, G1 reissues and so forth but stored them all at my mother-in-law’s place when we bought our first home. It wasn’t until some years later I went back to get them that I realised she threw them all out without even asking me. While at the time I was beyond pissed these days I don’t hold it against her though as they are just things, not people. These days I collect a bit of everything. MP, G1, Generations, Cyberverse, third party, whatever tickles my fancy really.

 

Transformers Allegiance, if you had one? I suppose it’d be Autobot? Being a Decepticon seems like a lot of effort. Like Megatron would expect you to do things, and not pay you overtime for it. Optimus seems a bit more laid back. Like he’d let you take of early on Friday and would understand if you threw the occasional sicky on a Monday.

 

Your Techspec motto if you had one? Megatron can kiss my shiny metal @*$!

Editor’s Note: Referencing Whirl referencing Bender?  Very meta.

 

What existing, official Transformers character best describes you? G1 Outback

 

Which special ability of any Transformers character would you want to have for yourself? Mirage’s invisibility. Maybe then I could get a minute of peace and quiet.

 

What drew you to Transformers, making you become a fan/collector? Giant fighting robots that transform. I’m a bit of an engineering nerd. I’m not an engineer, because that would be a horrible job. But cool engineering of any kind fascinates me and I have a very logical brain. So I view them as a sort of 3D puzzle.

 

Do you think you will collect Transformers until you die? I ask myself this a lot. I’ve been through enough up and down collecting phases that I’m not too bothered when I get a bit bored with the franchise. In fact I’m probably not at my most interested right now. I have a ton of unopened TFs and my displays are in a bit of disarray. However I know I’ll come back around. And my son is obsessed with TFs and playing games with him is seriously one of the highlights of my life. But will there be a time to get out of the hobby? I’m not one who sees this hobby as an investment. If you think you’re gonna cash out of this hobby ahead or even anywhere near equal are you need to go speak to a financial advisor and prepare yourself for a shock.  But that’s not why I do it. I buy them because I think they’re really neat. And as long as I enjoy them, then I’ll keep them. I think my son will happily take my collection when I die and that would be the best possible outcome for me. As it is he’s become somewhat of a TF collector himself and the grand old age of 6. He’s particularly into toy photography and he’s not bad at it. I’ve added a few of his photos for a bit of fun.

The kids got talent!

 

Do people outside of the hobby know you collect TFs (like at work/school)? Maybe 6 people at work know. I don’t advertise it. I work in a blue collar industry and while I don’t care what other people think of me, I also don’t see the point of making my life harder than it has to be. Because while some of my colleagues are great people, they’re old school and if they found out I collected toys, there’d be no malice in it, but I’d literally hear about it every single work day until they all retired or I left because I work with some BIG personalities.

 

Were your family/parents supportive of collecting toys or did you have to hide your passion from them and friends? Family aren’t worth squat if you have to hide who you are from them. My dad kinda rolls his eyes and grumbles at the money I sometimes spend but he’s cool. My mum usually notices when I add new ones to my displays and asks me about them. My brothers are cool too.

Editors Note: I get the feeling Trent’s son approves of his hobby as well

 

What does your partner think of your hobby? My wife is the most awesome person ever. I couldn’t ask for a more supportive partner even though she’s not into any of my “Nerd Stuff” as she calls it. She bought me that Armada Starscream all those years ago and more recently, when I was worried about the cost, told me if I didn’t preorder the HasLab Unicron, she’d do it herself. I sometimes feel really bad because she doesn’t collect anything. So I make sure when something does catch her eye, she gets it.

 

Have you attended any fan-meets, Fairs, Conventions? Been to lots of Paramatta Toy Fairsover the years. I don’t live in Sydney so it’s always a bit of a hike for me to get to these things. Been to a few Penrith fairs but my god! I don’t go that far on holiday so I only went to them on occasion. And now with COVID canning everything I haven’t seen anyone all year. I do have a chat group with a few fellow TF collectors and that has actually grown into solid friendships with all of them so that is great. We are always there to chat with one another and they have helped me through a few rough times, if only by making me laugh.

Editor’s Note: Back atcha buddy 

 

Any creative endeavours with Transformers (drawing, writing, customising, etc)? I did draw an Optimus Prime the other day. We had a new appliance delivered and my son wanted the box to turn into an art space. I’d just like to let IDW know that I am available and that I’m sure we can work out a mutually agreeable fee.

 

Favourite series/era/year, and why? The default answer is G1. I grew up with it, it’s what started it all and it still permeates every part of the franchise to this day. But to leave that as my answer would be a disservice to the franchise. I think there are so many good stories and toys that the franchise has put out over it’s life that they need a mention. Animated would be the one that comes to the forefront of my mind. It was so divisive when it came out. The new aesthetic and take of the story was a radical departure from what had come before and even I didn’t like it at first. But it grew on me and now my animated figures are a highlight of my collection.

And as a subgroup, even though it is G1, I can’t not mention Micromasters. Any TF fans with kids will know what I’m talking about. They are just so much fun and so easy. Once you add in the big sets like Skystalker or Countdown, maybe throw in a G1 Fort Max as a base and watch your kids play, or even play with them, you really have distilled the whole franchise down into its purest form.

 

Collect any comics? I collect the collected IDW editions. I’m about 5 years behind but slowly catching up. On my ipad I have read up until around the time that Megatron defeats the DJD and just haven’t had the time to go back to them to finish them, but I will.

 

Favourite Comic issue/story, and why? I love Autobot Megatron in MTMTE. The idea of a reformed genocidal maniac responsible for the deaths of billions of beings across the galaxy getting stuck on a ship sharing command with an egotistical brat, an almost OCD second-in-command and a crew of clowns on a quest is a marvellous concept. The way James Robert’s was able to set the light, humorous tone but also incorporate moments in which the gravity of who Megatron was and what he had done was fully realised by the reader was great writing.

 

Favourite Cartoon episode/story, and why? I, like everyone else, was always partial to Call of the Primatives. I wish the whole series could have been animated to that level.

 

Favourite Character, and why? My favourite character has always been Ultra Magnus. I have a strong suspicion that the G1 UM was the first TF I ever got. And I loved it. I remember playing with it and taking it everywhere. I even kept it in its box.

You can imagine my disappointment then when nearly every iteration of Magnus throughout the franchise has been, in my opinion, a chump. G1 Magnus was this hulking, powerful bot yet hardly ever did anything of value. Animated UM was an arrogant tool, only outdone by Jerky McJerkface himself. The original Marvel run saw him have a very cool story however it eventually led to a very unsatisfying end. IDW MTMTE was good and his latest iteration, the Netflix Siege version, had a decent ark I suppose but still didn’t live anywhere near up to the expectations 5 year old me had.

I’ve always wanted to see Magnus as a more measured, logical and restrained version of Grimlock. A powerhouse that could unleash hell when he needed to but was always conscious of the fallout and collateral damage that doing so would cause.

 

Sexiest Transformers (robot) Character? Rung. Because I’m sure there’s fan fiction about that alt-mode…

 

Which Transformers character would you want to exist for real? Sky Lynx. Because Sky Lynx is awesome and anyone who disagrees can bugger off.

 

Approx TFs toy collection count (or give a range like 200s, 300s, etc): 200-300? My collection has always been this evolving thing. But it’s starting to climb in numbers. Especially now my son is kinda a young collector.

I think our sons would get along real swell

 

Sealed collector or out-of-packaging collector? Open them. Let your kids play with them. Otherwise you’re just like The Man Upstairs in The Lego Movie.

 

How much do you think you’ve spent on your collecting habit? Lots.

 

Any rare/expensive figures in your collection? A few. It’s not why I collect plus I’m also terrible at picking what will go up in value. In fact if I ever buy a TF because I think it’s going to be rare/worth something, just hold off until it’s on clearance for $10.

 

What interesting Licensed Merchandise items do you have? None that I can think of. I like commissioning comic artists but haven’t gone nuts with that. I got this earlier this year as a group by a friend organised. It’s wonderful.

 

First Transformers toy? G1 Ultra Magnus (I think)

 

One toy you most want? MISB G1 Ultra Magnus. I’d love to have a pristine example of the toy that started it all for me.

Editor’s Note: Wow – you are really into Magnus eh! Remind you to show you my one from the Titanium toyline 😉

 

The centrepiece/favourite toy in your collection at the moment (and why)? Not a toy but that megaposter I mentioned earlier. Every time I take a moment to stare at it I notice something new.

 

Favourite toy in your early years of collecting? So as to give a different answer, I’ll say my G1 Galvatron. That was a cool toy.

 

Worst toy(s) ever in your opinion? Those things from the last year or two that only half transform. I can’t even….

Editors note: I agree!  Those figures from Cyberverse that don’t transform fully are total shite!

 

Toy(s) that were most disappointing when you got them? The recent Earthrise Quintesson when I got it was disappointing. I mean it looks great, until you transform it into that jail thing and then it’s like, what is even going on here?

 

Thoughts on gimmick and non-convertable Transformers toys? Gimmicks can be successfully integrated, they can also ruin a toy. MP-44 is an example of a toy that had a gimmick successfully integrated.

 

Which single TFs toy should every fan own? I suppose a G1 Optimus. It’s not the first, but it is a defining toy that is still being released today.

 

Which Transformers toy/product would you give as a wedding present? I mean, I wouldn’t. But maybe a Chromedome/Rewind cake topper?

 

Do you collect other toys? Lego sets that catch my eye. I have a UCS Millennium Falcon sitting in the bottom of my wardrobe to be built when I eventually get a house with somewhere to put it. As well as some other cool sets. I still have a few classic space sets from when I was a kid.

I also collect Macross Valkyries. Although I don’t get anywhere near as many of those as they aren’t cheap. I also just realized you could probably call me a Voltron collector.

 

What is your favourite TF themed post on this website? What website? Does Trev have a website? I never even suspected.

Editor’s note: Double Smarmy arsehole

 

How did you find out about www.bigangrytrev.com ? Trev never shuts up about it.

Editor’s note: Fricken Triple-smarmy arsehole!

 

Many thanks to Trent for this interview (I think) .  Got any more questions for Trent?  Pop them in the comments section below and I’m sure he’ll happily answer them.

Related Articles:

Fan Interview: Dallas

Fan Interview: Steve

Fan Interview: Lisamaree

 

 

Videos

Cudgegong River flooding in Rylstone

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After Bushfires and Pandemics, apparently it’s now time for Floods here in New South Wales in Australia.  We have had a huge amounts of rain in the last few days, causing massive floods in parts of the state.

Here in Rylstone we haven’t had terrible floods like other parts of the state, but a large amount of rain for our region nonetheless.  2 inches of rain less than a week ago, then 4 inches of rain in the last 48 hours, with far more predicted today.

Through Rylstone runs the Cudgegong River.  For years of drought this river has resembled more of a creek than a river; a small and stagnant waterway that meanders its way through the small township.

Find below a few images and a short video of what that usually small & stagnant river looks like this morning (23/03/2021).  These were taken from the It will be interesting to see what it looks like after even more rain today (Edit: Same size but faster flowing).

 

 

Related Articles:

Video: Bushfires nearing Rylstone & Kandos

 

Random Rants

Househusband Tales #10 – I really LIKED the lockdown

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Well it’s been a bit over a year since I did a Househusband blog post and with good reason, I got forcibly retired from my position.

Yes with both the children now school age and a second income being desirable, I once again full-time entered the workforce.  No more watching 500 funeral insurance ad’s a day for me!

But with the lockdown that accompanied the pandemic, like many others I started working from home.  This meant I was once again thrust into the position of Househusband, albeit one that still had to get on the computer from time to time to fulfil his work obligations.  Now that the lockdown restrictions are easing and I have had to physically return to work 5 days a week, I’m going to voice an opinion that hasn’t been heard much over the last several months.

I liked the lockdown.  I enjoyed it!

Yep!  I was happy to be back at home – I really was!  Despite being the social butterfly in my late teens and 20’s & 30’s, in my 40’s as a Dad, husband and hobby farmer I’m quite fond of the hermit lifestyle where I only see my personal family unit and rarely venture out. I still had to physically go into work one or two days a week during the pandemic but the rest I never left the farm.  No rushing around in the mornings trying to get myself ready.  No packing my lunch.  No drive to my job.  I could simply get my work done at home at my own pace, grow my isolation beard and occasionally change out of my pyjamas if I had a Zoom meeting (and even then I considered pants optional).

Big Hermit Trev – just plain sexy eh!

 

More family time

And the beauty was that my wife was working from home most days too!  No long commute for her in the mornings.  No getting home really late because of the long post-work drive.  Our children’s school was quite clear that for continuity they wanted our kids to either attend school every day or none at all.  Since there were days both my wife and I still had to go into work this meant the kids attended school.  And since they were at school full time, it meant that my wife and I got some ‘us’ time on our lunch breaks the days we were both home.  We could sit together and have a meal and a cuppa without kids screaming that they were hungry or thirsty or tired or bored or annoyed or that their sibling hit them.  It was the most one-on-one time we’ve had in our marriage since we became parents!  It was beautiful and it was something neither of us took for granted. And when our kids came home on the bus, because I had gotten so many househusband jobs done during the day it meant I had more time to spend with them every afternoon.  It really was a win-win situation, especially since we weren’t short on toilet paper. 

 

Isolation is natural in the bush

As for being physically stuck at home…. well…. it’s not so bad when you live on 125 acres in the middle of nowhere.  During the bushfires we spent so much of the summer evacuated and wondering if we would ever see our beloved property again, it was a joy to have an enforced couple of months in the autumn upon it.  Caught up on all those farm jobs that had been going wanting for so long.  And with no children at home for 7 hours a day it meant I didn’t have to stop mid-task to wipe a nose or bandage a boo-boo.  I completely sympathize with those during this pandemic that live in big cities – living in areas where you dared not venture out of tiny apartments must have been claustophobic to say the least.  But when you’ve got huge areas of bushland on your own property you can walk around without risk of meeting another soul – being stuck at home is really a non-issue.

Wasn’t hard for our kids to social distance from the rest of the world

So yeah, I liked the lockdown.  Staying at home on the farm was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute of it!  More time on my property, more time with my family – where so many are hating on the Chinese right now I’m inclined to send them a thank you card!  My heart goes out to all those during this pandemic who have suffered stress, gotten sick, lost loved ones, lost jobs, felt depression stuck at home etc.  Just because I didn’t experience it personally doesnt meet I don’t understand or indeed sympathise.  But for me it was lovely to return to the hermit lifestyle a very welcome respite – I hope some of you were also able to find a ray of positive sunshine in your lives during this crisis as well.

 

Related Articles:

Coronavirus – The Toilet Paper Conspiracy

Houshusband Tales #9 – There will be meat!

Houshusband Tales #7 – The Fear

Houshusband Tales #2 – Bathrooms are Bull$hit!

 

Random Rants

The face of Colorism is not Red. But it might be yours.

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Colorism, sometimes also referred to as shadeism, is discrimination based on a person’s skin colour.  This is usually tied up with racism, as in people hating entire races and/or nationalities of people and citing their skin colour as one of the things they are prejudiced against.  However the reason that colourism and racism are not the same thing is that skin colour does not always equate to a specific or entire race.  Therefore, whilst racism is unanimously deplored by all right-thinking people everywhere, Colourism still manages to sneak in under the door and get a good look in.

 

As a Caucasian man in a predominately Caucasian country, racism is something that has affected my life very little on a personal level.  I’ve occasionally been called a name by someone of a different race based on my own but its been an extremely rare occurrence.  I’ve experienced Nationality-based Discrimination somewhat more, which has usually taken the form of online comments from those who wish to arbitrarily dismiss my opinions under the guise of ‘you’re just an Aussie’.  Sometimes it has also taken the form of people not liking my accent and have expressed this in comments on my youtube channel.  But once again this is rare and has affected my life little.

 

But colorism – oh my, I cop that all the time!  And not because I’m white but because I’m RED.

I’m a nice guy – don’t judge me because of the colour of my skin.

Yes, I am red.  I have been red nearly my entire adult life.  And year in, year out people feel the need to inform me of my skin colour constantly.  Whether it’s in person or commenting on an online photo of me, people can’t help but point out how red I am.  Well guess what?

I FUCKING KNOW ALREADY!

Why the fuck does mocking people for having a red complexion get a pass eh? It’s not like I’ve got one on purpose!  I do wear sunscreen, I’m not an alcoholic and I don’t wear blush.  My skin colour is not an intentional decision I have taken alright!

The reason for my skin colour is simple: my genetic makeup and ancestral heritage combined with my lifestyle and world locality.

In other words I am someone who is bred to live in cloudy overcast countries and stay indoors a lot.  Not to live on a farm on a continent that is not only the driest but also one of the hottest and lead an outdoorsy lifestyle.

So yes, my pale and freckly skin would much prefer it if I lived in England and worked all day in an accountant’s office.  But unfortunately for it I live in Australia and spend as much time as possible outdoors pottering around the farm and playing with my kids.  And because I’ve spent decades outdoors, I’ve been sunburnt so many times with such regularity (despite habitually wearing hats and sunscreen) that from the neck up I am now permanently red.

An artists (my sons) impression of me. And yes I know you find it funny.

And what’s more I get redder.  If I eat super spicy food or hot sauce I go redder.  If I run until I’m exhausted I get redder.  If I choke on something I go redder.  And if I get angry I have a complexion which makes a beetroot look like it’s a baseball in a snowstorm.

Strangely people feel very comfortable informing me of this.  You wouldn’t go up to an Albino and say ‘My god you are white!’ or go up to an Indigenous Australian and say ‘My god you are black!’ would you?  So why is it ok for people to come up to me with regularity and say ‘My god you are red!’?

Guess what?  It’s not.  I’m fucking sick of it!  I fucking know I am red!  I know I should have been a Butcher or a Drill Sargent.  I know that if even the slightest shaft of weak sunlight gets reflected and hits my skin I get the complexion of a strawberry.  I know I look like I’ve just been caught masturbating and am blushing like a virgin bride.  I know you think I must be a Jeff Foxworthy fan because I have a red neck.  And I know that if I get angry you can land planes by the glow of my face.  I know, I know, I fucking KNOW!

‘Go ahead – tell me again I’ve got the complexion of a used tampon. Say it one more god damn time!’

So next time you feel like informing me, or someone else that is red that we are red, just don’t.  We know.  We don’t need to be told and we really don’t need you making fun of it.  Other red faced people like me will have heard every joke by now.  We didn’t really find them funny the first time we heard them, let alone the thousandth.  You think I have a face that would make bulls charge on sight?  Fine.  Think it.  But don’t type it and definitely don’t come up to me and say it.  I don’t want to hear it and frankly it makes me feel even more self-conscious about my colour than I already am.  I don’t like being red, I really genuinely don’t.  I’ve tried every cream and skin treatment there is for decades and they don’t work – I’m stuck this colour.  But it’s my lot in life and I do my best to get through day to day just like everyone else. So can you please stop telling me how red my skin is?  Even when you mean it as harmless fun it always makes me feel that little bit shit about myself – every single time.

 

Society condemns racism, homophobia, religious persecution, body shaming, gender inequality – most anything where you make people feel bad about or victimizes them for who they are.  I think it’s high time Colorism was added to this too.

 

Now if you will excuse me I’m hungry, and writing this has pissed me off so much I’m gonna go fry an egg on my forehead for lunch.

 

 

Random Rants

Coronavirus Crisis: City Slickers leaving Country Stores bare

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As the COVID-19 crisis continues and cases within Australia and particularly NSW continue to rise, its been considered a good time to be a rural resident.

Out here where my family lives we are a solid 2 ½ hour drive from the nearest capital city where the majority of cases are taking place.  So far there is only a handful cases of Coronavirus within a hundred kilometres of us all together.

As such people in situations similar to us haven’t been panic buying.  We didn’t all go mad stocking up on toilet paper, we haven’t cleaned off shelves and we haven’t gotten into fistfights over a bag of rice.  For the most part us rural folk have taken it pretty calm, and in small communities like the one I inhabit, you don’t take ever single item of a product off a shelf as the people you are depriving are your neighbours, your community members and your friends.

Yep, the panic buying had been contained to the big cities.  But now its not.  It’s hitting small country towns and its not small country town people that are doing.

It’s Raiders from the Big City!

An sight no longer contained to capital cities

It’s been amazing!  Tiny towns with populations of well under a thousand are seeing more new faces than they have in years.  And these are not tourists – these are food-filchers!  People driving out from capital cities to hit up every butchers, every bakers and every small supermarket they can, to grab whatever they can, and then return home.  One can only assume the candlestick makers will be next.

In fact it’s not just people in cars – it’s entire busloads! Buses pulling up at little supermarkets in one-horse towns and twenty people disembarking.  These people head straight into the local stores and come out carrying as many bags of groceries as they can lift.  These raiders leave barren shelves behind and nothing for the local people, who depend on these stores, to buy.

 

Is it greed that is prompting these people to come out and grab all the tucker and toilet paper they can tote?  Is it desperation?

Because no matter the motivation – it is NOT ON!

 

Big City people don’t get it.  Country people are not surrounded by stores where if one store is out of a product they can simply try a half dozen others down the road.  If you raid a store, then that leaves NOTHING for the locals!  These stores, due to their remote, don’t get restocked every day.  And if that store is empty, the next store is usually a loooong way away.  The town I live outside of has one small butchers, one small bakers and one very small supermarket/bottle-o.  Besides bags of chips at the servo that’s it for places to get groceries.  If those shops are empty I have to drive an extra 10 minutes to the next town which also only has a few small shops.  If they too are empty, which increasingly they have been, my next option is to drive 60km to Mudgee where the major supermarkets are in the hopes that their shelves are also not bare.  Should I have to do that because Big City people have depleted their own stores in panic buying and now are doing the same to us?

You know what is even better than a clean fridge? A FULL ONE!

This isn’t just in our area, this is happening all over NSW and Victoria!  Small town locals going home without any food for their families because these busloads of city slickers have come out and nicked all the grub!  And it has to stop!  Not only because of the effect on the locals, but the potential spread of COVID-19.  People are coming from places like Sydney and Melbourne where the virus is growing ever more rampant, and driving through town after town where the entire populaces are so far uninfected. I wonder if these raiders realize, or care, that if country people get sick the food shortages will only get worse since we are the ones that grow all the food!

 

So, I say this to you raiders.  DO.  NOT.  COME.  HERE!  You are not welcome!  You take all our food and risk infecting us all!  And why?  Because you all couldn’t stop yourselves going nuts and panic-buying out your thousands of stores until there was nothing left.  Stay in your damn capital cities and wait for the stores to restock.  Because when you come here and take all our food, we have nowhere else to go.  We didn’t panic buy, we were sensible.  And now we are paying for it because our cupboards are not overflowing since we didn’t want to deprive our neighbours of their tucker – because, you know, that’s what good people do.

So please.  If you are from a capital city do the right thing, especially these school holidays.  Wait for your stores in the big smoke to restock.  Don’t come and take all our food and risk spreading COVID-19 into rural communities that have managed to remain unaffected thus far.  We managed to make it through the bushfires, we as a society need to pull together to make it through this too.

We, your rural cousins, thank you for your cooperation.

 

Related Article:

Coronavirus: The Toilet Paper Conspiracy

Random Rants

Coronavirus: The Toilet Paper Conspiracy

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Right now much of the world is in the grip of panic. Like SARS before it, a new virus – COVID-19 or the Coronavirus – is spreading across the globe, with nearly 100000 cases worldwide so far and deaths in the triple figures. Thought to originate in Wuhan China, air travel has taken it to every continent on the globe and more and more countries are dealing with outbreaks of the potentially deadly disease.

But did it really originate in Wuhan? And is it really a natural virus?

 

Here in Australia, much like the rest of the world, supermarkets are experiencing massive runs on toilet paper. People are buying hundreds of rolls at a time to stockpile and shelves empty as fast as they can be restocked. So with stock in toilet paper companies rising  right now it’s a good time to own shares in a loo-paper company.

In fact one might say it’s a very good time to own shares. Almost a suspiciously good time.

 

That’s right – COVID-19 is not a natural virus! It is a synthetic virus. And who created this virus? THE TOILET PAPER INDUSTRY!

So much death just to sell some bogroll

 

Think about it – what’s the results of COVID-19 so far?

*Nearly a hundred thousand people worldwide are sick? What do you do when you are sick? Go to the toilet more often for a start.

*What do the authorities recommend if you think you may be infected? Quarantine yourself at home for 14 days. Being that bored you are going to eat more, therefore defecate more, therefore need more toilet paper. And being stuck at home for a fortnight, you are going to stock up on dunny paper big time before you sequester yourself away.

*What is half the populace of the planet doing right now in response to the Coronavirus. Simple – the general public are shitting themselves!

Depleted toilet paper shelves in Tumut NSW (Photo Credit; S. Addison)

Everybody has always known what a bloodthirsty realm the toilet paper industry is. Cartels fighting for power in the streets – many’s the bathroom-tissue brawler left with a sharpened dunny roll protruding from their bloody eye socket. Scientists working in the toilet paper equivalent of meth labs, each trying to come up with something more absorbent or to add yet another unrequired ply. It’s something we have all come to see as a necessary evil in order for us to not have to wipe our arses with the back of our hands. But now things have gone too far. The creation of synthetic viruses in order to sell more bogroll is an evil one could equate to the how the tobacco industry adds addictive chemicals to their cigarettes in order to get people hooked, despite the fact that due to their products their consumers eventually die. And lets face it, the Toilet Paper consortium’s have had the governments of the world in their pockets for years. Plus this virus came from China, one of the biggest toilet paper manufactures in the world. Coincidence? I think not!

No toilet paper on the shelves in Sydney – but don’t worry, there is plenty more for you to buy on the way! (Photo Credit: T. Munn)

Well I shall have none of it – do you hear me you putrid purveyors of poop-paper! I shall not be stocking up on toilet paper as this crisis continues. I shall use leaves, I shall use bark, I shall use the scarfs of co-workers while they are not paying full attention. And I shall decry you from the rooftops – you murderous bastards will not get me!

 

Cry havoc, and let slip the arse-wipes of war!

 

 

Note: The above it written for satirical purposes only. BigAngryTrev.com extends its sympathies to all those across the globe who are suffering from the Coronavirus, as well as to the families of those who have lost loved ones to it.

Hobby Farming, Random Rants

The RFS saved our farm from bushfires and friends & family saved our sanity

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Despite, thankfully, not losing our home like so many other poor souls, our family was affected by the unprecedented bushfires this summer. We had to evacuate our home for an extended period – twice, with the flames getting to within 500m off our back fence and 200m off our side fence. These were scary times for us, like many others across the state. If it wasn’t for the RFS fighting the fires tooth and nail for months on end, I have zero doubt our property would have been consumed and they have our families eternal thanks.

Image taken from the cab of a fire truck on our road the night we had to evacuate. (Photo Credit: R. Oldfield – NSW RFS)

These fires affected our entire family unit. We had to cancel our sons birthday party and all my wifes family coming for Christmas. We had to spend Xmas itself at relatives homes instead of in our own. We had to tear our farm apart to try and make it as fireproof as possible, and we are still now trying to put it back together. We had all our most treasured personal belonging stashed in three other people’s homes and likewise for our animals three more. We stressed and fretted and on one night drove for our lives as the police came down our road on their loudspeaker ordering people to evacuate, our animals and children in tow. We sat up until 1am at my mother-in-laws house watching the reports come in about a house destroyed on our road, wondering if it was ours and if we would have a home to return to.  We consider ourselves fortunate that all we lost in the end was a few fridges and a deep freezer full of food (a waste of good ducks though).

So yes, we were much luckier than many, but the NSW fire season was truly a horrible month for our family.

 

So the RFS saved our home, but what saved our sanity? Easy to answer – community, friends and family. Without these people my wife and I would have descended into madness long ago, and ours is a tale of how people pulling together made what was a terrible experience so much less worse than it could have been.

 

Here are some of the examples of how we were helped by truly wonderful people:

 

Community & Emergency Workers

*The Grader Drivers that came to our property on two separate occasions and put in fire break lines everywhere they could, in an effort to stop any grassfires that might make it in onto our land.

*The local branch of the RFS, who provided constant updates and were always able to answer any questions we sent to them, even at 2am while our road burned.

*The local member who posted constant updates and videos about what the fires were doing in our area for weeks on end and was an excellent source of information. I may have been a Greens voter all my life, but there is a National’s member who has earned my vote!

*My sister-in-laws friend taking in our chook and 8 of our ducks for a full month and caring for them, despite never even having met us before.

*Our neighbours across the road and next to us keeping an eye on our property in case there were spotfires while we were evacuated.

Grader driver putting in containment lines in our back paddock

 

Friends

*My friend Jordan driving over a hundred kilometres and spending 3 hours in 40 degree heat evacuating all goods from the Transformatorium shed into the main house (we thought that the firey’s might be able to save the house but would probably let the shed burn if they had to). Then in the hot sun helped me clean out gutters, that had never been cleaned before, of dead leaves and other flammable material.

*My boss and friend Toni from work storing my 3000+ Transformer action figure collection in her loungeroom for an entire month, despite it meaning she could hardly move in that part of the house.

*Our friends Lisa and Scott taking our pet goats for extended periods on two separate occasions and feeding and watering them every day despite the heat.

*Our new friends and neighbours down the road, Bill and Lynne, feeding the poultry we couldn’t evacuate, even though it meant a daily drive closer to the fire front.

*So many of our close friends messaging us with comforting words and emotional support, yet allowing us the space to breathe when we had to.

 

Family

*My brother-in-law Matt driving over a hundred kilometres with his chainsaw to cut down every tree within a 5m radius of our farmhouse, then staying the night so the next day he could seal breaks in our guttering so they could hold water in case of ember attack.

*My sister-in-law Jo storing so much of our personal belongings, taking our fish for several weeks, and making us Christmas dinner

*My mother-in-law Noelene putting us up for long periods – twice – while we were evacuated, looking after our dog and storing even more of our belongings (my wife’s family rules!).

*Our children, so young and yet so brave. Being evacuated twice, missing out on birthday parties, missing out on spending Christmas in their own home. That’s a lot for a 4 and 7 year old to cope with and they both took it in their stride.

*And more than anyone, my beautiful wife. By my side we spent so much of our summer trying to fireproof a farm that had never before been threatened by flames and was a tinderbox ready to ignite.

 

Ours is just one example of how families and entire communities came together to support each other during this horrible time for our state and indeed for our country. If ever there was evidence that the spirit of empathy and generosity is still well alive in this land, it’s been well and truly presented this summer.

 

So to all our friends, all our family, all the community and all the members of the RFS, on behalf of our family

Thank you!

 

Related Articles:

Retrofitting a ute to become a spotfire fighting vehicle

Bushfire Danger: Packing your emergency bags

Fires SE Rylstone & Kandos

Random Rants

Bushfire Danger: Packing Emergency Bags

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Here in NSW we are facing an unprecedented level of Bushfire danger.  A Total Fire Ban has been instituted for the entire state, a State of Emergency has been declared and some parts of the state have a danger rating of ‘catastrophic’ – a rating that has never needed to be used before!

 

Living on a fairly remote farm that backs onto a huge state forest, our family has been very concerned.  So much so that we have instituted our own emergency fire plan should worst come to worst.  

 

There are plenty of official sites that can guide you through how to come up with your own emergency plans, and I heartily encourage every reader to visit the sites relevant to their state as well as download the relevant apps.  What I’m going to share here is some of the evacuation precautions I and my family have taken, in the hopes it may provide you with some ideas of your own.  In particular – our emergency bags.

We have several emergency bags packed.  The whole idea of these is that they are pre-made and ready to go, saving valuable minutes if you need to get out fast.  Our emergency bags are packed with such items that can stay in them forever – not items that we will have to remove a few days later because we need them.  Hopefully these bags will hang on hooks for the rest of their lives unused, but better safe than sorry.

 

Clothing for the day

Despite the heat, long clothing is essential.  Should you end up in an area with sparks flying through the air, you don’t want those sparks touching your bare skin.  So long sleeved tops and long pants are the order of the day and they should be natural fibres like cotton, not synthetics that have the potential to melt onto your skin.

Leather boots are also the most preferable footwear to have.  In our case my wife and I own heavy duty leather boots but our children don’t, so we would put them in their most suitable footwear and carry them if required.

We have a bag packed specifically with clothing to change into at a moment’s notice.  Again, every minute you can save counts.

 

Evac Clothing Bag

Chances are you might not be able to return to your home for a couple of days until the fire has passed.  So you will need a few changes of clothes, but taking into account you should not over pack as space in your vehicle will be at a premium.

For each member of our family we packed the following:

*2 T-shirts

*1 Jumper

*1 pair of Long Pants

*1 pair of Shorts

*2 pairs of Socks

*2 pairs of Underwear

*1 pair of Pyjamas

 

Equipment Bag

There will be specific equipment that you may need when fleeing from a bushfire.  All this should be kept together and easy to access if needed.

In ours we have:

*One torch with fresh battery

*One small fire blanket

*One first aid kit

*One tube of burn cream

*One pack of face masks

*One pair of fire resistant gloves

*One battery powered radio

 

Pet Bag

If you have pets you naturally are going to want to take them with you.  In our case because we have two pet goats this would entail hooking up the trailer.  But for most people your pets may consist of a dog and cat (which we also have).  So when packing make sure you have enough pet food for a couple of days and leads for every animal – you don’t want to escape the fire just for your cat to run away or your dog to go hungry.  A dish to put water in is also advisable.  

 

Food & Water

Chances are wherever you evacuate to will have food and water available.  But again that motto – better safe than sorry.  Have a bag packed full of food that does not need to be refrigerated and can keep you all going for a day or two.  Pre-packaged food like muesli bars and biscuits will serve you well, as well as bags of nuts.  Also tinned food such as ham, salmon, tuna and so on.  Take as much water as you can reasonably fit.  Because we would be taking a ute we can afford to take a 25 litre container in the back.

 

Misc Items

These are items that you don’t need to survive but will be incredibly hard to replace should you lose your home.  This includes forms such as birth certificates and passports, as well as more personal items such as jewellery and family photos.  What you pack in this bag is up to you, but one of the bags you may need to give the most thought too.  Also, because these are items that you can’t store in an evac kit permanently, make sure you know the location of these items in your house so they can be collected up quickly.

 

 

So these are just a few different suggestions for what to take if you need to evacuate and a possible way to have them prepared.  Again, I encourage everyone to check out the official sites in order to get even more guidance and information about the best way to go about this, but hopefully this blog will give you a good starting point on advisable things to pack.

 

Got any other tips on what to pack in case of Bushfire?  Pop it in the comments section below.