- Joined
- Jun 7, 2003
- Messages
- 1,850
my bro the towie
My bro and I spent time together for a while , its something we dont often do , we live on opposite ends of the continent .
He is a giant of a man , and a fair dinkum nutter , with paperwork to prove it , as well as that mental toughness that comes from having battled far worse demons in his head than he is ever going to meet in real life .
he is a towie , seems no-one much likes towies , they charge the earth and make a living off dragging wreckage away , to people it seems its more than mangled wrecks but mangled lives , it is at times kinda like that too , people left with years of loan payments ahead of them on a car that the wreckers dont want anymore its that stuffed and often enough a lifetime of disabilty and or disfigurement from their effort.
my bro was just talking as we watched traffic , its something we do , watch people , all going about their lives living in their own bubbles that they are the centre of kinda , watching traffic this day and he just started talking about some jobs he had done , these couple stuck in my head so Im passing them on , make of it what you will . I think its applicable , since its part of the nuts n guts of survival is recovery after trauma
the stuff he talked about disturbed me , so Im passing it on , in hopes it will disturb a few more and get somethinking going on different to normal tracks .
he was parked up at his favorite servo watching traffic go by , when he heard on the scanner a report of a wreck not far away , he rocked up at it , same time as one of his mates ( competition company but they are buddies ) the wreck was a single car , hit a power pole , bounced off then hit a tree , the driver was alive , conscious , and angry as hell .
He obviously had a broken arm ( that third elbow look ) and leg ( bend in thigh with bone nearly peircing skin ) my bro and his mate see a fair bit of this , so they went into professional mode
" Hang in there mate , the ambos are on their way "
the response
" F%*# off you b$%^dards youre not towing my car you dirty vulture scum"
My bro was not feeling good looking at the injuries , he hates dealing with them , and fatals , he would love to just shuttle cars tween repairers all day but this is part of his work , he chimes in in his gentle way
" mate , for a bloke who is gunna be in a world of pain real soon , you dont want to p1$$ off anyone who is only here to help ya, calm don a bit hey ?"
it didnt work , he got more agro , the boys backed off , the cops and ambos were arriving , but the driver was angy and began trying to get out to have a go at the towies , the thigh bone finaly got its way and poked thru his skin his lower leg was stuck fast and he was moving around the upper half , not good , blood began running , my bro went and sat on the back of his truck , he knew he wouldnt get the job , the wreck wouldnt tow , but he was sticking round because his buddie in the tilt tray who would be getting the job was his buddie and its just good to have company and help at times.
Ive worked with my bro in his truck a few times , he never ever turns the motor off at a job , he leaves it running , a seriously worked 351 ford , with a unballanced straight thuru system , no mufflers , just a fat pipe for each bank dumping in front of the rear wheels . it thumps and rumbles and drowns out most other noise around it
he noticed feet in front of him and looked up , it was a couple cops
" bad one hey ?" they asked , no reply from my bro tho , they know if he is sitting on back of his truck , its ugly, then more feet in front of him , more cops , and over the thumping of the motor , the shrieking of the driver and the fireies and ambos got him out , they freed his leg but the actual getting him out bit meant moving him around some and that hurt him , there is an animal quality to a real scream of agony ... I heard it at a few accidents at jobs I worked ... its something thats hard to forget .
" this is the only reason we let you baskets have your dam trucks so loud" one of the cops says when the screaming died down , the ambos gave the driver a green stick to suck on
the cops were having trouble , the driver wasnt allowing his wreck to be taken away , abusing the tilt tray driver big time , right up till he was in the ambulance ready to leave , the cop in charge wanted to know why the car wsnt being loaded up , bro's buddie simply said " he wont sign me book , I cant loading nothing that aint signed for "
" gimme the book" the cop took the book , stuck the pen in the drivers hand , and forced a scibble on the page , gave the book back with his card
" He signed , if he wont pay , this is my number , get that wreck out of here "
the driver lost the plot now , screaming and struggling to stop it happening , regardless of being strapped down and broken limbs
the girl ambo , a pretty little thing , plucked the green stick out of his mouth and as if she was talking to a school kid
" we dont want that kind of language around here , no green stick for bad mouthed people" the language stopped fast he got the stick back and they left , the wreck was loaded and life went back to " normal "
next job was simple a guy drove his car into and onto a safety rail and kinda got stuck , no biggie , but he had a sob story to tell, his wife had just had surgery , his kid died , his house is about to be repossessed ( the surgery was 8 yrs back , the kids death was before that , bros mate knows the guy ) and could he be cut a bit of slack on the bill , cos after all , once the towie unhooks the car , its all over for him ...
my bro is a official nutter , but he is on his meds mostly , and is one of the biggest softies I ever met , but that last comment made him a bit cranky
" what do ya mean , when I unload the car its nothing to me anymore ? dude , I can tell you that from just looking at exposed brain , I know if a guy is alive or dead , I went to a wreck , a mum and three kids in the car , the mums head was opened and her brain was grey , she was dead , I see that every day in my head now since that happened , that was 2 yrs ago , I CANT unload it and leave it like a wreck , I seen a motorbike rider who hit a tree , his head was open but he was conscious , his brain was blue , and he had even managed to find a missing bit of skull and was holding it picking the dirt out of the inside part , asking me if Iknew how to keep it alive so the doc could put it back ... I cant unload that out of my head man and that was years ago , I see it every freaking day , I towed a wreck where a family died , all but the wife , she was in a coma for months , when she came out of it , the funerals were over , she was evicted out of her house , she had nothing , nothing at all , she has to deal with that , every day , I towed the car , and I see what her kids and husband , what they looked like when they got the car out from under the truck that went over them , they are in my head every day , so is that woman trying to cope with having no closure , just a vanished family .... now you add your bit to it too , and reckon its nothing to me , I just leave it with the wreckage when its unloaded .... thanks a lot man , you get NO slack on your bill for that .
he is dealing with a lot , his own demons and the crud he deals with daily in his work , I think this has merit for consideration tho , if things get ugly , when things get ugly , we probably will see and deal with a load more brutal stuff than we do now , from a civillain perspective anyway , Im not good at turning off , I think about the families , and what would I do in that situation , I have a ghost or two in my own head .
It occurs to me that the people that are usually considered kinda lower class are the ones who will have the toughness mentally to deal with serious problems , assuming off course they survive the friendly and unfriendly fire , starvation , mutant zombies etc of couse ...
the daily build up of stuff that happens , while the adrenaline is pumping , its OK , thats the bit I feel most people concerntrate on , " surviving the big whatever" but I dont find a lot of " how to deal with the ghosts n demons n memories that just wont go away
just some thorts
just when youre thinking " what , nothing reall knife related at all ??" my bro , the towie , he is the guy I made a knife for out of some heavy duty HSS , and he used it to save a guys life with when he cut open the hood of a wreck and then cut the battery cables to stop it going up in flames , the driver was stuck in that one too .... what was impressive tho was the knife was still sharp afterwards
I been slack , back playing up , crushed vertabrae , couple bulged disks , couple dislocated ribs , it hurts to breathe and move my arms so my knife making and stuff is on hold a while , had waaaaaayyy too much time to think lately .
My bro and I spent time together for a while , its something we dont often do , we live on opposite ends of the continent .
He is a giant of a man , and a fair dinkum nutter , with paperwork to prove it , as well as that mental toughness that comes from having battled far worse demons in his head than he is ever going to meet in real life .
he is a towie , seems no-one much likes towies , they charge the earth and make a living off dragging wreckage away , to people it seems its more than mangled wrecks but mangled lives , it is at times kinda like that too , people left with years of loan payments ahead of them on a car that the wreckers dont want anymore its that stuffed and often enough a lifetime of disabilty and or disfigurement from their effort.
my bro was just talking as we watched traffic , its something we do , watch people , all going about their lives living in their own bubbles that they are the centre of kinda , watching traffic this day and he just started talking about some jobs he had done , these couple stuck in my head so Im passing them on , make of it what you will . I think its applicable , since its part of the nuts n guts of survival is recovery after trauma
the stuff he talked about disturbed me , so Im passing it on , in hopes it will disturb a few more and get somethinking going on different to normal tracks .
he was parked up at his favorite servo watching traffic go by , when he heard on the scanner a report of a wreck not far away , he rocked up at it , same time as one of his mates ( competition company but they are buddies ) the wreck was a single car , hit a power pole , bounced off then hit a tree , the driver was alive , conscious , and angry as hell .
He obviously had a broken arm ( that third elbow look ) and leg ( bend in thigh with bone nearly peircing skin ) my bro and his mate see a fair bit of this , so they went into professional mode
" Hang in there mate , the ambos are on their way "
the response
" F%*# off you b$%^dards youre not towing my car you dirty vulture scum"
My bro was not feeling good looking at the injuries , he hates dealing with them , and fatals , he would love to just shuttle cars tween repairers all day but this is part of his work , he chimes in in his gentle way
" mate , for a bloke who is gunna be in a world of pain real soon , you dont want to p1$$ off anyone who is only here to help ya, calm don a bit hey ?"
it didnt work , he got more agro , the boys backed off , the cops and ambos were arriving , but the driver was angy and began trying to get out to have a go at the towies , the thigh bone finaly got its way and poked thru his skin his lower leg was stuck fast and he was moving around the upper half , not good , blood began running , my bro went and sat on the back of his truck , he knew he wouldnt get the job , the wreck wouldnt tow , but he was sticking round because his buddie in the tilt tray who would be getting the job was his buddie and its just good to have company and help at times.
Ive worked with my bro in his truck a few times , he never ever turns the motor off at a job , he leaves it running , a seriously worked 351 ford , with a unballanced straight thuru system , no mufflers , just a fat pipe for each bank dumping in front of the rear wheels . it thumps and rumbles and drowns out most other noise around it
he noticed feet in front of him and looked up , it was a couple cops
" bad one hey ?" they asked , no reply from my bro tho , they know if he is sitting on back of his truck , its ugly, then more feet in front of him , more cops , and over the thumping of the motor , the shrieking of the driver and the fireies and ambos got him out , they freed his leg but the actual getting him out bit meant moving him around some and that hurt him , there is an animal quality to a real scream of agony ... I heard it at a few accidents at jobs I worked ... its something thats hard to forget .
" this is the only reason we let you baskets have your dam trucks so loud" one of the cops says when the screaming died down , the ambos gave the driver a green stick to suck on
the cops were having trouble , the driver wasnt allowing his wreck to be taken away , abusing the tilt tray driver big time , right up till he was in the ambulance ready to leave , the cop in charge wanted to know why the car wsnt being loaded up , bro's buddie simply said " he wont sign me book , I cant loading nothing that aint signed for "
" gimme the book" the cop took the book , stuck the pen in the drivers hand , and forced a scibble on the page , gave the book back with his card
" He signed , if he wont pay , this is my number , get that wreck out of here "
the driver lost the plot now , screaming and struggling to stop it happening , regardless of being strapped down and broken limbs
the girl ambo , a pretty little thing , plucked the green stick out of his mouth and as if she was talking to a school kid
" we dont want that kind of language around here , no green stick for bad mouthed people" the language stopped fast he got the stick back and they left , the wreck was loaded and life went back to " normal "
next job was simple a guy drove his car into and onto a safety rail and kinda got stuck , no biggie , but he had a sob story to tell, his wife had just had surgery , his kid died , his house is about to be repossessed ( the surgery was 8 yrs back , the kids death was before that , bros mate knows the guy ) and could he be cut a bit of slack on the bill , cos after all , once the towie unhooks the car , its all over for him ...
my bro is a official nutter , but he is on his meds mostly , and is one of the biggest softies I ever met , but that last comment made him a bit cranky
" what do ya mean , when I unload the car its nothing to me anymore ? dude , I can tell you that from just looking at exposed brain , I know if a guy is alive or dead , I went to a wreck , a mum and three kids in the car , the mums head was opened and her brain was grey , she was dead , I see that every day in my head now since that happened , that was 2 yrs ago , I CANT unload it and leave it like a wreck , I seen a motorbike rider who hit a tree , his head was open but he was conscious , his brain was blue , and he had even managed to find a missing bit of skull and was holding it picking the dirt out of the inside part , asking me if Iknew how to keep it alive so the doc could put it back ... I cant unload that out of my head man and that was years ago , I see it every freaking day , I towed a wreck where a family died , all but the wife , she was in a coma for months , when she came out of it , the funerals were over , she was evicted out of her house , she had nothing , nothing at all , she has to deal with that , every day , I towed the car , and I see what her kids and husband , what they looked like when they got the car out from under the truck that went over them , they are in my head every day , so is that woman trying to cope with having no closure , just a vanished family .... now you add your bit to it too , and reckon its nothing to me , I just leave it with the wreckage when its unloaded .... thanks a lot man , you get NO slack on your bill for that .
he is dealing with a lot , his own demons and the crud he deals with daily in his work , I think this has merit for consideration tho , if things get ugly , when things get ugly , we probably will see and deal with a load more brutal stuff than we do now , from a civillain perspective anyway , Im not good at turning off , I think about the families , and what would I do in that situation , I have a ghost or two in my own head .
It occurs to me that the people that are usually considered kinda lower class are the ones who will have the toughness mentally to deal with serious problems , assuming off course they survive the friendly and unfriendly fire , starvation , mutant zombies etc of couse ...
the daily build up of stuff that happens , while the adrenaline is pumping , its OK , thats the bit I feel most people concerntrate on , " surviving the big whatever" but I dont find a lot of " how to deal with the ghosts n demons n memories that just wont go away
just some thorts
just when youre thinking " what , nothing reall knife related at all ??" my bro , the towie , he is the guy I made a knife for out of some heavy duty HSS , and he used it to save a guys life with when he cut open the hood of a wreck and then cut the battery cables to stop it going up in flames , the driver was stuck in that one too .... what was impressive tho was the knife was still sharp afterwards
I been slack , back playing up , crushed vertabrae , couple bulged disks , couple dislocated ribs , it hurts to breathe and move my arms so my knife making and stuff is on hold a while , had waaaaaayyy too much time to think lately .
