Loyal Wife Yvonne: Warming Nicely by Matt Coolomon

Author:Matt Coolomon [Coolomon, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Jack Knowles “JK”

I’ve been riding snowmobiles all my life and never tire of it.

I was on a trip from a drill site back to base. The road that followed the scenic coastline was only accessible by 4WD. All our vehicles were 4WDs. But up and over the mountain was a shortcut and so much more fun.

I had a motorbike to get from the snowline down to base camp. I skidded in on the snowmobile, left it in a small shelter, jumped on the bike and powered from a rock ledge to the track that wound through the trees, rocks and pockets of snow not yet thawed.

Base was two sites. I left the snowmobile at the admin building and quarters, which was our office, and a bungalow for myself and my two shift supervisors, Reece and Christian.

We did 12-hour shifts and worked 24/7. Reece, Christian and I rotated to incorporate a 10-day on, 4-day off roster. The FIFO crew, who were stationed and housed at the oceanside site for the duration, also did 12-hour shifts. They flew in for seven days, then flew out for another seven. We were mostly all from Vancouver or Nova Scotia. There were a few indigenous locals from the closest town, which was an hour away by boat in summer or snowmobile for the other nine months of the year.

I was expecting two scientists for a two-night stay. They would be arriving tomorrow and I needed to be in town to meet them. There was room up at the admin bungalow but I figured they could make do down here with the crew. It was four bunks per room and there were a couple of vacancies. I had a little chuckle to myself making sure it wasn’t too comfortable for them. I often had to suck up to upper-level colleagues visiting from Vancouver and hated doing that.

This pair were a couple of researchers from some obscure university in Australia. They can fucking rough it haha!

“You guys need to tidy up a bit here eh! You’ve got visitors tomorrow and they’ll be needing those spare bunks.”

There was grumbling and blame shifting as to who owned the junk to be moved. The crew here were mostly young boys. The dozen or so lounging around were all glued to their devices. The place was a damned mess but I’m not their fucking mother. If they wanted to live in squaller that was their problem, and if they didn’t like it they could sort it out amongst themselves. As long as they turned up fit and ready for their shift, that’s all I needed to worry about.

I checked in with the cook. He was one of two but lived here on site and only went to the city for annual leave. He delivered meals to us up at the admin bungalow, three squares a day. He also managed the store where we could purchase a few luxuries including alcohol. He had ordered online and I was to pick his supplies up for him whilst I was in town.

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