{"id":23423,"date":"2023-02-19T11:04:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T16:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23423"},"modified":"2023-02-19T11:10:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T16:10:06","slug":"episode-746-car-story-4-get-me-out-of-this-bush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23423","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 746: CAR STORY 4 “GET ME OUT OF THIS &%^$#@#$ BUSH”"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 746:   CAR STORY 4  “GET ME OUT OF THIS  &%^$#@#$<\/a>  BUSH\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Feb. 18, 2023<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This car story <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This does not look like a wilderness.  It is a big clearing in the bush where there seems to have been a farm long ago<\/div>\n
and the hay field is cropped still.  The track is narrow. Rasy for our company Land Rover,,,and also our 53 Meteor<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This car story<\/div>\n
about the 53 meteor may not get by the email censors.  I know that is true<\/div>\n
for Aidan\u2019s office in Ireland where bad language is filtered out.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
But I will tell the story anyway. Perhaps reduce the foul language a bit.  But those curse words<\/div>\n
are so much a part of the story that I am reticent to be a censor.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So here goes:<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The life of the 53 Meteor was coming to an end sadly.  But not quite.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cBeautiful June day\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWould be nice to go on a trip\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s do it.  I would like you to see what my job is like\u2026.mining geophysics<\/div>\n
means nothing until you see the field work.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDangerous?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot unless you consider black flies dangerous.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So mom, dad, Eric and marjorie piled in the 53 Meteor and we headed north east towards Kinmount.<\/div>\n
Dad was a bit grumpy because he would miss a few horserace at Woodbine racetrack.  But he came <\/div>\n
along.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We started on 4 lane highways, then two lane paved highways, then tailored gravel side roads\u2026then<\/div>\n
no road at all just a faint indication that a vehicle had pushed its way through the brush into<\/div>\n
a deep dark forest.  A bull moose rises its head and lumbered out of the way.  This was wilderness.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Leafy branches slapped the windshield and bent the car aerial back.  Mudholes.  Deep ones that shook<\/div>\n
the car.  Filtered light.  But the 53 Meteor was able to push its way through to a small clearing where<\/div>\n
we had been testing our instruments before flying to a job in western Alaska.  All very exciting to me<\/div>\n
and I wanted the family to share my excitement.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cGoddamnit, Alan, you are going to wreck the car in this bastardly bush.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Dad was was becoming a defence attorney for the 53 Meteor<\/div>\n
who could only groan but not speak.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cTurn around, for \u201c”@#$%$”   sake.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOnly place where we can turn is up ahead\u2026that clearing.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou will wreck the goddamn car, Alan\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTaking it slow.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cToo goddamn slow\u2026I want out of here now.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThere is a track\u2026just can\u2019t see it.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou are nuts, Alan!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHere we are.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHere?\u2026NOTHING HERE!  JUST BUSH!\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
“There is a magnetic anomaly deep under this topsoil.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo what?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo that is what we will be looking for under the Alaskan tundra.  Now we know<\/div>\n
the instruments work fine.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Hunting Technical and Exploration Services were paying me $400<\/div>\n
per month to criss cross a wilderness near the Bering Sea where there was<\/div>\n
evidence of a huge mineralized anomaly.    Dad was unimpressed.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cToo bad about the flies.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cToo bad!  TOO BAD!  The little sons of bitches are drawing blood\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t be helped.  Biting flies are a fact of life here and far worse in<\/div>\n
Alaska I am told.  Just have to tolerate them.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou are a fool, Alan\u2026must love misery\u2026<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And that was when Dad came up with a ring of swear words that had<\/div>\n
never been put  together before.  If you have a sensitive vocabulary then<\/div>\n
do not read the next line.  He was very creative \u2026<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cTurn the car around and get me out of this \u201cg\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014,s\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014,b\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 bush\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
For that line Dad became famous.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Note: SECOND THOUGHT AMENDMENT:  I did not quote his famous string of words.  They may give a bad impression as they<\/div>\n
did sometimes.  Suffice it to say Dad never ever used the F word or any other suggestive<\/div>\n
sexual term.  He had principles that seem to be lost today.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
End of story<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
PS  The worst time for fly bites is from May 24 to early Jully.  I should have<\/div>\n
thought of that.  Even mom was glad to get back in the car with the windows up.<\/div>\n
This family outing had not been a good idea.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Let me apologize for the bad language.  Did I have to use it?    yes.  The story<\/div>\n
would not have deep meaning without Dad\u2019s creativity.   Without the use of strong <\/div>\n
expletives the anomaly at Kinmount would be forgotten and the clouds of<\/div>\n
flies would be left to torture the bull moose.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
PPS    A few years ago I was invited to speak to the U of T Women\u2019s Club and decided<\/div>\n
to recall Dad\u2019s influence on Eric and me.  One woman was overheard saying<\/div>\n
\u201cthose poor boys\u201d.   We never felt that way.  Actually we were a very happy family.<\/div>\n
Dad provided lots of entertainment which made up for his lack of financial<\/div>\n
support.  Would we trade him for a more saintly father.  Not a chance.<\/div>\n
By the way, that speech was not well received by the U. of T women\u2019s club.<\/div>\n
Marjorie said \u201cThey will not invite you again\u201d which seems to be true.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 746:   CAR STORY 4  “GET ME OUT OF THIS  &%^$#@#$  BUSH\u201d alan skeoch Feb. 18, 2023 This car story  This does not look like a wilderness.  It is a big clearing in the bush where there seems to have been a farm long ago and the hay field is cropped still.  The track […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}