Post Office Musings
How can this be? For reasons best known to myself I find myself in the cue at Australia Post, Bondi Beach Branch at least once a week. I kind of like this branch, it’s got a bit of a wild west, frontier feel to it. Rules tend to get bent, processes aren’t always followed as you might expect them to be. It kind of reminds of “going up the river” Apocalypse Now style.
For example all the people who work there always look slightly dishevelled in their dress, and they wear name badges that say simply “Homer” or “Marge” or “Bart”.
Another example is that being there gives me plenty of opportunity to keep up with what they play on Mix 106.5 these days. I’m sure they’re not actually meant to play this readio station, the rules would specify some sort of seemless muzak to beat the hapless punters into a soma-like daze.
Now, here’s the bit I can’t figure out. On at least 6 occasions in the last 12 months, including this morning, while I have been standing in that cue, I have had the excruciating pleasure of hearing Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”. This experience always triggers a series of musings in my mind, ranging from
1. Does anyone here actually *want* to hear this song, right now? Or indeed, ever again? Why am I listening to a song releasd over 30 years ago, which was average (to be extremely generous) at the time, and has grown more and more average as the years go by? Who listens to this radio station? Do they actually enjoy the experience in any meaningful sense of that word? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve always thought that music was something that was meant to be “enjoyed”, not “endured”…
(This would have been the first couple of times I heard it)
to
2. How come I can still remember the film clip of this song when I still can’t remember how to translate celsius to fahrenheit? Why have I never forgotten that the drummer was the lead singer?* Is Spiderbait a truly embarassing band to admit to enjoying?
(The third and fourth times)
to
3. This song again! How many times must this station play it, if I hear it so often just by coming into the post office? I mean when you consider I stand in the cue perhaps for an average of 3 minutes, what’s the likelihood? Should I buy a lottery ticket?
(The fifth and sixth times)
I just know there is going to be a seventh time, when I will think about this time, right now, when in desperation to come up with some content, I blogged about the experience of standing in the cue at Bondi Beach Post Office.
* I can’t seem to confirm right now that this was indeed the case. It could well be one of my little fantasies.)
