shiny bus

washing homeJames, photo by Edwin van Ouwerkerk Moria @edovino

washing homeJames, photo by Edwin van Ouwerkerk Moria @edovino

#randomconversationswithstrangers

homeJames has done a fair amount of mileage (kilometreage??) since she last got a wash (she gets a spruce up every time we visit her previous-owners, Roundabout Charter). We have a very important weekend coming up so I thought I’d give her a bit of a wash. Since I’m living on Cockatoo Island right now it’s not like I can drive down to the nearest carwash, so I get my sponge and bucket (filled with hot water and eco-friendly washing up liquid) and start scrubbing. I used to wash cars for pocket money when I was a kid and having spent a month sanding and priming her before the re-spray, this is far from the first or last time I’ve been intimately involved with her bodywork :)

I’m about 3/4 done with the soaping and am wondering how the hell I’ll rinse her off when a man from the island’s staff came past in his buggy. I thought he was gonna tell me off for making a big soapy mess on their beautiful Island, but instead he brought a hose round and started washing off the soap! He was even patient enough to let me double-check for bits I’d missed so he could rinse those down again too. BLESS HIS LITTLE COTTON SOCKS! When I thanked him he said with a smile “it’s my pleasure” – I love how much random strangers connect with my beautiful bus.

I asked him his name (so I could thank him properly online, as you do) and, since I’d noticed an accent, where he’s from. He’s called Alex and comes from Peru although he hasn’t been home for 20 years. He’s been travelling the world since then and working for Cockatoo Island for two years. What a nomadic treasure! And another lovely story of the kindness of strangers to add to the growing database.

And here she is in all her shiny glory!

shiny clean

shiny clean

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