Back in the Day

Aluminium, Back in the Day

aluminium ute canopy

Back in my day, people had actual appreciation of things that were new! Maybe that’s because so many things were actually new. You know, I don’t think anything has actually been invented in the past twenty years…or at least, I haven’t heard anything about it. Alright then…back in my day, things were new! I suppose that means that we’ve just run out of ideas, which had to happen eventually. I remember the day we replaced all our ladders with aluminium ones. Caused quite the stir in the industry, I can tell you, and for a while were looked upon with scorn. Just imagine it! And now, they have all kinds of aluminium. Toolboxes around Melbourne are of a higher quality and are what we see whenever there are people coming to fix things. Even Abe has one, and he’s just a young buck who does a bit of maintenance. I can tell, because he’s never had any training and sometimes he gets the screwdrivers mixed up. He means well, though…a good lad, even if he doesn’t yet know it. But he even has a toolbox made of aluminium. Back when I was starting my apprenticeship, we had to EARN that privilege! If you saw a guy walking around with a set of aluminium accessories, that meant that he was a serious contender for the position of boss, and he’d truly proven himself to be one of the best. Everyone else had wood, or tin if you could afford it. Tin toolboxes did very poorly in the rain, as you can imagine, and the wooden ones just didn’t last. They were pretty terrible in the rain as well, come to think of it…but aluminium? Those were the best of the best, almost like they were made of some precious stone. I remember Old Ross coming to work one day with aluminium ute canopies all attached like some kind of prince. The envy of the work yard, he was! And now, every Joe has them. I suppose that makes them more efficient, but…well, not so special.

-Bruce