Badger

It’s a small world . I take myself back to the late 90s and the western suburbs of Melbourne.I owned that territory . That was my lot , the last guy on , 1st guy off theory applied to me , hence I often found my way over the west gate bridge . Altona and Laverton , Koroit creek road , Fitzgerald road and the Western ringroad regularly had my name on them. It was around this time a bloke called Badger was also working in the area , for a company called Skilled Engineering . Shit , we often worked on those sites . The Holden plant , the Laverton power plant were some of the places Badger worked . Shit , I was at those joints too . Switch back to Hermosa Beach and my regular path to the beach . I trek down Sixth street , at the bottom I pass an old weatherboard share house that is rundown and unkempt.This has always stirred my curiosity . It’s not so much the state of the joint but the consistent emission of dope that hovers around it . Morning or night this joint lets out the sweet pungent aroma of green timber . Who lives in this joint ? ……… Eventually I see a few heads coming and going , rough , weathered un South Bay like . Old Hermosans that are a snap shot of an era that has been swamped by gentrification. I keep seeing this older bloke . I know there’s something going on here . He doesn’t look like the rest of the people here . You sense it , you know it , this bloke is an Aussie, has to be . The head gives it away . I walk past and nod . Next time I give it a bit of facial expression and he gives a shake of the head with half a wink . Fuck it , he’s gotta be. Next time I walk past in my wetsuit and board under the arm and say g’day. He pauses ,takes a step with an arched back and says “good mate”. I stop and nod and say i’l be back . Finally , I catch him a couple of weeks later . Badger had taken several trips here in the late 90s until in 1999 he moved he permanently . He told me he ran a hotdog stand off San Pedro ( a rough dog eat dog type of place wedged between Palos Verdes and Long Beach ), worked in a local bar for 15 years and has done regular labour work for local builders …… Why ? I don’t really know why he is here but his story has gaps . Eventually I cornered him and recorded this little video that went 3 minutes too long . placeholder://Badger tells me he is 57 years old and has quit smoking , dope included . Me thinks .., not