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Monday 3 November 2014

Doof Doof In Ze Shed


Last year we had the pleasure of hosting Thibuat (Teebo) and Thierry for three months. These two French boys embraced station life like no other and have become firm friends. The last time they visited was to be Thierry's last, as his Visa was due to expire and he was unable to stay. Just a few of the fun times we had with them follow....


Two Frenchmen arrived, outback adventures they seek
Fresh from a viewing of the infamous Wolf Creek
Greeted by a lady with her rifle on shoulder slung
At that point they wondered what they had done
The boys considered if they should not have just fled
But instead made their way up to the massive steel shed

They stopped at the house and there met all of us
Of their encounter with our guest they made quite a fuss
‘’We did not know if we should stay or should go!’’
And that was our first laugh with Thierry and Thibaut
We showed them around, and they both shook their head
In awe at the scale of things, especially our new shed




They decided to stay and we set them to work
World Wars aside it can’t be said the French shirk
First job was faecal tests, not the best for a newb
All I can say it involves gloves and a fair amount of lube
‘No more joke at the Kiwis, I think that is misled,’
grinned Thierry that night as we drank beers in the shed

Mustering and fencing, marking and drafting
The boys did it all, and all with much laughing
Here for three months, both had a visa to renew
So both got stuck in, there was so much to do
But it soon became obvious and not needed to be said
That what both enjoyed most was tinkering in the big shed

The shed is impressive, but I have to confess
When they first saw it the place was a mess
So first task was to tidy tools back where they go
And to make it more pleasant, I brought in a stereo
Thierry eyes lit up, as though his thoughts I had read
‘Now we can ‘ave some doof doof in ze shed.’

The I.T. man he is we soon had that thing wired
Plugged in his Iphone and up the old girl fired
Cranked the dial to ten and the music was loaded
When the first note hit the rafters the swallows exploded
And as the cobwebs shook to the sound of Led Zep,
I could see Thierry was pleased with his doof doof in the shed

From then on the boys weren’t hard to be found
All you had to do was just follow the sound.
The maestro selected his choice for the day
And away they would work as his music would play
From French pop to punk to the bloody Grateful Dead
Anything goes when it comes to doof doof in the shed.

A challenge I set them, to get an old bike going
And not a second later the tunes started flowing
So many French curses I learnt that afternoon
With the bikes refusal to go the boys started to fume
Thierry jumped on that kicker until his cheeks were flushed red
But the bike only coughed in time to the doof doof in the shed

The bike was abandoned and a new task decided
To build us a pizza oven, the type was woodfired
 A month of welding and grinding and my scrap heap depleted
Until finally one day the masterpiece was completed
The inaugural cook up certainly left us well fed
All to the sound of the doof doof in the shed

Time goes too fast and those three months flew by
Farewells were said, all with some dust in our eye
But they stayed down in Perth and would make their own way
Back to Gabyon for Christmas and even a birthday
And each time Thierry would eventually be led
Back into the workshop for another doof doof in the shed

But last time they called in, they gave us the bad news
Thierry’s Visa was up and attempts to stay had fell through
Not to far from now he’ll be back home in France
So he wasn’t missing this Gabyon run, not even a chance
And after a big night, when guests had gone to bed
Quietly Thierry snuck up and put on his doof doof in the shed

I followed him up and we talked for a long time
Of women and work and music over much beer and wine
All the while played the greats, as well as the rest
Echoing through the night down to our guests
Eventually I left him there and started to head
Leaving Thierry alone with his doof doof in the shed


And I’m not ashamed to say tears welled as I lay in my bed
Listening to what would be Thierry’s last doof doof in our shed
 
 
 
 

 
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1 comment:

Chookyblue...... said...

great poem.........we had a Belgium couple and it was so sad to see them go to...........