#67227
04/24/2002 2:44 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Gather round cobbers. Hot on the heels of the "Hang Your Hat" thread, I'm gonna shed some more Ozzie sunshine on a time honoured pastime that's responsible for powerful memories in many of my countrymen (and women!). I'm here to tell you all about circle work - and it's NOT what you think! It's a tale of utes, B&S's, good times, growing up and falling in love - well for one night anyway. "Ute" is an abbreviation of "utility truck" - equivalent in style to the US "pickup", though Ozzie utes tend to be much smaller than their behemoth US counterparts. More like station wagons with the back roof cut off. See the pic and get the info at http://communities.ninemsn.com.au/HoldenUteLandUtes are the instrument of choice for practitioners of traditional outback circle work. I was reminded of circle work a week ago at a corporate Go Karting day. My boss is a country boy that had a succession of utes (of course) and his wife, Jeannie, is a country girl. In one of Jeannie's races she tried passing another driver on the inside of a turn. She was going too fast and had the wrong line, so wound up spinning off the track. She was facing the wrong way so had to drive a loop to get back onto the track. Haydn looked at me and said drily, "Excellent circle work from Jeannie". This cracked me up and, as you will note from this post, precipitated a lot of memories and word associations. For these reasons, and for its endangered status, I've decided that "circle work" is my all time favourite Aussie term. (A big call!) The activity traditionally associated with circle work is the good ol' Aussie B&S - Bachelors' and Spinsters' ball. I believe we pinched the idea from the Irish a century or more ago. B&S's are held by country towns once a year, almost always on a Saturday night - with a party, "the recovery", first thing on Sunday morning. It's at the recovery that the serious circle work is undertaken. Historically, the farm boys had to head back home at the crack of dawn, so they'd cut a few circles in their utes as they were leaving - a let rip a few whoops and toots on their vehicle's air horns as they did. In towns fortunate to have a river, irrigation canal or billabong nearby, utes may be called upon in lieu of boats to provide the power for a water skiing session at the recovery. B&S’s (Bachelor and Spinster Balls) are annual events aimed at single blokes and sheilas and, according to http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/5187/bns.html, are "the ultimate bloke or chick outing!"B&S's are black tie affairs and the state of one's tux at the recovery is very important. Social standing is determined by what items you are no longer wearing (particularly if an attractive member of the opposite sex is wearing them) - or, failing this, just how obscure the stains are on you. I attended a few B&S's in the mid 80's, including one of the more famous ones - at Condobolin, in the centre of New South Wales. To put things into perspective, Condo had a population in those days of around 2,000. About 10,000 people attended the town's B&S. 3 or 4 bands played throughout the night (the fact that I don't remember is something I'm proud of), starting with the local band and finishing with a BIG name/national band (FWIW - "The Angels") who played until about 7am. I think the site mentioned above does a good job of explaining the events, so I've pinched a few excerpts: "The humble B&S is a strange phenomenon that has been around for decades...no more are the days when they were seen as a country deb (debutante) ball. No Sir, these days they are much more about having as much fun as you can as quickly as you can! Today I think it would be better to describe the B&S more as a social circus."
"You get all types of people –Ag (Agricultural College) students, shearers, Uni students, jackaroos, jillaroos, "try hards", city people bushie wannabes, idiots, mechanics, legends, ute fanatics, pommies, locals, interstate Mexicans (Victorians – the author is from New South Wales), musicians, cowboys, cowgirls, stock hands and many others."
"During a short period of time you can gain more life experiences than someone might discover in a year. They are therefore more that just a redneck get together."
"There is nothing the same as the Aussie B&S anywhere in the world. They an Australian icon, they are part of our truly individual identity as a country and for that reason we should try and keep them going as long as we can. They have been dying out and that’s no joke, and the reason this is happening is that people such as the police and others who don't fully understand the culture are imposing unrealistic restrictions on the organisers of these events."
"It would be much more suitable if the police were allowed to patrol outside the agreed perimeter of a B&S instead of coming ever into a B&S site unless they have been requested to enter by the organisers."
"Circle work is an essential part of a proper B&S - when you go to a B&S with no circle work it is like getting half a present. For this reason, B&S organisers should allocate an area away from buildings where they can have regulated circle work."
"Nowadays however more and more ute shows and musters are on, which will probably soon out number the humble B&S and become its future."
"B&S's also support many small country towns and charities. The money that B&S's raise go to the surrounding communities to help them out."Ah the memories. Are we alone in the world with this variety of hedonism?
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#67228
04/24/2002 3:08 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
That was great! but is circle work a casual race (going round a circle? ) or is it a quick recovery from a mistake? (Nice save!)
is it something else entirely, and i am having trouble reading between the lines?
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#67229
04/24/2002 3:31 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
> "...is circle work a casual race (going round a circle? ) or is it a quick recovery from a mistake?"Neither Helen. Circle work is simply a deliberate act undertaken to express sheer exuberance. The utes take it in turn to drive round and round in the dust, generally near the station's (="farm's") shearing shed where everybody "slept". Disappearing from view into the red dust whilst doing so is greeted with wild enthusiasm by the assembled party goers (see pic). Check http://www.outbackmag.com.au/contact/readers/utes/circle.html for THE definitive circle work pic!!As alluded to in the excerpts, there is a tendency for circle work to be more common these days at revhead shows - often as a sideshow to a burnout competition. I wouldn't swap the smell and taste of red dust from traditional circle work with the stink of rubber burning on concrete for anything - it's just not the same! stales
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#67230
04/24/2002 3:51 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
stales---the more I read, the more...interesting(ahem)...a person you become, to me.  Helen, I guess "circle work" is: they'd cut a few circles in their utes as they were leaving - a let rip a few whoops and toots on their vehicle's air horns as they did. Though I gather that the main thing to smile about is the connotation of it always being done the Morning After--'scuse me, the recovery! 'Nother words, it recalls the memories (or lack of) the night before. I've never heard of anything like this being done on a regular basis. I was quite intrigued to see, in the pictures, that one of the vehicles had a U.S. Confederacy flag painted across the hood (and an actual one flying, I think), and a Jim Beam plate on the front.
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#67231
04/24/2002 4:28 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Beautiful, evocative writing, stales. thank you for that.
And as for you, Jackie, I'll betcha wampum to wombats our good ol' boys ain't got nothing on them in Oz!
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#67232
04/24/2002 4:29 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
well the city gal that i am, i use the expression "left them eating my dust" but i can count on the fingers of one hand, the number of times i have driven on unpaved roads, (and still have fingers left over!)
once in while, someone (ex in-laws) will not have a properly paved driveway, and you just park on the lawn.. but its Lawn, you wouldn't drive round in circles on it.. you'd ruin the lawn!(and since the lawn is about 3 feet higher than road way, there is only a very narrow strip where you can pull out onto the roadway with out bottoming out.)
and the US east coast is hilly. we don't have fresh new up start mountains, but our old mountains are all about.. even long island, where i live, is only flat on the south shore. I am about 2K from the shore, and 440 feet above sea level.. not a mountain, but a nice size hill.
up and down the east coast there are beautiful valleys, but there are even more hills. and to use the NE phrase, the land herebouts is thickly settled not enough space for a circle work!
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#67233
04/24/2002 4:31 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
From what you describe, I think Americans (or New Englanders, at least) might call "circle work" "doing a donut". This is where you spin your car around and around in as tight a circle as possible, leaving a "donut" of burnt rubber on the pavement after you (if you do your donuts in the traditional location - the high school parking lot). They're also occasionally done by the winners of auto races in the infield of the track.
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#67234
04/24/2002 4:42 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
And in Canada, donuts are best done on an icy empty parking lot in winter. (And then eaten afterward at Tim Horton's, with a Tim's coffee to warm up!)
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#67235
04/24/2002 4:48 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
At my high school some of the more unpleasant types would on occasion vandalize a disliked teacher's front yard by doing doughnuts in it with their pickup or 4x4. It was deemed most effective to perform this dastardly deed on a rainy night or shortly after the rain to do maximum damage to the yard. Not a very nice thing to do.
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#67236
04/25/2002 2:07 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Oh, Alex, noooooooooooo...you're telling the whole world that Kentucky is full of redneck hotdoggers--[whisper e] yeah, I know we are, but didja have to broadcast the fact?? 
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#67237
04/25/2002 11:37 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
The regional variation for the West Coast (or at least the Pacific NW) is cookies. Just so you know.
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#67238
04/25/2002 1:43 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
This is one of those places/cultural activities that NY is out of sync with the rest of US, and (other parts of the world)
In most of US, (Oz, too?), getting a car, and learning to drive is a right of passage.. most kids get a licence age 16 and have a car, before 18.
In NY State, you can get a licence age 17, and in NYC you can't get a licence till 18! and most NYC kids don't learn to drive in HS. Many learn in the summer before they go to college. Some, like my son, never really learn to drive.. he live in CA, and does have a licence, but he bikes to work.
half the people i work with (7 out of 15) don't own cars.. 5 of the 7 don't even know how to drive. it is real common, for adults not to need to drive or even to know how to drive in NYC. This is normal in NYC!
Doing Donuts, or Circles or Cookies? unheard of! NYC kids take buses and subways, and to be daring, learn to jump turnstiles--or worse!
as for messing up a teachers yard? there are over 1 million kids in NYC schools (elementary/middle/high), and teachers? i forget-- but they come from all over NY area! Teachers might live in Bronx, and teach in Manhattan, or vis a versa-- it really unlikely a kid would know a teacher out side of school.
(that is something isn't it? NY has more kids in schools that most US Cities have as a total population!)
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