ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A Canberra-based public servant has been waiting and waiting for some seasonable winds this week to try out his new jacket that cost way too much for what it actually is.
Popular rock climbing outfitter Cun’teryx has now branded out into the overpriced shell jacket market and one person eager to part with their allegedly hard-earned cash is Micheal “Mikey” Martyn, who works for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
After buying a pair of RM Williams boots last year and a number of suspect accessories like a new Omega watch and various tie pins, the 34-year-old APS6 set his sights on getting a good jacket to shield himself from Canberra’s notoriously harsh and cool weather.
“I just closed my eyes and pulled the trigger,” he told The Advocate this afternoon at the Midnight Bar on the corner of Northbourne and Elouera.
The Midnight Bar is one of the rare places in Canberra where the vista you look upon while you sip a $17 pint of Capital XPA, totally embodies what Canberra is. You have modern progress, some would say needless progress, with the Canberra light rail. Then you have an abandoned building over the road. Down the road a bit, you can see a nice cafe covered in graffiti. A vacant lot and a random car wash. It’s an area of urban planning mortadella. You might as well be in Latvia.
Martyn kept on talking for a little bit about his job and his jacket, then our reporter noticed Clancy outside in the wind using his best sign language, two fingers in a pistol position being mooshed repeatedly against his pursed lisp, asking if our reporter would like to join him for a grey market cigarette. A Chinese breath mint as he calls them.
Our reporter obliged.
More to come.
