KEITH T. DENNETT | New South | CONTACT
A Betoota road hound has leaned into Chinese New Year festivities, taking a moment to treat himself to a dim sim dinner from a truckstop bain-marie.
After stopping off for a shit, shave and shower at the fabled Roadrunner Roadhouse in Cloncurry, long-haul Linfox driver Shane McColl (56) is understood to have ordered three crispy dim sims, which had been blistering under the fluorescent glare of a workhorse bain-marie for over 10 hours.
After polishing off the trio of highway delicacies, it’s believed Mr McColl also sunk two cans of full strength Coca Cola, in a touching acknowledgement of red being a Chinese colour that symbolises luck, joy, and happiness.
“Yeah I heard em’ talking on the wireless about Chinese New Year, I was actually tuning into Big Ideas on ABC Radio National with Natasha Mitchell and I found the topic quite enlightening.”
“Not all truckies listen to Triple M and tape decks of Acca Dacca ya know, some of us even do the odd podcast now and then!”
Asked about his decision to cover the dim sims in a second layer of chicken salt, Mr McColl admitted he needed to soften the crunch of burnt dumpling pastry by coating the cuisine in thick lashings of smokey BBQ sauce.
“The dimmies were great, but they’ve probably been sitting in that furnace since before I left Betoota and that was over nine hours ago.”
“Eat them sauceless and you’ll be dry heaving for a week, and in a job like mine you can’t be crossing into another State with a cough in your throat.”
Asked about what else he had learnt from lessons in Chinese Zodiac, Mr McColl told our reporter he was surprised to learn he was officially born in the ‘Year of the Horse’.
“Mate, because I’m a 1966 baby apparently I’m a pure thoroughbred, active and energetic!”
“Probably explains how I can drive from Emerald to Echuca in one sitting without an eyelid of sleep.”
“Now that’s what I call choosing a career based on ya strengths!”
“I tell ya what though, they might have got it wrong on the Year of the Dragon stuff, cause they are shit down in the Illawarra let me tell ya.”
