hard to say properly in a public blog but I've asked him to be
seriously effusive in private. This little banana act isn't sponsored
and my funeral fund is carrying the production, so I'm hugely
grateful.
I have spent a fascinating morning out in Dave's office in the fishery
sitting in on his daily decisions - I spent a lot of my office time
over the years dealing with uncertainty and he has lots of the same
issues. But the numbers are mind boggling - I get into anguish about
whether we can squeeze another 20 litres of diesel somewhere into
Berri's tiny insides, but the fishing boats deal in thousands of
gallons (USG, so about 3.8 ltrs/gall) and the plant deals in millions
of gallons - and the price goes up every day. Now over $US 4.00/gall,
which is still cheap by Oz standards but big money. And thousands of
tons of fish...and the constant equation - distance, fuel, freshness
of the catch when it gets to the line, dock space under the pumps,
plus the regular need to stop the process to clean the machinery - all
must be factored into just about every decision.
And then there are the really difficult issues related to a
multicultural workforce working around the clock.
Still raining - and muddy. This fine, cold, misty cloudbase rain is
heavy rain here, I'm told. It seems to penetrate everything and it's
not pleasant.
No gearbox yet...
