Rookie Drain Unblocking

And we’re back! I’m Sue Ridge, and this is my co-host Shannon Gardiner. We’re excited to announce that we’re just moments away from the beginning of Melbourne’s Annual Drain Unblocking Competition! I’m almost shaking with anticipation, Shannon! How are you feeling?

Oh, Sue! I can hardly contain myself. I can’t wait to see which of these hunks is going to channel their inner-plumber – remember they aren’t allowed to actually be plumbers to enter the competition – and completely tear apart the competition! Like I said before the break, my money’s on Heath. I could watch him do drain repairs in the Brighton area, or any suburb for that matter, all day!

Great analysis, Shannon. It really is an exciting time. It’s time that we’re quiet now though, the twelve contestants are stepping up to their blocked drains. Just like every other year, they get ten minutes to assess the situation before they start doing any unclogging or unblocking. There’s always a couple of contestants who go early and get confused midway through because they didn’t give it enough forethought. I wonder who that’ll be this year. Let’s see.

Oh no! Not Heath! I can’t believe it. He looked at his blocked drain for about a second and now he’s reaching for a crowbar. Doesn’t he know that if you’re doing a drain replacement near Melbourne, a crowbar isn’t the best tool for the job?! I’m legally not allowed to say what the best tool is in case one of the contestants overhears me and gets a competitive advantage over the other contestants. But I can tell the audience watching that a crowbar is not the best place to start.

Shannon! You’re not even allowed to say that! We’re supposed to comment on what’s happening, not offer any of our own opinions. Just because it’s Heath that has jumped the gun early doesn’t give you any right to go off script. Now, let’s go back to the action… I see that Darren has started off well. Okay, we’ll be quiet now while the action happens.

Weird foot skin

I’m an absolute TV fanatic and I remember hearing this hilarious, but also stupid, joke in one episode about athlete’s foot. Basically, Jerry was trying to work multiple comedy clubs in one night before making it to a movie with his friends. He was in a rush to catch the movie in time but the comedy clubs kept screwing his time slots around. There’s this one-off character who appears in this episode and he is an aspiring comedian who has this joke about his dad having athlete’s foot and then he comes out with the line ‘and believe me, he’s no athlete’. Jerry then shrugs the character off and makes his way to his next set. I don’t know why I find this line so funny. Maybe because it’s so true? You hear the term athlete’s foot but then you see the people who get it and they’re not always athletes. It’s always your mum, your dad, your grandparent, or that kid at school who has it. Now, I’m not sure if I’m just a massive hypochondriac but since watching that episode I keep thinking I’ve got signs of athlete’s foot. I’ve since noticed that my foot feels unbearably itchy and in some sections has very red flaking skin. Throughout the day I’ll be scratching it senselessly and then from scratching it there will be an extremely painful burning sensation.

I’ve done some research online about this and many sites suggest that I purchase an antifungal cream as these symptoms are caused by a fungal infection. I ended up finding a tube of antifungal cream in my bathroom cabinet but I think I will also book an appointment with the podiatrist. Cheltenham has a few beaches nearby so I’m curious if it was the beach water I touched while walking my dogs the other day that could have caused this. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what the podiatrist says. Hopefully the cream can help ease the desire to itch. It’s been distracting me at work and anytime I have to do something.