The worse thing than being talked about is not being talked about
Coffee Snobbery in the Construction Industry
Words Pearl Bullivant Photo Reece Stretto
Bring Back the 'Bad Old Days' Dear Pearl -
Please help me, as I try to come to grips with the snobby coffee culture that has invaded the building industry!
I'm an electrician, and on pretty much every building site I've been at lately, a fellow tradie will arrive to work late, emerging from his anally clean RAM or Ford Ranger with a tray of coffees and bags of cinnamon scrolls. These blokes will pretty much always be juiced up, with sleeve tattoos and manicured eyebrows, wearing dicky jogger pants and some wanky designer runners, and I'm left waiting while they sip their latté and change into hi-vis.
I've got a few more years left in me before surrendering the tools, and I'm finding myself longing for the 'bad old days' of meat pies, vanilla slices and Moove iced coffee to soothe the VB hangover, along with the occasional sight of a bum crack and beer gut. Honestly Pearl, what is the world coming to?
Neale Bondi
10 The Beast November 2025 Issue 250
Something Called a 'Magic' Dear Neale - If only the main issues with the construction industry were tradies with latté, scroll and tattoo addictions! But I do feel your pain, sweetie. My husband, Blair, has become a proud and insufferable coffee snob. And he makes no apologies for his snobbery, which coincided with donning the cycling lycra - prior to that, his caffeine intake was limited to boring old tea.
His snobbery has leeched all the joy out of ordering a coffee, and I cringe
Something Called a 'Magic' Dear Neale - If only the main issues with the construction industry were tradies with latté, scroll and tattoo addictions! But I do feel your pain, sweetie. My husband, Blair, has become a proud and insufferable coffee snob. And he makes no apologies for his snobbery, which coincided with donning the cycling lycra
- prior to that, his caffeine intake was limited to boring old tea.
His snobbery has leeched all the joy out of ordering a coffee, and I cringe with embarrassment as he explains the technicalities
of a "long mac topped up" or a "piccolo with a dash of milk" to some unsuspecting young barista.
Last month, he returned from a cycling trip raving about something called a 'magic'. Mean-while, Pearl is ordering a regular cappuccino and wondering if conflict over coffee is worthy grounds for a third divorce?
Your letter has Pearl longing for the bad old days of black, sugarless Nescafé instant. I would routinely down four to fuel my 5am run to South Coo-gee, before heading off to work sans breakfast for a 12-hour day at a posh Phillip Street establish-ment. Post work, I would down numerous G&Ts before fighting for a taxi outside Chifley Square.
But would I trade my cappuccino at Bogey Hole for an $18 jar of Blend 43? No way, not in an instant (pun intended)!
Sweetie, as you wait in frustration on building sites, riled up by the vision of takeaway lattés, remember that trends and people (like my husband) change. I'm sure you will recall the bad old days of Underbelly-style property developers, Norm Gallagher and the Builders Labourers Federation, corrupt political-de-veloper relationships, infinite red tape and on-the-take council inspectors. Today, those powerful property developers have lobbyists and political donations (rather than murder) at their disposal and cosy relationships with the CFMEU.
As for coffee, we have lived through International Roast vs Moccona snobbery, keep cups and alternative milk trends, all usurped by something called a'magic. You can enjoy your retirement knowing those young guns will be working until they are 80 to fund their monster trucks, gym memberships, wanky shoes, sleeve tattoos and latté addictions (and their annual trip to Bali).
Oblivious to consumerism and ‘want’ accumulation, I’m living the hipster’s dream (without the $15 spelt loaf), unencumbered by acquisitions, an SUV, or fast food.
Is it any wonder I’m a government and marketing nightmare? From ‘Knitting Nannas Against Gas’, to Dick Smith’s controversial vision for a sustainable future, oldies like Pearl are pushing dangerous ideas and refusing to contribute a skerrick of our meagre pensions to the excesses of a consumerist society.
If oldies are not spending money, but instead loitering in publicly funded libraries and spreading propaganda when we aren’t listening to publicly funded radio, wouldn’t it be preferable to the government if we were confined to our homes by the regulation of our favourite form of transport: the mobility scooter?
Well, that just happens to be the suggestion of Nationals MP, John Williams, who is pushing for gophers to be limited to 6km/h (as well as a ban on vehicles over 150kg), plus on-the-spot fines and compulsory registration, after his wife was supposedly hit by a speeding gopher.
If driving a gopher 10km/h makes one a speed freak – if dozens of injuries and deaths have been linked to gophers over the years – how does Mr Williams explain the silence from politicians and the media when it comes to deaths caused by truck drivers? Heavy vehicles were involved in 194 fatal crashes – resulting in the deaths of 212 people – during the 2016/17 financial year. The lives of innocent people have been wiped out in a second by trucks travelling above the speed limit, by drivers who are pushed to the limit by unscrupulous businesses focussed solely on the bottom line Trucks kill a disproportionate number of people, yet governments do little to restrict haulage or hold anyone accountable, particularly the big two supermarkets, whose contracts with freight companies are deliberately convoluted to avoid accountability for death and impairment.
In his case against gophers, Mr Williams is also concerned that elderly people who have surrendered their driver’s licences are now behind a mobile scooter’s wheel. What a pity that this level of concern isn’t afforded to truck drivers with bad driving records, who get back into the cab and turn their vehicle into a lethal weapon. Instead, it’s a pathetic wrist slap – rarely jail time – for a death caused by an unsecured load, a speeding B-double unable to keep to its lane, or a meth-pepped truckie.
In the hypocritical silence, it really wouldn’t surprise me if the government has decided that the economic benefits of heavy vehicle transport far outweighs any downside associated with deaths caused by trucks.
And, as for the dozens of deaths caused by gophers, Mr Williams, just wait until the Range Rover (mobile phone at ear) Yummy Mummy set are behind the wheels of mobility scooters – only then will you have a valid cause for complaint.
I used to swim with Copyright Guru Moose and went to few bucks parties with him
Taken Before His Time - Bondi Farewells a Brilliant Man
Words James Hutton and Louise Bryant Photo Eugene Tan
It was an ordinary Sunday winter morning at Bondi Icebergs.
The weekly relay teams were lining up when a new swimmer appeared poolside. It was Hollywood star Owen Wilson, hoping for a quiet lap or two.
But 'Moose' Moore was short a swimmer, so he did what any true Icebergs member would do
- he roped Wilson in. The movie star did as he was told, swam his leg and helped Moose's team to victory. Later, when asked on national television how he was enjoying Bondi, Wilson replied,
"Yeah, I swam with some guy called Moose!"
Variety even reported the encounter on its website.
"On a private visit to the famous Bondi Icebergs swim club, Wilson accepted an impromptu invitation to join a team at the weekly winter meet, where he swam a leg of the relay in the chilly ocean pool without losing ground to competing teams," wrote Michaela Boland.
That was typical Moose - a joiner-inner, raconteur, bon
24 The Beast November 2025 Issue 250
vivant, keen ocean swimmer and friend to many. A very gifted wordsmith and storyteller, he eventually lost his words to dementia and, after a long battle, died peacefully on September 18 with his loving partner Louise by his side.
One of his advertising mates described him as "very clever, quietly crazy, irrational, unpre-dictable, argumentative, inspi-rational, sometimes annoying, charming, extremely intelligent
- and everyone loved him."
Moose's story resonated far beyond Bondi. He was the subject of two major features in The Australian, a segment on A Current Affair and a personal essay by Louise in Vogue Australia during Dementia Action Week. His journey also inspired Think Again, a national dementia-awareness campaign launched by News Corp, urging Australians to think about their brain health and take action.
Moose is survived by Louise Bryant and his daughter, Phoebe
Bondi Iceberg - They met every day at the pool for years – until the coffee cup ‘incident’