BMTH live in Jakarta 2024

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This time around Ravel gets it right and BMTH (Bring Me The Horizon) are headlining the Nexfest festival in Jakarta which also features Babymetal. In this format there is no seating - which makes for a much more intimate experience - although you do have to arrive really early if you want to pick a spot right up close to the stage.  We arrived about six hours before BMTH were scheduled to start their performance and bought plenty of drinks to stay hydrated in the tropical afternoon heat (mind you, some of those were Iceland vodka mix!) This was a gig I had long been looking forward to - especially after the debacle last year. Not everyone likes BMTH of course. For deathcore fans the band sold out. For metal heads the band is not purist enough. And for the wider mainstream audience, the band is too heavy. You can't please everyone of course but there are few bands in the rock world which can match the sheer emotional velocity of BMTH. To bring metal and even aspects of metalcore t
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Rubbish collection in Jakarta

Remember the poor - it costs nothing

> Mark Twain

Some mornings as I leave for the office, I bump into our local garbage collector, an old guy who physically has to drag the rubbish cart – I think it’s called a gerobak sampah - behind him.

Now I ain’t sure what he must have done in a past life or something, but this dude must really have the most demeaning and soul-crushing job imaginable (next to being an accountant of course).

But what gets me, is to see this unfortunate blighter picking at the rubbish with a long stick with a hook on the end of it as he tries to get the rubbish out of the cement box (there are no dustbins in Indonesia) and into his cart. He manages this in about 10 minutes compared to the dustmen in England who do the job in about 7 seconds).

And cos a lot of the rubbish ain’t put in plastic bags, it stinks like hell as all the vegetable peelings and kambing innards and whatever else rot under the tropical sun.

But why?

After all, this isn’t about money is it?

I mean, how much would it cost to supply residents with biodegradable bin bags and educate them to separate their rubbish – and even recycle stuff like glass bottles and aluminum beer cans?

I once bought up this issue with the RT (head of our residential area) but he just laughed.

Plastic bags for rubbish? Are you mad?!!!!!

The garbage collector has a terrible job? Noone cares. But shouldn't we?

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