Pick Up

It's been a while.

I just thought I'd post this here on a blog that's becoming a collection of odd and funny train time announcer boards out of laziness.

Heat Wave

Prepare for my epic story of suffering!

Today, 18th January, it was time for me to return to my boring role as a student at tutoring in Hurstville. I actually caught an earlier train from Parramatta so I could arrive earlier and sit in the air conditioned building.

BUT...

My train (which was practically an all stops unfortunately) stopped at Harris Park. I sat there unaware for quite a while, reading The Quiet American by Graham Greene, until my instincts started telling me that we'd been sitting there for too long. Outside my window, there were two men talking (rather yelling at each other across two benches). One of them, the one right under my window on the platform was mentioning how it was 44 degrees in the city and 45 degrees in the west.
...He also mentioned that Australia was a third world country now because the train didn't have air conditioning.

Believe me, I thought it was supposed to be 35 degrees.

I was trying to sit still and read calmly and not fan my face even though my legs were just sticking to the seat from the heat. After a while, suddenly the woman a few seats in front of me stood up, as well as the guy lounging nearby in another seat. So I hurried off the train as well.

Apparently our train was stuck "indefinitely". You have no idea how horrifying it is to hear the word "indefinitely" in regards to a train delay.

So everyone was pretty much packed outside on the station because there was no air con in the train at all. It was an old 'tin can' as we students call it.

It took at least 15 minutes. I think what really riled everyone up was when the announcer overhead brought everyone to attention, and then told us about the train on the other platform which is going to Parramatta.
A woman nearby said "Oh who cares!" I actually agree. After giving us two announcements about "indefinitely" and "we'll let you know when we know more", telling us to go backwards in the opposite direction was really unappealing.

It only got worse when this train to Parramatta was a new Millennium with air con that we could feel gushing out at us from across the platform.

Actually about half the people started getting into the air con train. One couple was leaving, grumbling determinedly about catching a taxi. Unfortunately, I can't catch a taxi all the way to Hurstville, so I stood, waiting with the other passengers determined to GET THERE.

Finally, we got back on the train, and chugged on.

The announcement was very un-motivational. It told us that "at this point" we are only going to Granville.

...So we got stuck at Granville.

And everyone got out, and stood on the platform again.

Then there was another announcement about Platform 3. I couldn't even see what platform I was on, but everyone started running up the stairs for the other train, so I just followed everyone onto the other train.
It was still a tin can... BUT IT HAD AIR CON!

Everyone was chattering away, and the woman who I was in the same carriage with the first time sat in front of me, saying how she was from Scotland and she wasn't used to this kind of weather with a laugh. [Side note: she was reading Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford]

We still sat there for a very long time, waiting for the train to actually depart from Granville. A long, long time later (probably only 10-15 minutes again) there was another announcement and an apology and something else and then everyone in the carriage went "OHHH" that was half-groan half-joyful exclamation.

The train starts moving slowly.

Apparently the problem was a points issue at Flemington and wiring and signal problems on all lines except for the Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line due to the heat.

By then, I calculated that I would be an hour late for tutoring. And gave up. I turned around at Strathfield to go home.

So, I was hoping to catch a nice fresh rather empty air con train back to Parramatta, BUT I'm stuck with the unfortunate Richmond which is packed to the brim full of people like a typical sardine train in summer and stuffy and tin can-ish and not at all air conditioned. The only thing that kept me alive was the air vents in the doors. Or else everyone would probably have melted. As I was getting onto the train with an internal grumble, one disembarking woman warned the woman with a pram in front of me that it was so hot in the train and it was dangerous for the baby and she shouldn't risk it.
You can imagine the woman with the pram looked alarmed.

You can also imagine how I felt when I finally arrived at Parramatta station and went into the Westfield to cool down and I bought myself an ice cream and everything.

I thought this was the end of it.

Hahahaha I had an old bus too. But this blog is about trains. So thus ends this horrid tale of heat and failed endeavours.

Flame on.

Tickets and Tweezers

This actually happened yesterday but I forgot to blog about it. 

Akira and I were late for the Schofields train, and we were dashing across the upper level to get to the ticket barriers. I put my ticket in, and it showed up as Not Valid. Akira told me to try the one next to it (she couldn't get through either) and it again showed up as Not Valid. I tried the one next to that and it again showed up as Not Valid. 

Finally, by that point the train was on the verge of leaving, and we went over to the wide gates.

Two barrier ladies were sitting and letting people through. One of them asked us as we approached, why our tickets weren't working. If I were feeling snarky right now I'd comment on the fact that obviously we wouldn't know why the ticket barriers were malfunctioning because clearly our magnetic strips were perfectly fine. But I'm content - on with the story...

Akira put her ticket into the barrier at the lady's gesture, and it showed up as Not Valid. Hers has been doing this for several months now because for some reason it's registered as stolen by Cityrail machines...even though it's obviously not because she has it. Strange. Anyway, I put my ticket in as well, just to further prove the point. It showed up as Not Valid. 

The ladies nodded and opened the barrier, and Akira walked through, but then I stood there, because...my ticket hadn't come back out. 

At which point I turned to them and said my ticket was stuck in the machine. 

The one sitting down looked at me as if I were an unobservant old person who had memory issues, and pointed at my hand (which was holding my pass holder) and said: "Look you're holding it in your hand. It's right there! Just look!" and she had obviously mistaken my bus pass for my train pass, because I patiently explained that this-is-my-bus-pass-the-machine-ate-my-train-pass-please-help-and-move-faster-because-we're-students-who-have-to-catch-trains-on-time. Minus the latter segment.

Honestly though, I'm not complaining, just commenting and stating a fact: Those two moved as if we were just discussing the growth rate of grass, not running for trains. The barrier lady in front of me asked her colleague, "where's the key?" The other one looked around slowly, glancing, looking with some sort of annoyingly lax mode, and finally found the keys on the tiny desk. 

They opened the side, and then realised that my ticket was actually stuck in the sticking-it-in-slot place. So they tried to pull up the top to get at it, but FOR SOME MYSTERIOUS REASON it was stuck and broken and wouldn't open and it started getting awkward for me standing there, watching them struggle.

The two of them were just wrenching at it, trying to pull it up in this sort of awkward way that didn't look very insistent or hurried in any way - just...you know...day out in Slothviille.

Eventually, about two minutes of reluctant pulling and awkward watching later, one of them waved over to these two police officers who were about two metres away and asked if they could help.

The first man came over, and he was really tall, and said, "what's wrong with it?" and one of the ladies explained that it was broken, and it usually just "lifts up" like so *she gestured in a sort of way that is supposed to indicate extreme mobility*. This police officer, and I'm not exaggerating when I describe this, put his fingers in the gap and pulled up so weakly that I swear he did not put any force or exertion into the effort. His fingers just slipped right up and he shrugged.

I legit, facepalmed, at this guy.

And then, finally they had the brilliant idea of trying to yank it out from the slot. One of the barrier ladies, I can't remember what she used, tried to scrape my poor ticket out. Then the police officer suggested tweezers. 

They were not tweezers. They were pliers. Please get your terming correct, sir.

Anyhow, he just dragged my ticket out, and the lady handed it over to me. And I said "thank you" as politely and apologetically as possible, and dashed off through the barrier.

THAT WAS AN EXTREMELY AWKWARD EXPERIENCE.

The Schofields had obviously disappeared sometime during that fiasco. 

And my train pass has scratches on it now. 

What a bad day. I also deterred a lot of people from walking through the wide gates. The ladies had to tell quite a few people to use the normal barriers because the wide one was broken. Sorry everyone!

Invisible Trains

Delays.

I suppose I can't complain, considering how I was only 20 minutes late arriving home. I'm still not extremely sure of the circumstances going on around cityrail, but from what I gleaned whilst at the Interchange, waiting for the train to materialise from thin air, from listening to the Cityrail man speaking to a woman, and what Akira assumed, someone walked in front of a train at Lidcombe.

Of course, I didn't catch the beginning of what the Cityrail man said, I only heard him telling the woman about someone just 'walking' onto the tracks; I wasn't actually sure if he was talking about the event today or not.

So a few minutes ago, I decided to actually research this up, and there's no official statement yet, I suppose, but on railpage, it's been announced that there was an "earlier fatality at Lidcombe this afternoon". Which is pretty sad, I suppose.

I didn't think anything of it, whilst I was at Central. I just took the details of the delay, and you know...stored it.

Akira and I actually arrived at Central really early, because the buses were moving extraordinarily fast today from school. So it was such a confusion when we got upstairs to the Terminal, and saw NO TRAIN. D:

Checking the monitor, it still said Platform 8 so... we just kind of stood there with a heap of other people waiting for the train. Down the platform, there was a group of SBHS boys, and one of them was reaching out into the empty space, laughing, and saying to his friends, "look, the door's right here, I can feel it." [photo]


To which, Akira sceptically laughed and demonstrated someone thinking the train was there and just sauntering off the platform.

On a side note, I reached out and felt the heat of the sun and said 'look Akira, I can feel the train!' Later when the train actually arrived, it turned out I'd been prodding where the door would be.


Eventually the announcers managed to stop cutting their delay announcements in half, and told us that the Schofields train would be arriving in 3 minutes.

It moved really slowly, but it wasn't that bad. I've had worse.

But, my condolences today go to the family and relations of the person who has seemingly ended their own life, and for whatever reason it may have been, I wish him the best wherever they are now, whatever religion they might have been, and wherever that belief would have led them.

If he had a reason, then I have no right to accuse him of being selfish have I?

Oh well, I'm really sleepy, probably because I had a four hour nap just then, and I want to keep sleeping, but I decided to come and blog about this because it was something big in the train world of Sydney. I heard there are delays running up to about 40 minutes in either direction right now, and passengers are advised to disembark at Auburn or Flemington to complete their journey as citybound trains aren't stopping at Lidcombe.

Good thing I'm getting driven tomorrow morning (though i'd hate to say this, but I wish I could catch the train. I'm a very in-the-midst-of-it-all kind of person).

Train delays. No one wants them, but sometimes they're as inevitable as change. It's okay, I'm learning to drive soon! But then again, driving takes even longer.

Grimace.

Barrier Bypassing

I hate to be returning to this blog on an unhappy note, but...I'M UNHAPPY.

Really I was going to save this blog post for later when I really felt like letting it out, but then I just read my friend's facebook post and I realised...it's time I screamed about things that will backfire against me with speculation, but I feel is fair to use as evidence that, the world is unfair.

So, pre-established harmony is a farce. I hope.

Or maybe it isn't, because I feel as if I can practically feel a bad day coming on from the moment I wake up in the morning.

Today, I had tutoring in Hurstville.

I disembarked from a Waterfall train.

I met up with Melody halfway up the stairs.

She slid her ticket in and walked through. I pushed mine into the barrier, and it swallowed it; being a single ticket. I followed her through the barrier, as being a student allows you the habits and fluencies with the flow of barrier movement.

THEN THE GUY IN THE ORANGE JACKET WALKED OVER TO ME AND DECIDED THAT I LOOKED SUSPICIOUS ENOUGH TO YELL AT FOR A TICKET OFFENCE.

Okay, sir.

You probably deal with enough delinquent children who walk past you whilst you're on duty, who don't buy tickets and just sail through with their friends. You probably know that there are people out there who have cheated on ticket fares. You probably assume, and assume being the key word here, that you have the right to point the finger and point-blanc ACCUSE with no evidence except the bloody arrogance in your voice.

Oh you see, but you blatantly, obviously, do not observe.

Let me assure you, dear readers, that I had bought a Single, Child to Hurstville ticket from Central station at 3:34 PM today, for $2.10, with every intention of putting it into the barriers at Hurstville. WHICH. I. DID.

So, sir.

Obviously if you accost me so rudely outside the barriers, and demand to SEE MY TICKET. How in the blazes of hell am I supposed to show you something that I AM LEGALLY NOT SUPPOSED TO POSSESS ANYMORE?

My conversation with him ran something along a dialogue chain of him accusing me, I protesting profusedly that I had walked through with Melody and the machine had swallowed my ticket because it was a single, him telling me to basically shut up and stop LYING to him because he could fine me for committing such an offence because it's illegal, I tried in vain to argue but ended up spluttering because he was so in my face about it, him telling off Melody for also breaking the law, and then IGNORING EVERY WORD THAT CAME OUT OF MY MOUTH AND TELLING ME IT IS WRONG IT IS WRONG IT IS WRONG IT IS WRONG ITISWRONGITISWRONGDON'TDOITAGAINORIWILLKILLYOU.

Thank you, for reducing the IQ of the entire solar system.

First of all, may I please beg the forgiveness of any actual proper moral adults in the audience before I continue.

WHAT IS WITH HIS IMPERTINENCE!

First of all, if I had really wanted to, I could easily sue him for defamation and assault, as well as falsely accusing and accosting a civilian.

There are, as my mother proclaimed, security cameras that will back up my statement. Also, I don't know if these exist, but the barriers should have a record (if they don't, they bloody well should) of ticket dips. Any of these options, even if they took apart the barrier itself, pulled the ticket out and checked it for my fingerprints!

Excuse me, sir. Just because you see a girl who walks after her friend at the train station, and she has a white star on her face and is wearing mufti because it is a school themed civi day which requires her to wear such strange makeup, does not make her an obvious target for uncalled for verbal abuse.

BIAS. IS. NOT. LEGAL.

It's been many months since I last doubted the logic behind human society, but it's once again I really do begin to question the human race.

Such ignorance and stupidity should really be diminished.

This might sound like a very trivial matter to you, READER.

But you have no idea how confronting it is. If you're a child, you'll probably understand the feeling. When adults think they have supremacy in ruling the universe because they're "mature" and hold "responsibility". Another thing, being older with a license does not make you right all the time.

I never said I'm right all the time.

It does not mean that anyone has the right to tell another person that they're lying.

If I said tomorrow, "my favourite colour is blue." and someone screamed at me angrily with, "DON'T LIE TO ME, IT'S GREEN."

who are you, to say what's right or wrong?

That's completely a different subject, I know.

The point is, I don't give a smidgen of care if it's that man's job to stand there looking tough and yelling at children who misbehave and break the law, he had absolutely no right today accusing me of committing a crime which I did not actually commit, and then threatening to fine me.

Oh. Threats, Defamation, Verbal Abuse, Discrimination. Hm.

THE WORLD ISN'T FAIR. say most.

Tell that to Loki, whose entire armour and bag was crushed by a train today.

Forgiveness is true strength? Bah. Whoever comes up with morals like those are too weak to fight back.

Honestly I wish I didn't have tutoring today, I easily would have stayed there and Mycrofted that barrier guard. Lucky for him.

I'm also too tired of living to keep typing this blog post.

Quite surprising I haven't dotted this post with colourful language yet, but I think my tutoring homework booklet suffered enough with the gigantic hole I accidentally punctured through the entire thing whilst at tutoring today, when I furiously stabbed my pencil at the desk and somehow snapped the pencil in the process and stabbed a hole in the centre of the page - through all the pages.

Eurgh.

I'd rather not live here on Midgard.