Brisbane Transit and Brain Malfunction

April 11

Brisbane is not unlike Toronto. I think it’s about the same size. The urban-ness of it has a similar feel to Toronto. It doesn’t have the same intensity of multiculturalism though. Most non-Anglo-Saxons are Asian or from the Pacific Islands I reckon. The Morleys live in a suburb outside of the main city called Taigum. It takes about half an hour by city train or 45 minutes by bus to get into town. In true suburb fashion it’s hard to get anywhere without a car in Taigum. Now I’ve discovered the bus that will take me in to the city so I don’t necessarily have to rely on Steph to take me to the train station. She is so very kind and hospitable and doesn’t mind but then there’s independent me who wants to be the least trouble and make the least amount of work for her.

The transit system can be a little complicated and hard to figure out. Signs, timetables, information is not easily available a lot of the time. Today, when I was checking to see what time the bus would come back I discovered that the same bus that takes me into the city doesn’t actually run between 4 and 6 in the afternoon (which is naturally when I wanted to travel). Instead it became an express bus that left from a completely different location which I found out after about 15 minutes of discussion with a Transit employee who had to call several people to get it all straight himself.

Last week I embarked on an embarrassing escapade that hasn’t been forgotten since. Steph dropped me off at the train station on our way back from picking up my camera at the fix it shop. And we arranged that she’d pick up me again at quarter to 5 on her way to take the kids to field hockey practice which I was going to come and watch. Cleverly, the first thing I did when I arrived at the station was to check which train I’d have to catch to make it back in time for quarter to 5. So I picked the 5:08 train. I thought that would be perfect because I’d get in at 5:35 and have ten minutes to spare because I didn’t want to be late. My brain was convinced of it and so I walked around town all day making sure that I wouldn’t miss the 5:08 train. I got to Boondall station just as I’d planned. I was 10 minutes early and happily waited, reading my book until Steph and the kids would arrive…but they took a long time. Longer than ten minutes. I noticed the beautiful clouds as the sun began to go down and I wondered why the children would start field hockey training when it was already getting dark. They should start earlier I thought. And it was really bizarre that Steph would be so late. I asked a man passing by what time it was and was shocked by his answer, five to 6. It wasn’t until then that I realized the 5:08 train wasn’t going to get me there in time for quarter to 5. Poor Steph was beside herself with worry that she’d lost a Canadian and had to go to hockey practice late and not know where I was or how to find me. Of course I didn’t have her mobile number with me because our plan was fool-proof. And she didn’t get my messages on the home answering machine until they got home. In the meantime I was trying to figure out how I’d get home on my own. Being chauffeured all around means I wasn’t always paying attention to my surroundings and directions but I had a vague idea of where I needed to be. Unfortunately Boondall station is in the middle of boonie land and the bus service only runs every hour and I’d naturally missed the first bus. Here I was waiting and waiting and the mosquitoes from the surrounding wetland area were having a feast. The first bus that arrived was the wrong one and the driver was quite unhelpful but as the evening progressed each bus driver I met after that became more and more helpful until I got to the shopping centre, a familiar landmark. Called Steph again who was home by now and took a taxi the rest of the way. The taxi driver didn’t know how he needed to go and I’m sure his GPS told him to go the long way around. He had a hard time getting out of the mall carpark. He tried to make small talk which I of course wasn’t the least bit interested in at this point in time, frustrated and completely embarrassed. I had him let me off a block earlier because I didn’t want to pay more than 10$.