Metro, mX and Me
Today I caught the train to work for the first time since,
ooh, let me think now, late March. So
that would make it nearly 4 months ago.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind catching the train to and from
work. I could quite happily catch trains
all over the world. I enjoy trams
too. I do not like bus travel.
Due to a flood in the house we had to vacate for a few weeks
whilst repairs and restorations were made.
Lucky for me, I’m with AAMI. After
a holiday in the caravan, they put us up in a fully furnished serviced
apartment, initially for 3 weeks. This
turned out to be 3 months, but life goes on.
Lucky for me, the apartment was in the city, just a couple of blocks (or
2 tram stops) from work, so I didn’t have to catch any trains.
Over the weekend and the last couple of days we moved back
in to the house, sort of. The
removalists lost the nuts and bolts to the beds and cupboards. We finally got screws for the single beds and
the cupboards on Tuesday afternoon, so the unpacking had a late start. My bed is still missing some nuts and bolts
and the bed frame (amongst other things) was broken. So sort of living in the house, but the bedroom
is in the caravan.
All first world problems I know.
This morning I awoke 2 hours early, I think nervous that I
would miss the alarm. When you live so
far from work, missing a train can throw your day right out of whack. I arrived on the cold, wet and windy platform
in plenty of time to catch the 5.46 am to Dandenong. Would I recognise anyone, would anyone
recognise me? There was Bronwyn and she
greeted me with a ‘Hello stranger’.
Boarding the train, I didn’t bother getting my knitting out,
too busy gas bagging and it’s only 12 minutes to Dandenong. Ha, ha, ha.
Just after Lynbrook the train stopped.
We waited, we waited and we waited some more. Out with the knitting. Having a Metro morning, 45 minutes (and quite
a few new inches of scarf) after leaving Cranbourne we pulled in to Dandenong
to change trains for the city. Once on the city bound train I scored an aisle
seat and fell comfortably back in to my morning routine of knitting my way to
work. So long as I have room for one
wing to fly, I can knit.
Just as well I had a busy day, as the scarf was getting
close to completion. Just enough wool
left to finish off after tea tonight. Or
so I thought …
This afternoon, whilst in the middle of a confusing
reconciliation, the woop woops start. ‘An incident has been detected, please be
ready to evacuate, woop woop. Standing
in the corridor waiting, waiting, waiting for instruction, you guessed it, out
with the knitting. Like an Amex card,
never leave home without it. People
laughed, but I say, “Keep calm and carry on knitting”. Another few rows before
the all clear was given to return to our desks. Not a lot of wool left, I
wonder if I will have enough to finish the pattern?
Leaving work and heading to the station, I was so looking
forward to reading the mX on the way home.
That’s my routine, knit to work and mX my way home.
Not to be. Looking
where the mX is normally placed for commuters, vacant floor space greeted
me. Hmmm, maybe I’m a little bit early
and they’re running a little bit late. I
just missed a train, so no worries, I’ll see if the papers are still stacked in
the street. Nope. Hmmm, something’s not
right. Finally, not wanting to miss
another train for the sake of a paper, I asked a couple of Metro blokes at the
gates. Gasp! No more paper mX! Not for a couple of months now it seems. Apparently we can still read it on an
app. I don’t want to read the paper on
an app. For a number of reasons. I don’t like reading on a little tiny screen.
I like to look at the page as a whole, not one little paragraph at a time. My phone is with Telstra, so I have the best
coverage, but the crappiest plan. Biro doesn’t work for the crossword on a
screen. Oh well, bring out the
knitting. I finished the scarf and had
the ends sewn in by Caulfield.
No wool, no mX =
another first world problem on another Metro day.
