Difficult journey

So I found the journey to Sydney on Monday night/Tuesday morning pretty difficult! I was really, really tired, but I couldn't sleep because the seats were pretty uncomfortable, and the bloke who was asleep in the seat next to me kept elbowing me, and there were two old ladies sitting behind me arguing and complaining about goths and washing machines and stuff all night long. So I was pretty angry and tired. I was thinking I should probably have got a first class ticket instead of economy, so I could sleep. And we arrived in Sydney about two hours late.
So I had some breakfast at Central Station, and got a ticket for Mount Druitt, called Adam on a public phone to tell him when I was getting there, but couldn't get him. Got on the train to Mount Druitt. On the train I emailed everyone at Urban Seed asking if they could find out from Shobie (who's been working there on Tuesdays) her brother John's address (because Adam lives with John) and email it to me. Also looked up how to get to their street, because I could remember the street name. Got off the train at Mount Druitt, and went into the shopping centre to find somewhere to sit down and check my emails. Samara said she'd messaged Shobie. Walked half the way to Adam's house in Bidwill, and while I was on the way Adam came past and picked me up. (So I emailed Samara, who messaged Shobie, who messaged Adam's housemate Paxo saying I was in Mount Druitt, who told Adam. And it turned out I hadn't been able to get him on the phone because he can't get much phone reception in Bidwill.
Adam was working yesterday afternoon, delivering pizzas. (He said the other day one of the other drivers got a rock thrown through the window of the delivery car.) So I went for a little walk around, saw kids riding dirt bikes (one of them was way too big for his bike - he was having to stick his legs out the back so they wouldn't touch the ground) and got a spring roll at the shopping centre in Blackett. Came back to the house, and watched this with one of the kids from the neighbourhood documentary about a family who lived in a haunted house. After that we went with John and his kids, Kshama and Kiera, and Kristen (she lives in the house too, and used to live at Noble Park when Adam was there) to the Penrith Panthers (an NRL team) to play arcade games.
Today I think we're going down to the river.

Albury

So at 8:30 yesterday morning I caught the train Wangaratta.

At Wangaratta got on the bus for Albury. Arrived in Albury about 1pm. Got some lunch, checked into a hotel, and then spent most of the day exploring and taking pictures.

Got some nice pictures of reflections in the windows of St Matthew's Anglican Church:

Took these at the Botanical Gardens:

Took these down by the Murray River:


So at 9 o'clock this morning I came to the Greyhound office to buy a ticket to Sydney. I'd gone to their Melbourne office on Saturday, but it closed at 12:30pm, about fifteen minutes before I got there, and it wasn't open Sundays. Anyway, when I came to the office this morning, it wasn't open, even though the office said they were open at 9 o'clock Monday to Friday. Turned out it's Labor Day in New South Wales today (in Victoria it's the 2nd Monday in March), but they hadn't put a sign up saying they'd be closed. One of the Countrylink staff said I could still buy a ticket over the phone or from the bus driver, but I'd need a credit card, which I don't have. So I had to buy a train ticket to Sydney (much more expensive than the bus), and I'll get there at about 7:30 tomorrow morning.
Mentioned on Facebook that I was stuck in Albury for the day, and Joanne, who I know from the Warrnambool Scripture Union team, said that she lives in Albury. So this afternoon I met up with her and her friend Annette, and we went up to the lookout at the top of Huon Hill.

This is Albury:

This is Wodonga (on the Victorian side of the Murray):

Been at the train station since about 6:30pm.

Had a look around for a power point to recharge my computer. Found one behind the Coke machine.

So now I'm just waiting for the train, and hoping I can get some sleep.

Train ticket is not harmonica!

(Unfortunately.)

Passing the You Yangs

After work yesterday I caught the train down to Geelong with Brent, to have tea with the Norlane resis. Brent took these pictures on the train and wanted me to put them on my blog:

(The second and third one were while we were going past the You Yangs.)

The crapness of public transport in the Outer East

Just gotten home from work. I actually finshed at 11:30pm, but because of the crapness of public transport in the Outer Eastern Suburbs, I couldn't get a train home (I missed the last one by a few minutes), and thus had to catch a bus to Burwood, where I caught a tram to Camberwell. From Camberwell I had to walk all the rest of the way home, through Hawthorn, Burnley, Richmond and East Melbourne. My feet are very sore, and I'm very tired, having been busy since 9am.
I normally work Saturdays, but I can't this weekend because I'm going to a wedding tomorrow, and I've also got to pack stuff for Sydney.

The train crash

Friday afternoon I caught the bus out to Ballarat, for Stack's party. When I got to Ballarat I went and hung around at Tab's place for a bit, with Tab and her sister Tori and Tori's egg, which is called Kate, and her cat, which is called Santa.
When Tab was driving me back into town, Nic (Stack's boyfriend) called me and said, 'Are you alright?'
I said, 'Um, yeah, why?'
He said, 'The train from Melbourne to Ballarat got derailed at Ballan.'
I said, 'Oh. Okay. Well I wasn't on it. I was on the bus. Should've told you. I should have said, "The train that's going to get derailed, I'm not going to be on it, so don't worry."'
When I actually read the news, it turned out that it wasn't the Melbourne to Ballarat train anyway, it was the Ballarat to Ararat train, and it was actually derailed near Trawalla.

Coke evangelism and other train station stuff

All the bins at Flinders Street Station have been replaced with transparent ones, so it's easier to see if someone's put a bomb in them or whatever:


When I was at the same station on Saturday, I noticed that Coke had a stage set up where they were giving away free drinks. They were actually yelling out slogans through a megaphone.

Some of us around here have been talking a bit about how similar the new Coke campaign (Why can't relationships come with a gap year? Why can't we have a big money job with zero responsibilities?) is to the offers the devil makes to Jesus during his forty days in the desert.

The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'
Jesus answered, 'It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone."'
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.'
Jesus answered, 'It is written: "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."'
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down from here. For it is written:

'"He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."'

Jesus answered, 'It says: "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."'
(Luke 4:3-12)

Coke and the devil both seem to be offering no limits, without any consequences.
I also wonder whether the only thing the new Coke contains that is actually good for someone's body is water, seeing as it contains no sugar.

Took this while I was waiting at Burnley, for the Glen Waverly train, so I could go and get my wallet, which was handed in at The Glen:


And when I got to Glen Waverly I noticed these on the train platform: