- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
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- 3,394
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
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- '03 Falcon BA XR6, '79 XD Falcon S, '08 X5 3.0D
I should have stayed in bed yesterday...grab a tea and some biscuits. This is long..
Had an audit client booked for 11am. I avoid driving into the city unless I have to take a school group in there, so I decided to catch the train in, from a station 500m down the road from our depot.
Depending on time, I'd possibly be able to have yum cha for lunch after the audit, and then catch one of our buses back to work, as we have a run into the city every afternoon, and I knew there wasn't much credit left on my transport card, which I rarely use anyway.
In that case, we'd make it back to the yard just in time for me to get in the car and head for my evening class. I left my course work in a bag in the car, but I also left the unnecessary things from my handbag behind.
Like my sunglasses and that pesky umbrella that takes up so much room, in order to be able to fit the laptop power cable in, and zip it up - because public transport.
Walked to the station, hopped on the train and realised I would be a bit late, as there was an announcement made about delays on the line I was on. Thought I'd send the client an email, and let them know I was on the way, but would be delayed. Fishing around in my handbag, I can't find my phone... which also contains the email that had the address of the office building I was heading to. This wasn't such a problem, as I had looked it up on google earth the previous night, so I had a pretty good idea where it was.
Got off the train, and onto the tram that would get me to within a block of where I needed to be. Then started walking at a rather brisk pace to try to make it within about 10 minutes of our scheduled time. Looking at the street numbers of 470-499, I knew I needed to keep going...wondering why I didn't go to a station much closer to the other end of the street, since I was looking for 240.
It didn't look that far from the tram stop and the theatre on the map I'd looked at, so why was it such a long walk? 20 minutes later, I got to 250, but after that the whole street becomes a pedestrian mall filled with shops...this can't be right. it's not in there... and they said Haymarket, not Sydney (different suburb), but there is no clear boundary between them, and I didn't notice the street numbers roll over and start again, as they do in some streets running through multiple suburbs.
So I turned around and started back the way I had come, on the other side of the road, checking numbers again. I got back to the railway station, and stopped at a payphone to call our office to check a map for me.
I hadn't been into the office, so they wouldn't have seen my phone, and wouldn't be able to access the address I needed, or be able to find contact details for the company to call them on my behalf, since I couldn't remember it myself.
The secretary doesn't drive, and asking her to check a map for me with the address I'd given her was no use. She passed me on to one of the other drivers, who wanted to hang up and call me back on my mobile...
I told him I needed to find 240, and he told me the cross streets on either side of it, but that didn't help. I'm now 30 minutes late.
Finally I called into the Sydney Central YHA, knowing they'd have maps, and asked there for directions to 420. Totally not realising I'd transposed the numbers...I'd already walked past this particular building twice.
I'd decided to wear shoes I hadn't worn in ages, and they were starting to rub blisters on my toes. Walk into building 420 (It had huge numbers, how didn't I see them?), find the company I need in suite 105 - level 1, suite 5 yeah?
There are 3 lifts - two for residential use, and one for the corporate suites, but the buttons in the corporate lift start at level 8...
So I walk out and find the concierge to ask where I find suite 105.
It's on the 10th floor. The ground floor, is actually the 8th floor....
When I get to the 10th floor, it's a maze of corridors, and the only office without a number is of course 105, so I've already done a lap of the floor by the time I walk in and ask.
I'm almost a full hour late. My feet hurt, and I'm sweating like hell because it's 400% humidity.
The manager doing the audit with me gets me some water. Boiling hot water! WTF?!
Anyway, we get started, and I find I don't have a pen. Nevermind, they have some floating around...
Despite having looked through the audit documents on his own, he doesn't have a bunch of critical paperwork we need. We're at 3.5 hours when he asks to take a break for lunch. And so I leave until 4.30pm.
This means I won't be able to get a lift back to the depot with our driver that will be coming past at about that time. I really needed to be leaving then, if I was going to make it to class on time.
Going back, they still don't have all the documents they need, but I can't stay any longer, and they cannot get the documents today anyhow, so we pack up.
By the time the manager has said goodbye to me after walking me down stairs, it's now POURING rain.
My umbrella is in the car...I can't sit in a cafe or the pub next door and wait it out, so I get drowned crossing roads to get to the tram stop. I can barely see through my glasses, which keep sliding down my nose anyway.
The first tram is full. No one has any hope of getting on.
The second one 13 minutes later is almost as full, but I squeeze on with a couple of others who were also caught in the rain, and we comiserate with each other.
Heading into the Central railway station at 20 past 5 is insane. I rarely ever come here, so I have to check the indicator boards to find what platform I need (there are something like 27 of them), and then figure out where that platform is..
Just as I step onto the train, there is an announcement that the line I need to get back to work is affected by flash flooding, and there are no services running. They don't know when services will resume. We're being diverted to another line, with a couple of stops at stations on the regular line not affected.
I have to switch trains 3 times to finally make it back to the station near work. My feet are now soggy and bleeding, and I have .44c left on my transport card. It's now well past time that I should have been almost back where I'd started from, in the car on the way to class.
When I get back to the yard, there is my phone on the dashboard of the car, and the umbrella on the front seat.
Peeling off my soggy jumper, and with the heater/demister on full I set off for class on the other side of the city, sending Tiia, our teacher, an email letting her know I'd be late, and I get there a full hour late for a 2 hour lesson. At least it's stuff I've covered before.
Oh, and I still didn't have a pen.
Had an audit client booked for 11am. I avoid driving into the city unless I have to take a school group in there, so I decided to catch the train in, from a station 500m down the road from our depot.
Depending on time, I'd possibly be able to have yum cha for lunch after the audit, and then catch one of our buses back to work, as we have a run into the city every afternoon, and I knew there wasn't much credit left on my transport card, which I rarely use anyway.
In that case, we'd make it back to the yard just in time for me to get in the car and head for my evening class. I left my course work in a bag in the car, but I also left the unnecessary things from my handbag behind.
Like my sunglasses and that pesky umbrella that takes up so much room, in order to be able to fit the laptop power cable in, and zip it up - because public transport.
Walked to the station, hopped on the train and realised I would be a bit late, as there was an announcement made about delays on the line I was on. Thought I'd send the client an email, and let them know I was on the way, but would be delayed. Fishing around in my handbag, I can't find my phone... which also contains the email that had the address of the office building I was heading to. This wasn't such a problem, as I had looked it up on google earth the previous night, so I had a pretty good idea where it was.
Got off the train, and onto the tram that would get me to within a block of where I needed to be. Then started walking at a rather brisk pace to try to make it within about 10 minutes of our scheduled time. Looking at the street numbers of 470-499, I knew I needed to keep going...wondering why I didn't go to a station much closer to the other end of the street, since I was looking for 240.
It didn't look that far from the tram stop and the theatre on the map I'd looked at, so why was it such a long walk? 20 minutes later, I got to 250, but after that the whole street becomes a pedestrian mall filled with shops...this can't be right. it's not in there... and they said Haymarket, not Sydney (different suburb), but there is no clear boundary between them, and I didn't notice the street numbers roll over and start again, as they do in some streets running through multiple suburbs.
So I turned around and started back the way I had come, on the other side of the road, checking numbers again. I got back to the railway station, and stopped at a payphone to call our office to check a map for me.
I hadn't been into the office, so they wouldn't have seen my phone, and wouldn't be able to access the address I needed, or be able to find contact details for the company to call them on my behalf, since I couldn't remember it myself.
The secretary doesn't drive, and asking her to check a map for me with the address I'd given her was no use. She passed me on to one of the other drivers, who wanted to hang up and call me back on my mobile...
I told him I needed to find 240, and he told me the cross streets on either side of it, but that didn't help. I'm now 30 minutes late.
Finally I called into the Sydney Central YHA, knowing they'd have maps, and asked there for directions to 420. Totally not realising I'd transposed the numbers...I'd already walked past this particular building twice.
I'd decided to wear shoes I hadn't worn in ages, and they were starting to rub blisters on my toes. Walk into building 420 (It had huge numbers, how didn't I see them?), find the company I need in suite 105 - level 1, suite 5 yeah?
There are 3 lifts - two for residential use, and one for the corporate suites, but the buttons in the corporate lift start at level 8...
So I walk out and find the concierge to ask where I find suite 105.
It's on the 10th floor. The ground floor, is actually the 8th floor....
When I get to the 10th floor, it's a maze of corridors, and the only office without a number is of course 105, so I've already done a lap of the floor by the time I walk in and ask.
I'm almost a full hour late. My feet hurt, and I'm sweating like hell because it's 400% humidity.
The manager doing the audit with me gets me some water. Boiling hot water! WTF?!
Anyway, we get started, and I find I don't have a pen. Nevermind, they have some floating around...
Despite having looked through the audit documents on his own, he doesn't have a bunch of critical paperwork we need. We're at 3.5 hours when he asks to take a break for lunch. And so I leave until 4.30pm.
This means I won't be able to get a lift back to the depot with our driver that will be coming past at about that time. I really needed to be leaving then, if I was going to make it to class on time.
Going back, they still don't have all the documents they need, but I can't stay any longer, and they cannot get the documents today anyhow, so we pack up.
By the time the manager has said goodbye to me after walking me down stairs, it's now POURING rain.
My umbrella is in the car...I can't sit in a cafe or the pub next door and wait it out, so I get drowned crossing roads to get to the tram stop. I can barely see through my glasses, which keep sliding down my nose anyway.
The first tram is full. No one has any hope of getting on.
The second one 13 minutes later is almost as full, but I squeeze on with a couple of others who were also caught in the rain, and we comiserate with each other.
Heading into the Central railway station at 20 past 5 is insane. I rarely ever come here, so I have to check the indicator boards to find what platform I need (there are something like 27 of them), and then figure out where that platform is..
Just as I step onto the train, there is an announcement that the line I need to get back to work is affected by flash flooding, and there are no services running. They don't know when services will resume. We're being diverted to another line, with a couple of stops at stations on the regular line not affected.
I have to switch trains 3 times to finally make it back to the station near work. My feet are now soggy and bleeding, and I have .44c left on my transport card. It's now well past time that I should have been almost back where I'd started from, in the car on the way to class.
When I get back to the yard, there is my phone on the dashboard of the car, and the umbrella on the front seat.
Peeling off my soggy jumper, and with the heater/demister on full I set off for class on the other side of the city, sending Tiia, our teacher, an email letting her know I'd be late, and I get there a full hour late for a 2 hour lesson. At least it's stuff I've covered before.
Oh, and I still didn't have a pen.
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