My friend had an art exhibition opening the other night and as I managed to score babysitting I went along. I went in solo so thought I’d catch the tram and the 99B bus which would practically take me to the front door. It was a nostalgic tram ride in as the type H trams stopped running yesterday so that tram track work can be done for two months before the introduction of the new trams, or light rail.
It was a memorable ride in as we had an accident along King William Street. A car was turning right and the tram was going straight ahead and the car ran into the tram. Of course we stopped, but apparently the car kept going. I had a look at the front of the tram as I got off to walk to Victoria Square and there was hardly a mark on it. I’ll bet the new light rail vehicles would not have fared as well.
The night was further marred by accidents as a friend (sister of the exhibitee) was being enthusiastically hugged and circled by a guy she didn’t even know and they both fell over into the wall. My friend fell very heavily on her bottom and had to go home. She’d been looking forward to a big night out too. Saw her yesterday and she’s ok, if not a bit sore.
Wind back time a bit to earlier in the day. JJ and I were in Target where I was going to have a look at some of their furniture. Almost straight away I lost JJ and couldn’t find him. Usually he will catch up with me. I ended up having to get his description called out over the loud speaker and get the staff to find him for me. He came back and was not fazed at all.
A little later in the supermarket he was hanging upside down on the metal rails inbetween the checkouts. I said, ‘Get down from there otherwise you’ll fall and hurt your head.’ There’s only so many times you can say this without sounding like a complete nag and the aim is to complete the shopping as quickly as possible and get the hell out of there. Of course he fell off didn’t he and I said, ‘Well I don’t feel sorry for you,’ and I didn’t comfort him at all. He didn’t hit his head that badly so it will be interesting to see if he does it again.
I maintain that if supermarkets and/or shopping centres had some sort of childcare that parents could pay a couple of bucks for an hour or two then it would more than pay for itself while the parents bought more stuff at their shops while they were childfree.
