Busy signal

It's been a hectic time lately and I happily added to the load of responsibilities and events yesterday when attending the Souths v Titans game at Telstra. Much fun was to be had, but it almost felt like I had to be punished before the appropriate endorphins were released.

The trip to Sydney is long, but with the company of Mr Hemingway I was able to break up the monotony and time passed quicker than it usually does in such a circumstance. I have been neglecting my reading lately, due to to my recently hectic schedule, but it was good to get back into my current book, even if I was left with what I believe will have been the saddest, most depressing part of the book. I couldn't bring myself to read on beyond that point for the day, especially given the distractions coming from the seats adjacent to me.

A woman across the aisle from me, seated next to the window was making noises, and I'm still somewhat baffled as to what the cause was. Was she grieving? Some people have annoying laughs and fewer grieve in an irritating manner, but I believe this particular woman may have achieved it with great success. Her sudden and sharp inhalation pockmarked the air and drove me to distraction. When not making her weird little sounds her koala-like male companion would make the most horrendous, wet, slimy kissing sounds upon her person - loud and crass. When in my annoyance I did bother to look, I saw a skinny man clinging to a fragile idiot in the manner that a koala does to a gum tree. It was obscene in its stupidity.

I'm not normally irritated so easily, and I'm not generally without compassion, but there was something about this particular couple that made me feel anger and great annoyance. At times, I wasn't sure if the pair of them were consoling each other or that the woman was trying to mask her excitement at where the man's finger may have been slickly slinking within the tangled ball of annoyance that they had become. Was it ecstacy? Maybe, maybe not, but in either case public transport isn't exactly the place for such intense emotion or lewd displays of spit smearing.

What could have topped that off? Perhaps it was the fuckwit behind me who had decided that they couldn't live without a TV for an hour or two and decided that ear plugs aren't worth the convenience they are to other passengers. I reaaaally didn't want to have Fran Drescher's voice and a laugh track interrupting Hemingway.

So..

I arrived at the stadium and after seeing a couple of mates, Sim rang with impeccable timing. Meet at the usual place for our usual exchange of goodies and quick and fun conversation.

Wow.

I enjoy our exchanges of film and music, but I don't think I was ever prepared for the stack I was handed, and in the manner that it was handed to me. I was given the coolest bag - ever. Full to the brim with DVDs and made to help keep all my camera cords and bits and pieces organised. The perfect size, and the outside is covered with pineapples (because I tend to put pineapple on much of what I eat), and celery inside it (because celery is evil and best hidden from view), even if Sim did introduce me to a recipe that makes celery actually taste quite good!

Fun and games over and after trying the horrible parsnip chips and the delicious choc coated goji berries that Sim brought, and then left with me, off she went to sit in her usual seat and left me to it.

Game time. A sea-sawing affair and an enjoyable encounter - ruined. The referee did his best to fuck it up and one of the touch judges gave the worst display of an official since I saw a try awarded in u19's at Newcastle when the bloke I tackled over the try-line failed placed the ball lower toward the ground than my knees. In the end, despite every effort to help the opposition, the referee awarded Souths a kick at goal with 2min to go, with us behind by 1 point. A penalty that he'd never have been able to avoid awarding. Souths win by 1.

A great win, but in the end its a pretty hollow win. It doesn't quite compare when you find one of your mates you catch up with at games is in hospital with a tumour the size of a tennis ball inside his skull.

The trip back home wasn't too bad. The train line had track work, so it was a bus for half the trip. A woman on the bus made complaint though, and fair enough as we weren't exactly travelling along the most efficient route and we stopped out the front of one train station for 5min for no apparent reason other than the silly time table. So good on her for speaking up. However, it's a shame in the way she addressed the issue. She spoke with the driver and the cityrail employee in the first seat in an aggressive and condescending manner. She spoke in regard to her circumstances and 12 hours workload per day. It was easy to feel empathy, but it quickly became very hard when her aggressive tone and lack of people skills saw her ripping into what was basically nothing more than a pair of shit kickers (a term meant with no disrespect). Yes a complaint is valid, but why not rip into the people in charge?

Being hostile and speaking in a manner which places one in a position to be condescending and rude is no way to go about things. One passenger at the back of the bus said "sit down lady" and that drew the typical school teacher response, and a cry of "I have every right, and I'm doing this as much for you." Fair enough, but when another commended her as she stepped off the bus, she said "finally, someone with the guts to back me up" I considered ripping into her myself. The woman had the right idea, the wrong approach, a child-like view of her environment and certainly was in no position that she deserved support, as much that she deserved the right to speak. That she referred to being from Sydney and an outsider in the mountains where she now lives also drew upon my annoyance, as it was clear that she felt that Sydneysiders are a particular breed above country types.

It's a shame, but some of the most obviously intelligent people are also incredibly thick when it comes to dealing with the real world, away from study and work.