Dum de dum...

Well here I am again...another Monday afternoon where work has quieted down a little.

My weeks lately have been rather uneventful and there's nothing that I can interest you with really! So today's lesson will be my experiences on Queensland Rail Monday through to Friday.

In the last 21 years I have lived in Brisbane and used the city rail network I have seen so many weird and wonderful things! I have realised that there are so many people out there with mental health issues who have slipped through the cracks and it appears they all travel on Cityrail!

I have had a fellow sit beside me on the train who insisted on wanting to tell me his life story and wanting to talk even though it was very clear I had my ipod on and was engrossed in my book. As a rule I don't mind chatting unless I am on the train. When I'm on the train I like to get into "my zone" and listen to music or catch up on reading. I had even politely told the fellow that I really wanted to finish my book and wasn't in the mood to chat and he was like "oh ok then" *big grin* then proceeded to merrily keep chatting away anyway. When I finally got off the train 45 minutes later with a whopping headache a lady who was sitting behind me came up and said she knew how I felt as she usually copped him! She had to end up being rude to him and he has never sat beside her since hence the reason I got him! It's sad as he most probably is very lonely but he was only a young guy, younger than me but obviously has not many friends.

Another time on the way home there was a very dirty, very smelly old man, who smelt like he had bathed in booze and urine at the same time and was sitting in a seat at the back. He had this old garbage bag on the seat beside him and was sitting staring out the window muttering to himself. The train arrived at Central Station and as usual at the end of the working day people poured into the train all desperate for a seat. A well dressed middle aged guy in a suit approached the seat the old guy was in (what was he thinking???) and said I'd like to sit there please and proceeded to move the old guys bag so he could sit. Well...it was like a bomb went off. "Don't you touch my f**** bag you f**** c***!!!" Suit guy almost pee'd himself escaping back down the crowded aisleway with the old dude swearing and cursing about the government and the cops and aliens and ranting and raving. Meanwhile the rest of the passengers were all trying to look away and trying to pretend to be somewhere else! By the way, a lot of people actually moved carriages because the poor guy really stank. I had a seat so decided to put up with the smell and the ranting...again thank god for the ipod!

I have shared carriages with a small group of aboriginal girls who were all squeezed together in a four seater and "chroming". You could smell it and that time I really did have to move or I would have puked and it was making my eyes water! One girl had the very obvious tell tale marks around her nose and mouth and all of the girls were swearing and cursing and if someone looked their way they started abusing them and saying "whachulookinat".

I hate travelling on the train Tuesday to Friday. The trains are always packed like sardines but I'm lucky because I get on at the main stop and the train starts here so I always get a seat. The problem though is that there is a very simple minded young chappy who also catches this same train and always ends up in my carriage. And he is the most annoying person. I think he also has a form of Tourette's. If the train is so much as a second or two late in leaving the platform he will start banging his head on the glass and start throwing around the F-bomb very loudly and making everyone around feel extremely uncomfortable. Us regulars now ignore him as we know he is not all there and thats just how he is. He has another simple minded friend who gets on at the next stop to ours who to his credit keeps telling him to "calm down" and "don't worry about it". But it is something he can't really control so we mostly put up with. Thank god for my ipod as that drowns him out completely!

But the most memorable guy was an oldish fellow who was quite large and when he got on the train was quite packed so he stood in the aisleway. Suddenly he raised his voice and started swearing and cursing atthe person who was standing in front of him. Now it wasn't the poor guy he was yelling at but more that this old guy must have seen his son in this guy and was telling him he was a loser and would amount to nothing. He was saying things like "I told once ya once I told twice all that satan music would get you nowhere...your a loser just like your mother" and so it went on. Then the chap would turn around and find another face in the crowd to start ranting at. After a while he'd get bored with that person and move on down the carriage to pick on someone else. Again very sad but you have to wonder why there are people out there with obvious problems who aren't getting the help they need. It's all very well for us to sit and giggle nervously about "the loony guy" but the numbers seem to grow every day. And sadly for me unless I change jobs and get a car park I will contiunue to have stories like this!