So many characters rub shoulders as they hurtle along the bumpy scenic route on the way from Maroubra into the City on M10 bus
Young and old from all walks of life.
Occasionally, there is one who stands out from the rest !
The bus pulled into the stop at Central and vomited the bulk of its passengers out onto the pavement to be lost in the orderly muddle of pedestrians.
Suddenly quiet, there seemed a lull in the shuffle of new passengers boarding and a short, chubby little Asian lady clambered the steps and pulled a basket on wheels loaded with shopping bags, behind her up the steps.
Her round pink face beamed beneath a broad pink cowboy hat which matched her pink duster coat and went nicely with the baggy cream trousers she stepped on as she walked.
She paused in the walkway and looked around; eyeing the occupants of the 'three aside' sideways facing seats that conveniently folded up for pushchairs, wheelchairs and the like.
Two people sat on either side, a folded seat between them. Eventually, she turned to a young Asian student sitting on one side and promptly began battering him around the head and shoulders and screaming at him in some unintelligible dialect!
He shot up from his seat as if stung and chanting 'sorry, sorry', like a mantra; squeezed himself between the two girls sitting on the other side.
The lady in pink, nodded contentedly to herself and carefully strapped her shopping trolley to the seat now vacated, with the safety belt intended for wheelchairs.
She then turned beaming to another passenger further back and calling to her, went to join her. Her basket on wheels now had two seats to itself and the young student was by now, very engrossed in a text book and sporting very pink ears!!
During this whole charade the bus had been rendered silent. Totally awed by the proceedings!!
A lot of us were grinning widely and exchanging amused glances
The lady in pink and her friend then proceeded to carry out a loud conversation that none of us could understand, punctuated by great bursts of laughter and exclamations!
After about 10 minutes, during which time we had all settled down to our own various distractions; the Asian student extracted a bottle of clear soda from his bag. Balancing his book under his chin, he proceeded to twist open the cap, whereupon the fizzy contents decided to spurt forth like a mini geyser, adding to his misery and wetting him and his fellow passengers either side of him!!
They were both very good about it, both young girls; they saw the funny side and patted neatly at their sticky and damp, spotted legs and exchanged a tissue quite cheerfully as he offered profuse apologies and the two raucous ladies (both in pink I later discovered), let loose with even louder laughter and wickedly sang 'Happy Birthday' to the boy's impromptu celebratory scene at the top of their voices!
The boy student changed his mind about the soda, re-tightened the cap without further mishap and returned to the safety of his uneventful text book.
To give him his due, he didn't blush; nor die of embarrassment and, in fact, seemed quite unperturbed about the whole scene; even managing to alight from the bus at Kensington without seeming the least self conscious.....
I watched him saunter away to be swallowed by the throng of students from the UNSW - and suspected brain damage from his recent battering!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
To Baldly Go.....
I have wanted to grow my hair again since two years ago, when the hairdresser told me it was too long for my age and heartlessly snipped it all off!
I'd always had long hair (apart from a brief and ridiculous buzz cut when I joined the Military Police in my rather confused youth)
But in the last few years, I'd had it trimmed almost weekly, by degrees, as I worried that my long golden tresses would be construed as 'mutton dressed as lamb' and so, this more drastic cut two years ago, was to be the final chop - something short and funky but stylish.....
I emerged resembling a rather butch lesbian, with an inch of hair and a shaved neck!
Close to tears, I adopted a 'don't F*** with me' face in keeping with the style, while I strode out of the shopping mall and dashed home to lock myself away for the next few months, until it grew to an acceptable length.
However, being a resilient type of person, I resolved to change persona before I found myself chatted up by the leather and chain brigade and slipped into the chemist to buy my first ever blonde hair dye.
And so, my half dark/ half blonde style was born and has been nurtured ever since. (Though I seem to remember that the first effort was more 'yellow' than blonde!)
Every time it grows a few inches, I vow to re-grow it and then I take the scissors to snip off an invading lock and end up with it short again!
Having just resolved myself to my latest shorn look, I was more than a little pleased to board the bus one morning and note that the aging lady driver was almost bald!
Her hair was shaved close to the skull apart from a short, blue mohican on the top and a rather interesting tattoo of a butterfly in chains adorned the side of her head!
Heavy of build, she wore a black leather waistcoat under her neon bus jacket, and her ears were weighted with several piercings.
I noticed the tail of another tattoo escaping from her sleeve and the word 'HOPE' on her knuckles.
As i fed my ticket to the ever hungry machine I smiled and told her 'Great hair'......
She grinned - and I swung into the front seat with a smile.
During the bus journey, she often looked my way in the mirror and one time sent me a crooked smile. I hoped she didn't want to chat, as some of them do; I guess some drivers get bored on the route all day, but I never know what to talk about!
In due course we reached my destination and I prepared to alight; standing by the driver's cabin and smiling a polite thank you. She returned the smile - and then winked lasciviously at me!
Taken aback, I hopped off the bus with no backward glance and hurried on, resolutely vowing to try harder in the future, to grow my hair and look less butch!!
I'd always had long hair (apart from a brief and ridiculous buzz cut when I joined the Military Police in my rather confused youth)
But in the last few years, I'd had it trimmed almost weekly, by degrees, as I worried that my long golden tresses would be construed as 'mutton dressed as lamb' and so, this more drastic cut two years ago, was to be the final chop - something short and funky but stylish.....
I emerged resembling a rather butch lesbian, with an inch of hair and a shaved neck!
Close to tears, I adopted a 'don't F*** with me' face in keeping with the style, while I strode out of the shopping mall and dashed home to lock myself away for the next few months, until it grew to an acceptable length.
However, being a resilient type of person, I resolved to change persona before I found myself chatted up by the leather and chain brigade and slipped into the chemist to buy my first ever blonde hair dye.
And so, my half dark/ half blonde style was born and has been nurtured ever since. (Though I seem to remember that the first effort was more 'yellow' than blonde!)
Every time it grows a few inches, I vow to re-grow it and then I take the scissors to snip off an invading lock and end up with it short again!
Having just resolved myself to my latest shorn look, I was more than a little pleased to board the bus one morning and note that the aging lady driver was almost bald!
Her hair was shaved close to the skull apart from a short, blue mohican on the top and a rather interesting tattoo of a butterfly in chains adorned the side of her head!
Heavy of build, she wore a black leather waistcoat under her neon bus jacket, and her ears were weighted with several piercings.
I noticed the tail of another tattoo escaping from her sleeve and the word 'HOPE' on her knuckles.
As i fed my ticket to the ever hungry machine I smiled and told her 'Great hair'......
She grinned - and I swung into the front seat with a smile.
During the bus journey, she often looked my way in the mirror and one time sent me a crooked smile. I hoped she didn't want to chat, as some of them do; I guess some drivers get bored on the route all day, but I never know what to talk about!
In due course we reached my destination and I prepared to alight; standing by the driver's cabin and smiling a polite thank you. She returned the smile - and then winked lasciviously at me!
Taken aback, I hopped off the bus with no backward glance and hurried on, resolutely vowing to try harder in the future, to grow my hair and look less butch!!
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