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Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
In Melbourne, in Chaos!!!!
How to be Calm in the middle of Chaos:
I wanted to go to Melbourne to do a workshop, so we decided to jump on a train and go to Melbourne for the day - sounds simple enough, but living approx. 4 hours drive from Melbourne makes it a bit of a challenge if you have to rely on public transport, not only to get to Melbourne but to get through the suburbs of Melbourne to where we had to go......but we thought we'd give it a go just to see how it works.....can't be too hard...?
Well, it was just fun, fun, fun from the start!
Considering when we got on the train, we couldn't even get into our carriage, let alone our seats [- there was a group of elderly people who didn't understand English, blocking the entrance with their suitcases and confused about how to manage themselves] we perhaps should have taken that as a warning of what was to come!!! We didn't let that deter us or think anything was unusual we just went into the next carriage, which was almost completely empty and sat ourselves down in an empty 3 seater where we could stretch out and relax and enjoy the trip.
We arrived in Melbourne on time, and quickly found our way to the suburban platforms where we could catch a Frankston bound train to Highett. We got off at Highett where we would supposedly catch our 1st bus to Southland and then once there, we would look for our 2nd bus........well, as luck has it, I asked a nice lady on the street if she knew where the bus stop was? She asked me where exactly did we have to go, so after telling her our destination, she suggested we jump in her car and she'll drive us there! Whoopee!!!
So thankfully, we got a lift right to the door from our new acquaintance, and just as well, as their didn't seem to be any buses in sight.....I was very grateful, but unfortunately the address I asked her to write down for me, [so that I could send her a thank you card] got washed away with the rain.....but at least we had made it in time for my workshop!
[...and again, as luck has it, I looked her up on the internet and eventually found her on facebook!]
We even had time to have a cuppa and eat the rest of our home-made sandwiches, before I got into my glass seminar and Franz went for a walk back to Southland (about an hours walk away!) The glass workshop was in a shed with a tin roof, so when the rain started (quite a novelty for me - living in a drought-stricken area - don't get to hear rain that much - and definitely NOT that MUCH at once!!!!) I looked up a few times out the window to see the huge deluge and it was making such a noise!!! It was the most deafening of sounds and such a humongous storm and the thought of Franz walking back to meet me nearly sent me into a panic, but I just put my attention back to my work, head down and continued to concentrate on what I was doing and trust that he will work out what to do....we were in the middle of an industrial area, so unless he managed to get a cab/taxi at the shopping centre he would be awfully wet and maybe injured from the tennis ball sized hail stones that were falling from the sky so ferrociously.....but what could I do?......back to my glass and trust.....!
that was all happening up until about 3pm
[I'm writing this in instalments; so this is a gap of time to be filled in as I remember and have time to fill it in.......]
after 4pm
We had no idea what was happening when we found ourselves in the middle of the 'Melbourne Chaos' yesterday - on a suburban train going to Southern Cross to connect with our country train to Swan Hill - then suddenly it stops (@ Caulfield station) and an announcement came over saying that '...the tracks were blocked and we couldn't go any further, and we all had to get off the train and find our own way!' It was unbelievable.... here we were stuck at Caulfield and we had to catch our homeward train at 5.35pm or wait 24hours for the next one!!!.......I just took one look back at Franz and said 'follow me!' and lucky he was wearing a bright red t-shirt as it was then easy for me to find him amongst the hundreds of people now scrambling toward the road to look for a tram or bus or taxi! It was obvious we weren't the only ones wanting to get to Southern Cross, there were people with suitcases, and I offered a couple of people the chance to share a taxi with us (if we could get one!)....but most people just wanted to keep moving......naturally a lot were confused but at the same time incredibly calm and focused, friendly & polite.....we all knew we had to get somewhere, and everyone was handling it in their own ways and moving toward their goal of getting a ride to somewhere!
No buses, not a tram in site, and of course NO taxis to be seen, and just as we were wondering what to do next...a taxi came out of NOwhere and I gave one look at Franz and called "just jump out on the road and get it!!!" Well, it worked! (must've been that bright red t-shirt) the taxi stopped and we jumped in and I could hear faintly 'no I'm going with this lady!' as we collected a grateful 'fare-sharer' along the way!
We were happy, we were dry and our lovely Punjabi taxi driver was just the best saviour you could ever hope or wish for! He was a dream and although he was also astounded by the events unfolding before us, and having genuine concern for all the stranded people, he took it all in his stride and had a plan from the beginning to get us there one way or another.......all we could do was just surrender (ie. it was completely out of our control!) and enjoy the ride and trust we would get there!!!!
Hailstones hit Melbourne!
Complete Chaos in Melbourne!!
Stunning pictures as wild weather hits Melbourne!!!
The journey into the city was another adventure, but in the end we got there.....to be continued!
Great to be home!
- Surrender & Accept the situation
- Focus & Trust your intuition
- Move into action & Make decisions on the run
- Take the lead and hope others will follow!
I wanted to go to Melbourne to do a workshop, so we decided to jump on a train and go to Melbourne for the day - sounds simple enough, but living approx. 4 hours drive from Melbourne makes it a bit of a challenge if you have to rely on public transport, not only to get to Melbourne but to get through the suburbs of Melbourne to where we had to go......but we thought we'd give it a go just to see how it works.....can't be too hard...?
Well, it was just fun, fun, fun from the start!
Considering when we got on the train, we couldn't even get into our carriage, let alone our seats [- there was a group of elderly people who didn't understand English, blocking the entrance with their suitcases and confused about how to manage themselves] we perhaps should have taken that as a warning of what was to come!!! We didn't let that deter us or think anything was unusual we just went into the next carriage, which was almost completely empty and sat ourselves down in an empty 3 seater where we could stretch out and relax and enjoy the trip.
We arrived in Melbourne on time, and quickly found our way to the suburban platforms where we could catch a Frankston bound train to Highett. We got off at Highett where we would supposedly catch our 1st bus to Southland and then once there, we would look for our 2nd bus........well, as luck has it, I asked a nice lady on the street if she knew where the bus stop was? She asked me where exactly did we have to go, so after telling her our destination, she suggested we jump in her car and she'll drive us there! Whoopee!!!
So thankfully, we got a lift right to the door from our new acquaintance, and just as well, as their didn't seem to be any buses in sight.....I was very grateful, but unfortunately the address I asked her to write down for me, [so that I could send her a thank you card] got washed away with the rain.....but at least we had made it in time for my workshop!
[...and again, as luck has it, I looked her up on the internet and eventually found her on facebook!]
We even had time to have a cuppa and eat the rest of our home-made sandwiches, before I got into my glass seminar and Franz went for a walk back to Southland (about an hours walk away!) The glass workshop was in a shed with a tin roof, so when the rain started (quite a novelty for me - living in a drought-stricken area - don't get to hear rain that much - and definitely NOT that MUCH at once!!!!) I looked up a few times out the window to see the huge deluge and it was making such a noise!!! It was the most deafening of sounds and such a humongous storm and the thought of Franz walking back to meet me nearly sent me into a panic, but I just put my attention back to my work, head down and continued to concentrate on what I was doing and trust that he will work out what to do....we were in the middle of an industrial area, so unless he managed to get a cab/taxi at the shopping centre he would be awfully wet and maybe injured from the tennis ball sized hail stones that were falling from the sky so ferrociously.....but what could I do?......back to my glass and trust.....!
that was all happening up until about 3pm
[I'm writing this in instalments; so this is a gap of time to be filled in as I remember and have time to fill it in.......]
after 4pm
We had no idea what was happening when we found ourselves in the middle of the 'Melbourne Chaos' yesterday - on a suburban train going to Southern Cross to connect with our country train to Swan Hill - then suddenly it stops (@ Caulfield station) and an announcement came over saying that '...the tracks were blocked and we couldn't go any further, and we all had to get off the train and find our own way!' It was unbelievable.... here we were stuck at Caulfield and we had to catch our homeward train at 5.35pm or wait 24hours for the next one!!!.......I just took one look back at Franz and said 'follow me!' and lucky he was wearing a bright red t-shirt as it was then easy for me to find him amongst the hundreds of people now scrambling toward the road to look for a tram or bus or taxi! It was obvious we weren't the only ones wanting to get to Southern Cross, there were people with suitcases, and I offered a couple of people the chance to share a taxi with us (if we could get one!)....but most people just wanted to keep moving......naturally a lot were confused but at the same time incredibly calm and focused, friendly & polite.....we all knew we had to get somewhere, and everyone was handling it in their own ways and moving toward their goal of getting a ride to somewhere!
No buses, not a tram in site, and of course NO taxis to be seen, and just as we were wondering what to do next...a taxi came out of NOwhere and I gave one look at Franz and called "just jump out on the road and get it!!!" Well, it worked! (must've been that bright red t-shirt) the taxi stopped and we jumped in and I could hear faintly 'no I'm going with this lady!' as we collected a grateful 'fare-sharer' along the way!
We were happy, we were dry and our lovely Punjabi taxi driver was just the best saviour you could ever hope or wish for! He was a dream and although he was also astounded by the events unfolding before us, and having genuine concern for all the stranded people, he took it all in his stride and had a plan from the beginning to get us there one way or another.......all we could do was just surrender (ie. it was completely out of our control!) and enjoy the ride and trust we would get there!!!!
More Photos:
Complete Chaos in Melbourne!!
Stunning pictures as wild weather hits Melbourne!!!
The journey into the city was another adventure, but in the end we got there.....to be continued!
Great to be home!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
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