Insanity Redux

It's amazing to think that this blog has been on hiatus for just over a year now. So what have I been doing for a whole year? Well, I'm a year older (23 now) but just as lazy and stupid as I was at 22.

I've also been working and studying, and have been to Sydney twice, as well as Canberra and Adelaide. Lots of interstate gunzelling there - the most I've done in a year since I was in Perth for five weeks in 2006.

I had four shifts at Flemington Racecourse last week. Two of those days (Melbourne Cup Day and Oaks Day), I was unlucky enough to be forced to take the train to work. The trip to Flemington on Cup Day wasn't particularly eventful apart from being overcrowded on the outbound trip, but Oaks Day is a completely different story.

I get on the 10:54am train from St Albans, and arrive at North Melbourne at 11:16am (I started work at 12pm). I expect to be on a train to Flemington fairly quickly, since they're advertised as running every 5 minutes. Eight minutes pass, and there is still no race train in sight. An empty train passes through, followed by a Williamstown train.

The PIDs show the race train is still three minutes away. Okay, maybe it got delayed at Southern Cross. Five minutes later it finally arrives at North Melbourne, and is completely packed to the point that it would be impossible to board. Get the next one, I think. A Werribee train passes through a few minutes later. Six minutes after that, the next race train arrives and is similarly packed. Two people manage to squeeze in, but that's it.

By this point it's 11:38am, I've been at North Melbourne for 22 minutes and I have to start work in less than half an hour. If I don't get the next train I'll more than likely be late. Three minutes later another race train arrives. It's packed as well, but I have no choice. I manage to squeeze into the only remaining space in the carriage. The train is hot and humid, and it's hard to breathe. The train finally speeds off out of North Melbourne, but slows down again when approaching Kensington. From there it trundles along at about 40km/h.

I finally arrive at Flemington at 11:51am. I start work in nine minutes, and I still have to get through the crowd to where I'm working. The crowd slowly trickles through the turnstiles into the racecourse. It's now 11:56am. I pick up my pace, to a point where I'm almost running to get to work on time. I run down the stairs to the main betting ring, and push through the crowd of punters before finally arriving at work at 11:59am, just 60 seconds before my start time...

...to end up getting a whole four hour shift. Fuck.