General Chat

:-D

This is for Caroline. I told her on a Games thread that I would post on here:-D

The following saga of a recent (7th November) trip to Perth could well be regarded as a first world problem, but as that is the world in which I live it is a problem that I have to endure.:-( :-(

There is also more than a hint of Karma involved. :-| :-P

A few weeks ago we had a call from our Superannuation Company, or, more precisely, from our Financial Advisor, saying that it was time fro our annual review.

Made an appointment and asked for an early time; 0930. Fantastic!

Just as a bit of background, despite Bunbury touting itself as the second capital city of WA, public transport (or lack thereof) is abysmal.

Two trains a day up to Perth, one which leaves at the crack of dawn and the other that leaves at 2.45pm and arrives in Perth just as businesses are closing for the day.

Now if you are a logical thinker you might say well take the afternoon train and come back the following day. Ah, the transport authorities have that one covered! The trains from Perth to Bunbury depart at 9.30 am and 5.55 pm respectively :-D

The only buses up to Perth are privately run and we can't use our concession cards on them.

Travel by car is fine until you hit the misnamed Freeway where inevitably traffic comes to a complete halt! Once in Perth parking has to be found, as well as a small fortune to pay for it.

So, far more relaxing to take the early morning train and travel back on the evening one? No!

Even at sparrow-f*rt we still live a fifteen minute drive from the Bunbury Rail Station and as the train and its staff have delusions of grandeur you are require to arrive at least fifteen minutes before the departure time. This for a train consisting of only two carriages and 20 passengers :-| :-|

So up at 4.00am knowing that we won't be back home, God willing before 8.45pm.

Having criticised the road system I have to say that from Australind to the centre of Perth on a day of light traffic, say on a Sunday, can take as little as two hours. Why, oh why then, does it take the train which only has ten stations that it services and doesn't even stop at any of those if there are no passengers requiring the service (I forgot to mention that you can't just rock up to the station and pay for the trip, you have to book in advance) two and a half bl**y hours?

to be continued......

The saga continues.....

So off we went to book our tickets, me with possible criminal intent in mind.

I should explain that when you receive the Australian aged pension card, which is valid for two years, you also receive two single rail tickets to use each of those years which give you free travel.

Fine, except for the fact that my Australian pension was cancelled in March when OH turned 65. Complicated story but last year in the budget the government changed the rules for pension entitlement.

However, I still had the card and the tickets for this year so I decided to use them for this particular trip. OH was also entitled to a 50% discount on the tickets as she holds the WA Seniors Card issued by the State Government.

This was duly done. Ironically this was the same day I mentioned in an earlier thread about not being able to finish a beer. We went straight from the station to the pub.

Now you may think that the bad beer was the Karma I mentioned earlier due to my possible criminal act in defrauding the Federal Government of $66.00

Oh no! Karma has a sense of humour, as twisted and warped as it is :-0

Nah good try so far Allan but seems like a normal day/story so far :-D :-D

It's your poor OH she had to live through this ;-)

Just be patient, Caroline :-P :-D :-D

I said so far :-P :-P :-D

So, to the day itself

Arrived at the station at the appointed time and boarded the train. Not only is the 'Australind' the slowest train in WA it is also the most uncomfortable.

The seats, although upholstered, lacked any kind of padding and halfway through the journey I developed cramp in the back of my thighs.

The boredom of the journey was mitigated only by the occasional announcements of reduced price toasted sandwiches and finally, much to the annoyance of passengers who had purchased one, that the newspapers would be available, free of charge, to anyone who wanted one :-S

In fairness, we arrived on time and only had a short time to while away whilst waiting for our appointment.

A day or two earlier we had heard on the news about the redevelopment of an area of Central Perth called Raine Square. This was part of a ten billion redevelopment of the entire centre of Perth.

This took us by surprise as Raine Square had only just undergone one redevelopment.

I've put up a link to give an idea of what was there just four or five years ago;

https://www.visitperthcity.com/shop/raine-square

So we decided to see what was happening.

Raine Square itself was not accessible, The Moon and Sixpence pub had been demolished (more on that later) and the whole area was one gigantic construction site

We must have looked like the typical village idiots as we viewed the scene and one sympathetic local took pity one us and asked what we were looking for.

My ungrateful answer was "The bl**dy shopping centre"

We didn't need the response of "Oh! that's now closed"......we could see that for ourselves :-|

I've just heard that the guy who stole my diary has died :-(

My thoughts are with his family ;-)

I thought this thread had gone down the plug 'ole!

T'he practice of 'blood-letting' as a medical treatment persisted despite centuries of abundant evidence that it did more harm than good. :-S

Allan maybe he's bequeathed you your diary back ;-)

I'll just take it day by day, Kathryn :-D :-D

:-D

Only eight, well seven after this one, before I hit the magical thousand posts mark.

Would that make me eligible for a free subscription to this site? :-D

With the service I've been experiencing recently, I certainly don't want to pay :-| :-D :-D

Not only free service for the free time you get when you can't access here but a slightly dodgy might be real Blue Peter badge for making us all laugh so much.

I've recently taken up meditation; well it beats sitting around doing nothing all day ;-)

Dear Allan

Hello

I'll add another post to help you reach the target!

Hope you and your family are doing well.

Did you watch any ANZAC commerations?

Take gentle care
Elizabeth, EOS
xx

Thank you EOS :-)

The family are all fine.

I didn't take part in any of the main commemorations but the organisation I belong to, held its own service on the Tuesday which was well attended. We have many ex-servicemen among our members.

I trust that you and your family are all keeping well?

:-D :-D

I was a bit worried that the new garage I took my car to would try to rip me off !

No need to worry though, they only charged me eighty dollars to change the indicator fluid! :-D :-D :-D

No problem Allan

:-D :-D