Last Friday I was running a little bit late to work, and that set me back a fair bit. It’s funny how much of a difference ten minutes can make.

So judging by my watch, I’d be at work by 9:20. I was dropped off by my dad because he was dropping my brother off as well, and it was raining as well. I’d slept in a bit, and cooked myself some lunch, so I was a bit behind my usual self. I managed to catch a train at around 8:30. As the train was an express train, it only had two stops. One where my brother had to get off, and the final stop, which was where I was planning to get off.

As usual, I was listening to music, and didn’t pay much attention to the announcements. I was reading some emails on my phone when my attention was driven to an announcement that was being made. It notified us that the train was delayed and we were running about five minutes behind schedule. I wasn’t too bothered. That’s usually a normal occurrence.

After the train moved for a bit, it stopped. It remained in that position for about ten minutes before we were notified that there were some problems with the tracks and that we would be moving as soon as possible. Twenty minutes later, we were informed that the problem seemed to be bigger than initially expected. We were told that the train was not able to move until the problem was fixed.

I had been sitting on the train in the same spot for at least an hour, occupying my time by surfing the internet on my phone, when finally we were told we had to evacuate the train due to a fatality in the track up ahead. It was already about 10:30am.

The police were involved, and apparently the incident that caused the trains to be delayed was a suicide or a suspected murder. Our train was eventually cleared and allowed to move forward to the closest station, which is apparently where the incident occurred. The train wasn’t allowed to go any further so we had to evacuate the train via the front carriage and catch trains from the station we evacuated at. Because there was no platform on that side of the tracks, we had to walk out of the train in single file and walk across the tracks to get to the platform. It was a little amusing, and like one of the guards said, “It’ll make for an interesting conversation over dinner.”

I got to work alright, albeit two hours late.

I saw Lime Cordiale that night, and on the weekend. Two nights in a row — I’m sure most people thought I’d only do it for Hey Geronimo, but I did it for Lime Cordiale as well. On Friday night I got a new camera body, that is — I bought Dylan’s old camera body from him, because he just upgraded. Of course, as a friend, he gave it to me for a much lower price than would be expected elsewhere. I somehow did a really pathetic camera check (on the Saturday as well, ugh!), so all my photos turned out pretty bad. But knowing the way I think, I’ll get over my disappointment soon. This lot may not be a perfect bunch or even a good bunch, but they’ve got a strange, grainy feel to them that suited the intimacy of the venue, and as always — I capture moments. They’re dull, and low quality, but they encompass moments.

Hey, if you were there, in the dark of that room and listening to the music, you’d understand. :)

On the Saturday, some loony kept trying to dance with me and hit on me. I was clearly not interested and it was obvious I was there to photograph. I had to keep walking away from him because it made me uncomfortable. I kept walking away when he tried to touch me, and some girls backed me up and told him to go away and give me some space. A security guard spotted this and told him off. I feel like I should have just snapped at him straight, but I didn’t want to come across as bitchy especially since I responded with a hello when he greeted me. I think it is also worthy to note that this can happen even when you’re wearing a shirt, jeans, and a big coat.

On the other side of things, I met some businessmen who wanted to know about the bands who were playing. One guy said he liked reggae as soon as I said that Lime Cordiale’s style was very much inspired by reggae. I also met an English guy named Vince, and I’m going to sound like a total whizzball, but he really stuck in my mind because I just really like English people, and he was so lovely. I noticed that he kept looking at me from across the room, and when he came over to chat, he said that I looked like I needed some company because I was all alone, and he said he thought I was cute. We had a conversation about our day jobs, our hobbies, and the weather, and how much I love London and he loves Sydney (he said he wants to move here), and I told him a bit about Lime Cordiale.

I honestly don’t know what I’d be like if I were single, because there’s no way I would walk up to someone and say hello if I was in any way attracted to them. I like talking to people and getting to know people, but I always prefer someone else start the conversation first. I do a really bad job in queues when I’m lining up to see bands as well — I have urges to join people’s conversations about how much they love some band, but my mouth will be invisibly glued shut until someone actually speaks to me. It makes it worse that I’m often alone when I go out, because there’s not much else I can do.

Needless to say, Vince left an impression on me because I thought he was cute too. /hehe

I think I had a pretty terrible weekend. I was feeling really drowsy and worn out, was getting work done so slowly that it felt like I wasn’t getting anything done at all. I am looking forward to this weekend which will hopefully be a little more tolerable. ANZAC Day, to commemorate the soldiers who died in the war, is on Thursday, and as a result it is a public holiday. I will hopefully get a fair bit of rest on that day.

Until then.