Mr Bus Authority

This morning, I started to walk down to Sunland to meet Denise for a latte. She happened to be passing as I reached the main road and pulled over to give me a lift. It meant I didn’t get a walk (I remedied this later) but helped me get over the lack of footpath.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a grass verge and it’s perfectly safe to walk on (unlike an English country lane) but, given the torrential rain we had all morning, it’s not particularly pleasant. I then realised just how much pedestrians are undervalued here.

Not only is there an occasional lack of footpaths but the roads take precedence over everything. I’m really surprised when there’s a helpful pedestrian refuge because most of the time you have to walk ten miles in order to cross a busy road.

There’s also the bus stop to return to Caloundra from mum’s. The traffic lights at the top of the hill take an age for the little green man to appear and when he does he starts flashing red almost immediately (that’s NOT an exaggeration). And there’s only one way to get across because, while it is an intersection, it is decidedly pedestrian unfriendly.

I guess the love affair with the car is alive and well here. The lack of bus passengers attests to that. Speaking of the bus…I was an hour later this morning and didn’t know the driver. This meant I had to go through the whole non-existent ‘J Pole’ bus stop nonsense again.

Seriously, can’t TransLink get it right? Or is this just one more step on the non-pedestrian road to America?

Still…Denise and I had a lovely latte and a chat before I headed up to Bulcock Street and a new pair of shorts I’ve been threatening myself to buy. Denise was expecting Kelly and the kids so she had stuff to buy. They are all visiting mum tomorrow.

I then headed back to the flat for a quick change and loo break before taking my seat at the bus stop.

The day at the residential home was about as exciting as it has been all week. We basically sat around talking and reading and gossiping about various residents who never leave their rooms.

The one highlight of the day was when mum’s phone was suddenly connected. Her first phone call was a cold call who we hung up on. Mind you, as I said to Denise, it could have been Telstra for all I know given mum answered it and had no idea what the person was saying.

And so the day passed until it was time for me to head back on the bus, stopping off at the fruit and veg place just up the road to stock up on two of the best avocados in the world.

Possibly the biggest news of the day was the fact that Bob and Fi were dragged into economy class on the first leg of their flight because of some booking mishap. This has to be a first for Bob and I think he may never fly again.