I was taking the bus home when I felt my eyes hurt. My sight was going fuzzy, so I thought, “A little eyeshut wouldn’t hurt.” I didn’t nod off to sleep, but when I reopened my eyes, I immediately knew I was in foreign territory. I wished I did sleep, at least I had an excuse.

So, seeing that I was in lala land for real, I wondered what would become of me. I’d never taken the bus before in Melbourne prior to this one, and I was a little exhausted from getting up early to work. The last thing I wanted to wrap up my day with, would be to end up stranded.

My brain started working, it whirred itself reluctantly back to life. I didn’t want to alight because it was pitch black outside. Yeah, it was only 6.15pm. But lo and behold! A lightbulb went off just then, because I remembered this bus would make a pitstop at Chadstone. Oh yes, we’re talking about that giant shopping centre. Do you know I only take 5 mins to drive from my apartment to Chaddy? Unfortunately, my car wasn’t sitting in Chaddy’s carpark then. Grr.

When will they invent portable vehicles?

Anyway, I alighted at Chaddy and then proceeded to board another bus – which took me to Glen Waverley. Please don’t ask me why. I was tired, beguiled and subsequently dysfunctional. Finally, I took the train back home and managed to step in at the grand timing of… 7.15pm!

Whee.

I don’t like the winter darkness here when I’m travelling. I can’t see the bus stop approaching because I can’t identify landmarks, trademarks or anything else for that matter. “What building!?” Not to mention, I’d only started taking this bus route since last week. Not many people chose to alight at the bus stop either, so the bus could streak by if I wasn’t careful. When I did successfully alight and wait at the train station, it felt like the loneliest place on earth because the max no. of people on the platforms at any time was like… 3.

Not good.

So, I decided to change my route to work, and the trial began today. It went quite smoothly, judging from the fact that it was a bus stop that also serviced a TAFE institution, so I didn’t have to act like a nervous tortoise trying to strain its neck every few mins. Yes, people -lots of ‘em- actually alighted at this bus stop. And oh! The big McDonald’s next to it shone like a lighthouse in the darkness, I’d never been happier to see its neon arch perched high up there. The adjacent train station didn’t feel abandoned and smelly too. Tons of students trawled the area, and it just made me feel tons better too.

Yeah, change is sometimes good.

It’s not everyday that you step into a Dick Smith branch, pore over some of their displays of PCs and laptops, greet your friendly salesman (or boy, in this case), and then spend the next half an hour or so yakking away about things like anime and commiserate on the shared strains of our hobbies on drives’ spaces. No, not everyday I reckon.

But yeah, it’s refreshing.