Stories without end...

It's been a while, but the prospect of a week away  seems to have stirred up the writing bug. Are you still following me, Ernest?

Just lately I've been feeling a bit 'peopled out' and relished the idea of being away in a strange city for a week, free to be anonymous. So why is it that at the first opportunity I hasten to engage people in conversation, interested to know a little of who they are and what they are doing.

Mind you I wasn't quite so thrilled to talk to the taxi guy  (Executive Passenger Service, no less) decked out in a spiffy suit. He was due to arrive at 8.40 am. At 8.45 a phone call assured us he was in our street. We could see no sign of him. At 8.50 we were told the same. It's not that long a street although it does have a bend in it. Eventually he turned up having mistaken the time as for 9 am and been parked down the street waiting! He was pleasant and we made it to the airport.

All good after that. In the crush of the airport lift I assured the tall, dark skinned man next to me that we'd need to be friends to which he replied that it would only be for a minute unless I was heading to Brisbane. I told him I was and asked what was taking him there. It turned out he was heading for Nauru and the detention centre. I did see him briefly later but didn't get the rest of the story.

As we were queued waiting to drop our bags off, I heard a large sigh behind me and turned to find a woman stressed because she had been held up in traffic and thought she was late. I waved a hand gently towards her arm (comfortingly, I hoped and assured her we were on the same flight. Also that we had missed two flights in our lives and lived to tell the tale. 'All would be well,' We went on to teak of her family having breakfast together at Macca's as they always do before she goes off working away from home, and she told me she runs quilting workshops. And the queue  moved us on. I saw her board the plane after us and smiled but that was it.

There were six of us in the Flinders Uni party ( David is working but it's a party for me!) and we were collected from the airport by a pleasant young man in a minibus. I ended up in the front next to him and on the way into town found out he runs a small tourist business as well as driving, and is about to shift into a new house with his Korean wife and 3 year old son and 5 week old daughter. They plan to provide Homestay accommodation for overseas students. I heard a lot of Adam's story but would love to have heard more.

So David began setting up for the workshop and I went exploring. I spoke to Tor (short for Victoria) at the Woolies checkout and resorted to asking a pleasant middle aged woman how to get back to the hotel. Who would have thought that going round the block would be so tricky! Her directions got me to the back door but that was fine.

The next time I made a foray into the Brisbane CBD I had a little hand drawn map and found most of what I wanted but one place eluded me, so Beth (about my age) at the Info Centre was super generous in her help.

I even think fondly of the fairly ample gentleman who sat next to me on the plane - sat by the aisle rather than pushing past us to get to his window seat and our only communication was a couple of words and a few smiles. I don't know his story at all but was happy with him as a travel companion.
So many lovley people out there.  I wonder who they all are...