What made you smile recently (2023)?

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That’s happened to me before, too, when I was in basic training (AF). We got a full day of base liberty, the only day we were allowed to go off base for the six weeks we were there, and I got on the wrong bus and enjoyed a circuitous ride through rural Texas for a few hours before I finally ended up in the city (San Antonio).
 
Something similar here only with trains.

It was (and still is I guess) a weird set-up where 2 platforms serve 1 train and just to make life fun, one of those platforms also serves 2 trains (as opposed to the standard 1 platform 1 train set-up) .

I was busy revising for an exam. If I didn't pass I'd lose my job and it wasn't a subject I was particularly interested in, so that made it ask the harder.

I was in the platform that served 2 trains and when one train came in from the direction I expected, I got onto the train without thinking. Then it pulled out of the railway station in the direction it had arrived from! Alarm bells rang. I was on the wrong train heading in the wrong direction without the ability to get off for the first half an hour! And whilst I had a mobile phone I didn't have a signal.

Needless to say I was late for the exam and only just scraped a pass. Stressed wasn't the word.
 
I road "The Bus" every day to/from work back home in Honolulu, Hawaii (parking Downtown as outrageously expensive) a monthly/unlimited pass when we left back in 2007 was $60 - not bad I'd say
throwbackthursday.jpg

(did you notice where this bus is going? KANEOHE!!!)
 
rascal said:
So yesterday our son rang me to tell me this.
Granddaughter started new high school a few weeks ago. Yesterday she got on the wrong bus and ended up 30 mins north of her school. After an hour and a half and 3 buses later she arrived home at 7pm. Her and her friend made an adventure of it all. We will tease her Sunday.

Russ
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My brother once did something like that when he was 15 or 16. Here in Portugal you need to press a button for the bus to stop when you want to get off, but he didn't know this. Everyday he got out at the right stop because there were other people who got out at the same stop. Then one day no one was going out at the same stop he did so no one pressed the button. Instead of asking someone for help my brother just rode the bus all the way to the last stop which was the bus terminal 1 hour away from our home. Then he walked one hour back because there was no one home to pick him up and he was too shy to ask anyone for help.

Almost 10 years later I still laugh every time I think about this story 😁
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Something similar here only with trains.

It was (and still is I guess) a weird set-up where 2 platforms serve 1 train and just to make life fun, one of those platforms also serves 2 trains (as opposed to the standard 1 platform 1 train set-up) .

I was busy revising for an exam. If I didn't pass I'd lose my job and it wasn't a subject I was particularly interested in, so that made it ask the harder.

I was in the platform that served 2 trains and when one train came in from the direction I expected, I got onto the train without thinking. Then it pulled out of the railway station in the direction it had arrived from! Alarm bells rang. I was on the wrong train heading in the wrong direction without the ability to get off for the first half an hour! And whilst I had a mobile phone I didn't have a signal.

Needless to say I was late for the exam and only just scraped a pass. Stressed wasn't the word.
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I once got on the wrong (long distance) train too. I had the feeling I was on the wrong train so I asked the train inspector, who told me I needed to get off at the next stop and get on a different train but I was going to miss the other train, because that train departed from the station about 1 minute before our train arrived. This was during a train strike, very few trains were running, I was meeting some friends for a bit of Carnival partying outside of Lisbon, and I was really stressed about what I was going to do if I didn't make it to their city that day, and how would I go back home with no trains that day. Then the train inspector came back and told me "I talked to the train driver, you're gonna get your train". He asked the other train driver to wait for me 😃 I made it to my friend's house just in time to enjoy one of the best/worst drinking nights of my life.
 
Back in '69 I got a new job. It was in Abergavenny in South Wales. I didn't even have a clue where South Wales was never mind Abergavenny.

I was told on the Thirstday that I had got the job and to report on Monday morning. I wasn't mobile and I didn't even have a licence at the time so I checked the train times. To arrive in Abergavenny at midday I would need to take the trains starting at 05:00 am; Leeds - Huddersfield - Stalybridge - Stockport - Crewe - Abergavenny.

I managed to accomplish the trip in that direction but unfortunately on my rare weekends off the return trip was fraught with problems. Having been working seven days a week in excess of 12 hours a day I was pretty knackered by the time of my weekend off and frequently slept through the Crewe connection ending up in the center of Manchester without a clue where I was.

Somehow I managed to find my way back to Leeds and in time for the next Leeds - Huddersfield - Stalybridge - Stockport - Crewe - Abergavenny expedition.
 
I think I’ve told this before, but I’ll tell it again, it’s sort of the reverse of everyone’s transit experiences.

We were in Munich, first time, and our trip just happened to coincide with Oktoberfest, completely unplanned. On the spur of the moment, with one night left in town, we decided to go, along with a bunch of other people from the hotel.

We just followed the crowd and got on the the right U-bahn or whatever it was, and didn’t really pay attention, figuring we’d follow the crowds back out again.

Stayed longer than anticipated, and when we left and made our way out to the station again, we couldn’t quite figure it out, and there wasn’t anyone around to help. It wasn’t as simple as London’s Underground map.

We finally managed to get a bus that was going in the right direction, but then, right in the middle of this unknown residential neighborhood, with us as the last passengers, he stopped the bus and told us to get off - end of the line.

We got off, no clue where we were, dark, lost, had to catch a flight back to England in the morning…that’s probably where the anxiety I get around traveling stems from, now that I think about it.

Anyway, we saw a little convenience store up on the corner, still open, so we went in there and asked about calling a taxi. He indicated the phone on the wall and gave us a slip of paper with the number.

We called, waited about 10 minutes, up pulled the taxi, and we gave him the name of the hotel.

He looked back at us and repeated it, and we said yes, that’s the hotel, and he repeated it again, and we said yes, and she shrugged his shoulders and put the car in gear and sped off.

We kept thinking, “We must be on the other side of the city…maybe even in another city!…and he can’t believe he’s got to drive us that far…I hope we have enough money to pay him!”

We needn’t have worried, as he drove up to the corner, turned…and there was the hotel, less than a 10 minute walk from where we called him! :laugh:
 
Reminds me of Sydney Australia new years eve late 80s. Wife and I were with friends staying in toongabbie (40 mins to central) 4 of us. City was manic. I went to the loo under ground and came out. I couldn't find anyone I knew. I enjoyed the fireworks then caught the train home. Everyone else was worried, I just laughed. I'd forgotten about that. Lol

Russ
 
I guess that’s one bonus of the crappy train service here - it only runs into the city in the morning and out of the city in the afternoon, so as long as you can get on the right line, you’re not going to end up going in the wrong direction!

I did manage to get on the subway going the wrong way just a couple weeks ago - normally I take the stairs down to the platform, turn left, and hop on the subway. Because I was taking the elevator (stairs are doable but slow for me right now - not ideal when you’ve got a horde of impatient commuters behind you), I should have turned right instead. I just wasn’t paying attention. Luckily I noticed by the next stop and got myself turned back around, but it meant I missed my commuter train and had to catch the next one.
 
Dallas has light rail trains, and lots of busses. Nothing here in Frisco. If I can't drive, I have to get an Uber, so if I end up somewhere I didn't want to go, either I or the Uber driver are really drunk.

CD
 
This capital city (Canberra) doesn't have any rail links! You have to go to Queanbeyan in NSW to get close to Canberra by train. But they have recently installed a tram system in Canberra (it's happened whilst we've lived here).

So if you can't drive or cycle, it's buses or taxis only here...

When we lived in the other place when we moved here initially, that place was on the Queanbeyan to Sydney rail line, but there are no commuter trains! The earliest you can get into Queanbeyan is 11:30am by train and then you need to take a bus to Canberra. Hubby could get home, but the last train left at 4:55pm so it was a case of finishing work early, bus to the nearby town of Queanbeyan and then train... I'd pick him up 15km from home. If he missed that train (and he did on more than 1 occasion) I'd have to drive an hour away to pick him up.

Now where we live there are no train options but the airport coach service does drop him off 12km away from home and runs every 2 hours I think. But it doesn't run from airport A to airport B, but city centre (of A) to airport B and if you're not yet confused... lol. And if he can't get a seat on that last coach at 5:45pm, I have to drive back into the city an hour away to pick him up.
 
18 months ago I stumbled across the song Chaise Longue by Wet Leg on Youtube. It was the best new thing I heard in years, and I quickly posted it here. I commented on their socials, and they replied because they were unknown, and every positive response mattered to them. This week they won two Grammys and two Brit awards. It give me hope that real talent and originality can still break through the tightly controlled gravy train that masquerades as pop music these days.

This makes me smile.

PS enjoy Beyonce at the Superbowl and remember she is only there because she bends to the whim of the old white men who run the music industry, and there is a massive corporate team feeding you the lines that she is sonehow authentic and relevent.
 
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