Friday 30 Nov, I said farewell to my various meal-time pals and moved out of the lovely Uni College apartment. I was headed to the other side of downtown Melbourne with my 3 suitcases and two tote bags, which had to spend the day in the Uni College office while I was at work. I walked out of the apartment on the way to breakfast at 7am Friday morning and it was 85 and 100% humidity. I considered the 3 trips I'd need to get my bags to the office, plus the walk to work and decided to just wear my gym shorts and t-shirt for the duration. The trick was I had to be cleaned up and ready for a meeting with a client by 915 that morning.
I hauled bags, grabbed my dress clothes and hustled to work.I didn't even get to see the dog. I arrived totally sweaty, cleaned up Heifer style (handi wipes!), put on my dress up duds. When I walked back into the office, Marion, our admin superstar, said, "Oh, Amy, here's where you turn on the air conditioning for your office." Apparently I still looked warm. She also helped me with a quick fashion consult (belt or not with my blue sleeveless cowlneck - too hot for a suit coat). I said, "Thanks. I worry about my fashion sense." "Well, Amy, you shouldn't. That's a beautiful top. That is... you shouldn't worry if you picked it out."
I love Marion.
My colleague Ruth and I headed for the tram to go to the meeting. On the tram there was one of the usual characters - not sure if he was drunk at 915am or had some other issues, but at least he was friendly. Lots of shouting, but to stop the tram for folks who were trying to catch it, offering to help ladies up the stairs, etc. This probably would have been more well received if he wasn't wearing worn out cargo shorts and a plaid shirt completely unbuttoned with nothing underneath. (I was a bit jealous - it was now 90 degrees and 100% humidity). I caught his eye and then it was on. He was shouting at his neighbor about how that guy should make himself helpful by assisting lovely ladies like the dark haired one (Ruth) and the blue-eyed one (me).
"YOU SHOULD REALLY BE HELPFUL TO LADIES LIKE THIS ONE. LOOK AT THOSE BLUE EYES."
Then he came over to me and said,
"HELLO BLUE EYED.... LADY" (seemed like he wasn't sure what to call me)
"Hi there"
"YOU'RE A YANK!"
"Yes."
"WHERE YOU FROM?"
"The US"
(eye roll from him. i guess he was pretty with it.).
"Well, that's where Yanks are from."
"YOUR EYES ARE VERY BLUE."
"Thank you."
"WHATS YOUR NAME?"
and he stuck out his hand for me to shake, so I took it. Thinking a) this is probably a bad idea, b) probably no one is ever nice to this guy so just stay calm and do it, and c) I probably shouldn't tell him my name but it's too hot to have a back up plan.
"Amy."
"WELL, THAT'S A LOVELY NAME"
Then he proceeded to chat me up, still holding on to the hand I'd given him to shake. He was sitting diagonally across the aisle from me, so we were basically blocking the aisle with our hand holding. After another tram stop went by I said, "Can I have my hand back?"
"NO."
Ok then. More chatting. I really don't have a clear memory of what we talked about. He asked a lot of questions - the usuals I get, like how long have I been here, where do I work, what do I do, etc.
The guy sitting directly across from me thought the whole thing was hilarious. In fact, I suspect we were getting quite a bit of attention from everyone on the tram - they aren't that spacious. I was pretty focused on staying calm and trying to find a polite way to get my hand back.
As we came up to the next tram stop, the guy across from me wanted to disembark. So he asked my new friend if he could let go of my hand so he could get to the door.
"NO."
My heart sank a bit.
"BUT HOW ABOUT THIS?"
And he started to lower our hands down to the floor of the tram so this fellow could step over. More chuckling from the surrounding folks on the tram, and a smile from the guy who was trying to get out of the tram. Then, thank heaven Ruth stepped up:
"Amy, this is where we need to get off."
"Ok, then, I need my hand back. Gotta go!"
There was a brief tug of war, but eventually I came away with my hand intact and Ruth and I and our seatmate escaped the tram. There was more chuckling from that guy, and the other folks getting off at the stop. As the tram zipped past us, my hand holding pal was in the window waving. So I waved back.
Another day, another friend.
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