...about today...

Currently listening to: Bliss - Alice Peacock ft. John Mayer

.partners-in-crime!.

Right elevator, UniLodge Lonsdale, January 12, 2007

I decided to go back to my Clayton home this evening, after a hard-day's work strolling through the city area with Neja with a mission to find an appropriate dress for her. Worked off my feet so vigorously that now they ache like hell. Stopped by Starbucks Bourke Street after the all-day dress-shopping-mission thingy to get my daily dose of caffeine boost, took some silly pictures in between, then went back to her flat, packed up, and left.

Simple as that. So much for a supposedly nerdy weekend filled with Marketing 2, aye? *laughs*

So, here I am. Back in my room, basking in the coolness my fan is providing me, while outside the stars are shining like countless gems in the gleaming evening sky.
Oh well. Alright alright, I won't be all Shakespear-y and yes, I WILL be starting my assignment right after this, I promise I promise. *shakes head*

Anyways. Got a story to tell y'all.

When I was on my way back to Clayton, boarding the evening Cranbourne line train from Parliament Station, I saw this confused-and-clueless-looking old man, probably in his late sixties, sitting silently on a seat at the other side of the aisle. I was quite preoccupied with all my stuff, so I didn't pay that much attention to him. I plucked in my iPod, stretched out a little bit, and so the train started to move.

Yet, when the train was stopping at Melbourne Central, and I was absently texting on my phone, suddenly that man approached me slowly, and said something I couldn't make out partly because he was half-moaning. Probably it was in Spanish, I dunno, 'cuz he looked somewhat Latino-ish. I took off the right-side earphone, while at the same time asking him to repeat his sentence, then he started mumbling incoherently in some creepy language I could not understand.

Weirdly enough, somewhere between his groans I could hear him repeating "Where Melbourne? Where city? Where Pascoe Vale? Where we now?" and some other words which sounded a lot like such. I tried to explain to him that we were then at Melbourne Central, and if he wanted to go to the city area then he could get off here. Yet he looked VERY confused hearing my explanation and started repeating the where-melbourne-where-we-now loop over and over again.

Knowing at once that he couldn't speak English at all, I tried to repeat my sentences really, REALLY slowly, this time putting on my adopted Aussie accent hoping it would help, as the train started to move again. He was looking really bewildered with the whole situation since he and I were not in the same lingo positions and stuff, so I tried a new method and suggested him to wait until the train reached Flinders Street Station then go ask somebody, preferably a Metlink official, when he got there.

Suddenly he mentioned, or TRIED to communicate to me that he wanted to go to Pascoe Vale, which is a Melbourne suburb situated quite far away from Melbourne city central. Then, I panicked on the spot, since to go to Pascoe Vale he would have to change trains and board the Craigieburn line train which serves the area. I tried to explain this thing to him, yet halfway through my super-slow-and-clear explanation he waved his hand, said "Oh nevermind, I not understand" and walked away from me.

I stopped abrubtly, watching him walk away, looking so fragile and alone. I nearly wanted to ask him if he had a cellphone or a number or something so I could call his relatives or someone who could help, but then I saw an Asian girl approaching him and trying to talk to him, so I waited. She went through the whole where-melbourne-where-we-now loop thingy with him, looking at me once nervously in the process and I responded with a shrug.

Oh no. What are WE gonna do? I thought.

And, like, at that moment the train was already pulling onto Southern Cross Station, and apparently the Asian girl suggested the old man to get off here and get some help. The man agreed and went outside, but then suddenly a big, gray-haired Aussie lad who was actually the train driver came over to the poor old man and assisted him back into the train.

On the way to Flinders Street, I kept looking at that poor man sitting quietly on a seat right behind me. He was looking out the window, and at that very moment I started wondering why he was left alone without anybody to assist him. I mean, he was quite old, he couldn't speak English AT ALL, and he looked really, REALLY scared over the whole situation. It seemed like he was tired as well. I tried offering him my water bottle, thinking he was thirsty, but he just shook his head and said nothing.

Finally, the train reached Flinders Street after what seemed like forever, and an official immediately got into the train to fetch him, trying to assure him that everything was gonna be alright. So he was ushered out of the train, ever so slowly, repeatedly asking the official about where he was being taken to. I could hear some "Pasco Vale"s in his fragmented sentences as his voice faded away along with the closing of the train door.

Oh my oh my.


Like, I can't believe that his relatives were CRUEL enough to let him travel ALONE! On a train, nonetheless. In this HUGE metropolis with countless train lines and millions of stops, to make things even worse. I mean, dduh! He's old, English-deprived, also probably nearing senility, and thus should never be left alone without any supervision whatsoever. It broke my heart to see him there, all confused and lost, with no one to help him, no one to understand him.

And it shocked me even more when an Aussie couple [who just boarded the train just seconds after the old man was escorted out and coincidentally saw him getting out] mentioned to me that they saw the very same old man on board a Frankston line train this morning on their way to the city!! So technically he was lost all day long.

*faints on the spot*

Oh my GOD. Poor poor fella.

Whoever was cruel and vile enough to let that man travel on his own should be punished by law and got jailed for life or something. I mean, it is technically an act of cruelty! Don't you guys agree? *sighs*

So, dear nameless old man, wherever you are now... My sincere prayers are with you right now. Be safe, okay?
I hope you found your way back home, to wherever you wanted to go.

*prays hard* Huff.
I hope you guys will also be eager to spend a little bit of your time wishing him well.

May God bless and keep this one lost soul safe and sound.
Amen.