It was only after the station door swung shut behind me that I realized I\u2019d forgotten to bring either of my sets of keys out with me. Locked out! Not a good start to the day. Since it was still early I thought I\u2019d got back to the Junction and get another set. It\u2019s a lengthy process – \u00bd an hour out of a 6 hour shift – because the trains don\u2019t meet up. Back at the Junction I couldn\u2019t find the master keys and no one there knew where they were kept, so I looked through the key register and signed out something that was supposed to be the correct key.<\/p>\n
Of course when I got back to my station it didn\u2019t open the door. Damn!<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t like to spend another \u00bd hour getting another set of keys so I thought I\u2019d just hang around for an hour until the cleaner came and let me back in with his key. So I stood around helping people with tickets and directions for the next two trains getting more and more thirsty and in need of a pee, until\u2026 Eureka moment! It occurred to me that all trains drivers have the key to stations so that they can pop in and use the toilets if desperate. It\u2019s not really o.k. to do anything that might delay a train, but I thought if I was quick\u2026<\/p>\n
The driver of the 1.04 was a kindly woman who was happy to help me re-open my station door and I rushed in and shoved both keys in my pockets before indulging in visit to the toilet, a nice drink of water and a spot of lunch. Adventure over with no one much noticing my inadequacies.<\/p>\n
It was a rude shock therefore, when about an hour later Control rang. Apparently at the other end of the 1.04 train, an intoxicated man had been having an argument with his female companion who he\u2019d proceeded to shove out onto the platform at my station. He\u2019d been arrested at Flinders Street later.<\/p>\n
That it should be that train of all trains!<\/p>\n
The Control man had been viewing the CCTV footage and seen me rushing about. “Had I seen anything of the fight further up the train? Had I been scared by it?\u201d he inquired sympathetically.
\nHe laughed when I told him that I\u2019d been locked out so I assumed I wasn\u2019t in any trouble, but I felt very sorry that I was too involved in my own small drama to help a victim of domestic violence. I fear this may be the way it often happens. I can only hope since she wasn\u2019t there when I\u2019d come out of the station she hadn\u2019t been too badly hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was only after the station door swung shut behind me that I realized I\u2019d forgotten to bring either of my sets of keys out with me. Locked out! Not a good start to the day. Since it was still early I thought I\u2019d got back to the Junction and get another set. It\u2019s a …<\/p>\n