Winging it

(aka Janelle, Matt, Geoff and Nicola's Excellent Adventure)

I don't know how many of you have been to a Michael W. Smith concert - not many, I'm assuming, since he doesn't come to Australia that often. But last night was one of the rare occasions that he did come, and he came to Brisbane.

Two of Janelle's friends (Matt and Geoff, who at that point I'd only spoken to on MSN) from Longreach bought tickets to the concert, and Janelle got them to buy me a ticket. They said they would drive down to Brisbane, we said "okay" and thought everything was dandy ;-).

Yesterday afternoon, all attempts to message Janelle about transport details (i.e. which bus to take and from where) were mysteriously cut off, as she never received my messages. This resulted in me racing home from work, boarding a bus and buying a ticket only to zone 3. Janelle then called, wondering why I hadn't sent her any details? I replied that I HAD sent her details (actually 3 times) and I was now on the way to zone 3.

"Well, it's actually easier for me to get into the city. I don't think I can get to zone 3."
"Well what about the boys, can't they drive you?"
"No, they didn't bring a car."

This statement hung in the air for awhile, before the sinking sensation as I realised that if we were going to get to that concert at all, I'd better know what the heck I was talking about.

So I pulled out the big guns.
I winged it.

"Yep, no worries. I'll meet you in the city outside KFC."
Fortunately we had a bit of time in which to wing it.
I got off the bus at zone 3, bought another ticket to zone 1, hopped on the next bus to the city and off I went.

I figured out which bus to take (it was to a place I'd been before, so that made life a bit easier) and also threw in which bus to catch back, just in case. I had tea, and Janelle still hadn't turned up (we had 15mins before the next bus left), so I called her.
"Hey, are you nearly here yet?"
"No, I'm still at the station."
(pause)
(in a nice voice) "Why are you still at the station?"
"I'm waiting for the boys. They haven't arrived yet. I'll message you when they get here."
So I bought a Cherry Ripe for dessert and went for a walk. Got a message "we're on our way" and raced back to KFC, where we met up. Then we ran to the next bus (which we'd missed, so we had to wait 20mins for the next one!) We discussed Queen Street, murderers, eating the Cherry Ripe.....and then the boys said, "we've got three tickets."
"Three? Don't you mean four?"
"No, three. See?" They show us three tickets.
"Guys, are you kidding? You'd better NOT be kidding! I'll kill you!" *this is Janelle*
"We only brought three tickets! That's it!"
"Okay, okay (me winging it again) can we get them at the door?"
"Yeah, there's like 200 left."
"You're kidding. You guys really have 4 tickets don't you."
"No, we've only got three!"
The conversation went in this circle until the next bus was almost due, and I decided I'd better head home if we only had three tickets. The boys confessed that yes, they had four.

We got on the bus - a banana bus! We sat in the turntable, until we decided we really needed to see out of the windows to know where we were going. As I was trying to decide whether it was one or two more stops, a man in a seat said, "Are you going to COC?" to which we replied, "Yes."
"There's two stops on Wecker Road," he said.
"Which one do we want?" asked Janelle.
The man just smirked and turned around. The boys tried not to laugh. It was an awkward silence, until I broke it by snapping, "It was a legitimate question!"

Anyway, there really was only one stop on Wecker Road. We got out and raced half a km or so to the concert. We missed the opening act.

The concert itself was really good - I heard this song, and went , "wait, I know it! But where from?" Then I remembered how that song made me feel - and then I remembered I used to feel that way in grade six - and yes, that was where I knew it from. But anyway.....

The person that Matt and Geoff were meant to be staying with piked. This time Janelle pulled out the big guns: she winged it.
"Hi Josh? It's Janelle. I'm good, how are you? Yeah, I have two friends here, and they need somewhere to stay. Can they sleep in your front yard? They have swags."
And Josh, being in his super-alert state at 10:30pm, agreed. So we set off for the bus. In the process, Geoff got his shoe stuck in mud that he tried to jump across (and I mean buried). Matt told us to flap our arms, it would make us run faster. It was awesome.

We ran the half km. But we missed the bus. So we sat there, outside the Mansfield pub next to a bottle of Jim Beam and cola someone had left in the bus shelter, and pondered what we should do. Yep, you got it. Once again, we pulled out the big guns: "We'll just play it by ear," said Matt.
"Why don't we just bus to Garden City and then go to Josh's?" suggested Janelle.
"Cos we have to go back to Central and getour swags," said Matt.
Geoff called a taxi. Then a bus showed up on the other side of the road. We cancelled the taxi and bused it to Garden City.

11:28pm. We arrived at Garden City, in time for the last bus back to Queen St. Sweet.
12:15pm We had a burger at Hungry Jack's - the boys hadn't had tea.
12:30pm We were on the train to Coopers Plains.
1am - We trekked from Coopers Plains over to Josh's place. Have you ever walked the streets at such an hour? It is awesome!!!!!!!!!
1:15 am We knock on the door - Josh stumbles off the couch and lets the guys in. He then drives Janelle and I back to her place.
1:30am - Janelle and I crash.

7:30 am - Janelle wakes me up. She's going on a camp. We get ready, and leave - Janelle with the people who are picking her up, and me to the Banoon bus shelter. There I chat to a man who is practicing his English. Then it's off to Garden City (AGAIN!!!!!!!) and then home.

That was our excellent adventure, which we winged and played by ear :-) I know it doesn't sound very exciting right now, but had you been there, you would have had the time of your life :-)

*So when you get stuck, just wing it*