This week I had the pleasure of helping a friend decide upon her wedding dress. It was an absolute honour to be there to help her make her decision, we had a wonderful day; the weather was beautiful, the babies were well behaved, we had a lovely coffee and a yummy lunch. Unfortunately there were two little blips to the day - we had a horrible incident on the tram, and I came away with a terrible case of buggy (pusher) envy.
First of all let’s tackle the tram trauma. Perhaps my language is a little extreme, but both my friend and I were a bit shaky after the experience. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and we got both buggies on the tram coming down Royal Parade from Sydney Road. This was my first buggy/tram experience. The tram was not busy when we got on, but a few stops later a hoard of uni students crammed on, and we were surrounded. When we rung the bell to get off, the tram was packed so tight we couldn't move. Some of the students got off to allow us to move, a grown man didn't and I had to run over his feet, but still there was not enough room for us to get the door and get out. The tram driver was very concerned with keeping to the timetable and either was very unobservant or simply didn't care - shut the door and set off , leaving the people that had done the right thing throwing up their hands as they stood on the street.
He stopped at the next stop, one that is right in the middle of the road. I was a bit flustered I must admit, got the pram to the door but no one offered to help us get off. I just stood there, and said aloud "I don't know what to do, I'm not getting off with my baby in the middle of the road". This prompted a man standing
right next to me to offer to help. While trying to get off the driver tried to close the doors on us, but Bub and I managed to get off, and the man was trying to help my friend off when the tram driver again closed the doors. At this point my calm collect friend lost it, and shouted for the driver to please open the doors, that there were people trying to get off. He did, she did with help, and we both stood on the nature strip shaken, with me reeling off obscenities that luckily the bubs were too young to repeat.
How horrid it was...
How there are no real men anymore...
How young people have no community spirit...
What has happened to Melbourne, that people don't help each other?
Yes I have turned into an old woman.
My friend was upset that she had shouted in front her bub, this was a novel thought for me as my bub has heard me shout a fair amount, yelling at the pets!
Then the world decided to right itself. The next tram ride we were assisted by a man who looked like he might be a heroin addict to get on, and a youth no older than 17 to get off. Next time I venture into town and take public transport I'm going to make sure I look the nearest able bodied person in the eye and ask for help if no one offers, single them out, then they can't say no and I won't get flustered.
Now for the buggy envy, oh my goodness I have it bad. When you are expecting your first child there are sooooo many things that you need to acquire; cots and sheets, baby monitors, bouncers, baths, thermometers, buggies etc. There is so much choice. My partner and I googled our brains out trying to work out what buggy to buy. They all seemed very expensive; they all had pros and cons. So in the end we bought the one on special at Target. I wish we hadn't. My friend’s buggy is light and easily maneuverable. Our on the other hand mine made me feel like I was doing an aerobics work out trying to get it through the streets of Brunswick. Hers has 3 air tyres, mine 4 hard plastic ones that a gum nut was able to pierce. Hers is designed so that it is easy to shift the weight to the back wheels to get the buggy up and over things, mine needs me to use the little step thing, and even then it’s hard work.
I want one like hers, and I want it bad.
But it hard to justify going out and spending about $600 for the buggy and all the necessary additions when in 3 months or so the wee man can go in an umbrella stroller.... at least I have the very cool Ergo carrier now. More on that later.
For now dreams of a three wheeler with air tyres. :)
First of all let’s tackle the tram trauma. Perhaps my language is a little extreme, but both my friend and I were a bit shaky after the experience. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and we got both buggies on the tram coming down Royal Parade from Sydney Road. This was my first buggy/tram experience. The tram was not busy when we got on, but a few stops later a hoard of uni students crammed on, and we were surrounded. When we rung the bell to get off, the tram was packed so tight we couldn't move. Some of the students got off to allow us to move, a grown man didn't and I had to run over his feet, but still there was not enough room for us to get the door and get out. The tram driver was very concerned with keeping to the timetable and either was very unobservant or simply didn't care - shut the door and set off , leaving the people that had done the right thing throwing up their hands as they stood on the street.
He stopped at the next stop, one that is right in the middle of the road. I was a bit flustered I must admit, got the pram to the door but no one offered to help us get off. I just stood there, and said aloud "I don't know what to do, I'm not getting off with my baby in the middle of the road". This prompted a man standing
right next to me to offer to help. While trying to get off the driver tried to close the doors on us, but Bub and I managed to get off, and the man was trying to help my friend off when the tram driver again closed the doors. At this point my calm collect friend lost it, and shouted for the driver to please open the doors, that there were people trying to get off. He did, she did with help, and we both stood on the nature strip shaken, with me reeling off obscenities that luckily the bubs were too young to repeat.
How horrid it was...
How there are no real men anymore...
How young people have no community spirit...
What has happened to Melbourne, that people don't help each other?
Yes I have turned into an old woman.
My friend was upset that she had shouted in front her bub, this was a novel thought for me as my bub has heard me shout a fair amount, yelling at the pets!
Then the world decided to right itself. The next tram ride we were assisted by a man who looked like he might be a heroin addict to get on, and a youth no older than 17 to get off. Next time I venture into town and take public transport I'm going to make sure I look the nearest able bodied person in the eye and ask for help if no one offers, single them out, then they can't say no and I won't get flustered.
Now for the buggy envy, oh my goodness I have it bad. When you are expecting your first child there are sooooo many things that you need to acquire; cots and sheets, baby monitors, bouncers, baths, thermometers, buggies etc. There is so much choice. My partner and I googled our brains out trying to work out what buggy to buy. They all seemed very expensive; they all had pros and cons. So in the end we bought the one on special at Target. I wish we hadn't. My friend’s buggy is light and easily maneuverable. Our on the other hand mine made me feel like I was doing an aerobics work out trying to get it through the streets of Brunswick. Hers has 3 air tyres, mine 4 hard plastic ones that a gum nut was able to pierce. Hers is designed so that it is easy to shift the weight to the back wheels to get the buggy up and over things, mine needs me to use the little step thing, and even then it’s hard work.
I want one like hers, and I want it bad.
But it hard to justify going out and spending about $600 for the buggy and all the necessary additions when in 3 months or so the wee man can go in an umbrella stroller.... at least I have the very cool Ergo carrier now. More on that later.
For now dreams of a three wheeler with air tyres. :)
What a day you have had!! If it makes you feel; any better, we paid $700 for our pram and it is the hardest thing to move around ever!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, we've had a series of expensive buggies and i always breath a sigh of relief when they get big enough for the easy peasy, lightweight, fold-up-and-carry-with-one-hand, basic Maclaren x
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