Tramspotting - the prequel

Well, when you grow up in a long thin country with a non-existent public transport system chances are you're going to have an odd relationship with public transport when you're older.

My home town in New Zealand had a population of approx. 10,000 people. There was a much bigger town (everything's relative!) of about 120,000 people about 20 minutes away by car. Once we had reached 12 or 13 years of age, escaping there as frequently as possible became a priority. Unfortunately, the local bus 'service' (i use that term in the most ironic sense possible) operated twice daily in each direction - morning and night - on a standard-issue nasty school bus ...so unless you were driven by the devil himself (would have been quicker), using public transport when you were a kid was not an option.

Fast-forward several years to the present. I am now living in another country (which in the interests of anonymity we shall call 'Oz-trailer'), in a city of 3 and a bit million with a truly fabulous public transport system (despite how much the locals whinge about how much better it used to be). Subsequently, I am now an enthusiastic user of public transport - tram is my preferred mode - and genuinely enjoy the daily half hour trip to and from my place of study and around the city.

This is not so much because of the inherent joys of public transport (I not QUITE that much of a nerd...yet) but because of the amazing opportunities it provides for observing humanity in all its shapes and forms.

It is not just trams that are like this. At around age 13, I watched in fascination as a woman boarded a ferry casually holding the handles of a large red blue and white striped canvas/plastic bag, containing one great dane. It transpired that the ferry rules allowed dogs and pets on board free if they could be transported in a bag - so, being an ardent follower of the rules, this woman had bought the largest bag she could find, cut holes for the head, legs and tail and 'carried' her great dane on board for free.

A few years later, age 17, I had the living bejezus scared out of me when, on the Metro in Paris, a large dragon lizard-type creature hissed at me from its perch, casually slung around the neck of a west african man (i had thought it was a fake or stuffed and was admiring it...more fool me) who pissed himself laughing with his mates, much to my embarassment.

So, now I am uniquely placed to watch the world (no doubt they're watching me as well) and make notes here, mostly for my own entertainment. The beauty of blogs is that you can join in so feel free to add your own public transport observations, trials, traumas and pleasant surprises. The more the merrier.

Alice.