Todays blog is a story, a true story of a bizarre incident in the life of one man....
The man sat on the railway platform observing his surroundings. He was amazed at the tranquillity of the station. Alone, surrounded by city structures. An oasis in a desert. The man felt exiled. Nobody else seemed to be catching the 11.20 am to Central. He reached into his pocket and pulled out several coins to slot into the ticket machine to purchase his lone ticket. Bling, bling, bling. The echo of the coins dropping into the machine disturbed the silence. Angered by the disruption, several sparrows that had been nesting in a nearby tree chirped and flew away to find another silent area.
It was a big decision trying to decide which of the empty station seats he would sit on. The man was not used to choices. Mostly he just took what was left, usually being at the bottom of the pecking order.
Because he was used to the hustle and bustle of a noisy household, the solitude of the station was refreshing to the man. Planning his day without interruption was a new experience to him. No distractions to ruin his train of thought.
All this was about to change.
Suddenly a large truck pulled up outside the little station. Several men in white overalls rushed out of the truck. Almost falling over each other with enthusiasm. Paint tin in one hand and brushes in the other. The looks on their faces were like that of little children about to embark on a day at the beach with their bucket and spades.
The man looked on, wondering what all this meant.
The men began painting the platform. Pandemonium broke out. In less than a minute, the man’s world had gone from being a quiet haven to utter chaos. Poles that had once been brown were now blue. Seats changed colours in the blink of an eye. The smell of paint making the man feel his surreal surrounding was a sideshow.
The painters continued on, ignoring the lone man on the platform. The station so small it only took them 15 minutes to finish the job. As quickly as they had arrived, the painters returned to their truck and left.
In a daze at what had just so spontaneously occurred, the man did not realise how close he was standing to the edge of the platform. Suddenly from behind him he felt the life being sucked out of him and his ear-drums exploding. Was someone now being sent to demolish this tiny station despite its new eye-catching paint job? Nothing so exciting, just the express train rushing past him at 200 km an hour. His quick reflexes allowed him to jump forward and prevent an early departure from this world.
Five minutes later the man’s train arrived. The short time he had spent on the station platform had been quite bizarre. It was almost with relief he took his seat and sat back, not sure whether he should close his eyes. His thoughts were that of hope for an uneventful trip.
