Tag: interesting happening

May 27, 2016

Postie has keys to our mailbox

Sometimes we open our mailbox and there is a parcel in there. There is no way the postie could have shoved the parcel through the slot, which is about the size of the one in the photo below.

A wall of mailboxes in an apartment building. — Our mailbox is similar to these.

One day, Damjan asked a postman how they managed to get large items into our mailbox. He said:

‘Twenty years ago, when this area was being developed, a building manager gave Australia Post a master key to the mailboxes in his apartment building. We noticed that a lot of the new buildings had similar-looking mailboxes, so one day, a postie tried the master key in another building. And it worked.’

So it looks like Australia Post has a key to our mailbox. And our neighbour’s mailbox.

I thought about whether or not this is a privacy or security risk. Posties already have access to our mail. As long as no one loses or copies the key, which I guess is a big risk…

Oh well. It’s convenient that I don’t need to trek to the post office whenever I miss a small parcel delivery.

December 5, 2014

Boulangerie

‘I’m hungry,’ my brother said. ‘Let’s get something from the shop over there.’

We crossed the shopping centre floor to reach what was called the ‘Cafe & Boulangerie’.

Jason said to the shop assistant, ‘Do you have filled baguettes?’

‘Baguettes?’ She looked confused.

‘You know, long sandwiches.’

‘Um. We only have foccacias.’

I started laughing.

October 1, 2014

Who is more disabled?

When I was almost eight months pregnant, I went to Brisbane for a training course. On the way back, I took the Skybus back to the city.

I had been sitting in the ‘special needs’ section of the bus for about five minutes, waiting for the bus to leave the terminal, when a Skybus official got on the bus and said to me, ‘You’ll have to move, we have a person in a wheelchair that needs this space.’

I leapt up to change seats. It took two seconds for the man’s expression to change. ‘Oh no! You’re pregnant!’

I mumbled reassurance. I think a person in a wheelchair is more disabled than a healthy pregnant woman.

July 9, 2014

Man versus nature

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to howling wind and branches banging loudly at our building. Suddenly, just as the wind stepped up its intensity, I heard a familiar noise. It was a leaf blower. The caretaker had arrived as he does at 9am every Tuesday.

May 19, 2014

Pop up mushrooms

For a day, our lawn was carpeted in mushrooms. And then they were gone.

May 12, 2014

You should just ask

At the ice cream shop, a scoop of the delicious stuff costs $4.50.

This time, at the counter I said, ‘I’ve only got $4.45 in coins. Can I have an ice cream?’

The shop person barely paused before saying, ‘Sure.’

A minute later I was licking a gloriously dark chocolate gelato shop in a waffle cone.

May 7, 2014

A stranger helps

‘Hmm, this might be a bit hard to get home, Mia.’

I was at the post office with Mia strapped to my chest in her baby carrier. We considered the package that the post office had brought out. It was too large to fit into the shopping bag that I brought to carry it. It was covered in tape that said ‘FRAGILE’.

The person being me in the post office queue kindly handed me the box so that I could awkwardly hold in front of Mia.

Two minutes later I put the box down on a bench and repositioned it to rest on my head and right shoulder.

I had my first major wobble in front of the pub. By the time I got to the noodle takeaway shop, I was very nervous. The smart thing would have been to leave the package at the post office and come back later without Mia. Too late, though.

I slipped my hand under and around some of the packing tape and used it like a handle for the next 300 metres.

When I saw the tape stretching longer and thinner, I jammed my hand into the top flap to carry the box at my side. Five minutes later I changed tact again, digging both my hands into the taped up sides of the top flap to carry it in front of Mia.

I kept imagining the crash of glass if the flaps or stuck tape failed.

At the last big intersection from home, a lady looked at me sympathetically.

‘Do you want help carrying it across the road?’ she asked.

‘Would you?’ I replied immediately and gratefully. She took the box of me easily and we walked across toward her office.

On the other side, she asked, ‘Where are you headed?’

‘That building over there,’ I pointed about 300 metres away.

‘I’ll carry it there,’ she offered.

I was so happy as we passed another roundabout, crossed a street, unlocked and went through two doors and up a flight of stairs.

‘Thank you! I have no idea how I would have gotten through those doors. That’s your good deed for the day.’

‘You’re welcome,’ she said as she put the box down and left to go back to work.

April 29, 2014

What luck!

We were coming back from a stroll around the Botanic Gardens when we saw a bright green rectangle on the ground.

‘Hey, a Myki!’ Damjan bent down. Baby Mia, strapped to Damjan’s chest in the baby carrier, might have squawked as she tipped over.

‘Damjan, of all of us here you’re probably the one least able to pick it up,’ said Sean.

Cobi, Sean and I peered at the Myki in Damjan’s hand. It was a Seniors Myki.

‘Oh dear,’ I said. ‘I wonder if they’ll be able to get home?’

‘If they’ve registered the Myki, maybe we can get it back to them,’ said Cobi.

‘Hello!’ called a man powering up the steps towards us. ‘Did you pick up a Myki? I saw you bend down around the spot where my wife pulled out her phone twenty minutes ago.’

‘You’re in luck, here it is,’ we said handing it over.

The man beamed as a dark haired woman caught up from behind him. ‘We got to Flinders Street Station before we realised it was lost.’

His wife added, ‘I told him not to bother coming back. Surely someone had already picked it up and pocketed it!’

‘We were wondering if you had registered it,’ Cobi said.

‘Oh no, that’s too complicated for us,’ they said cheerfully as they waved. ‘Thanks!’

April 7, 2013

Piano parking

We have a parking space in our apartment building, which we don’t use. So we put up an ad online for someone to rent it.

Peter emailed us. ‘Hello, I live in Adelaide. I’m coming to Melbourne to busk with a piano. Can I keep the piano in the carpark? The piano is an Kawai upright piano on a small trolley and I push it into the CBD/Southbank each day. Would having a piano on a small trolley instead of a car in the carpark be okay?”

So here it is — the piano parked in our car spot.