Jane Routley's Blog, page 7
April 12, 2015
Interviewed by Donna Hanson
The wonderful Donna Maree Hanson, fantasy author and convention maven is interviewing me on her website this week. Her site is full of great interviews with editors as well.
https://donnamareehanson.wordpress.co...
https://donnamareehanson.wordpress.co...
April 5, 2015
Fare evaders
Fare Evaders
Rail employees try not to travel in their uniforms. If you do, you run the risk of having someone have a loud pointed conversation on the next seat about how crap Metro is (apparently you are supposed be so cut, you go home and sort this out) or how Myki (the ticketing system) is the worst thing that ever happened (I kid you not. This person must have had a pretty easy life up till then.)
However the other day, I didn’t have time to change. As I pottered down the aisle looking for a seat, a young man did a double take, seized his laptop and fled out from the carriage. Lol! I suspected, and the woman opposite thought so too, that he feared I was a ticket inspector bringing fines and recriminations. Even though I am the greeniest, leftiest, bleeding heart liberalist person you are ever likely to meet, I enjoyed a dazzling moment of evil villain glee at having a young man flee before me. Bwahahaha! Everyone has an inner fascist somewhere.
Rail employees try not to travel in their uniforms. If you do, you run the risk of having someone have a loud pointed conversation on the next seat about how crap Metro is (apparently you are supposed be so cut, you go home and sort this out) or how Myki (the ticketing system) is the worst thing that ever happened (I kid you not. This person must have had a pretty easy life up till then.)
However the other day, I didn’t have time to change. As I pottered down the aisle looking for a seat, a young man did a double take, seized his laptop and fled out from the carriage. Lol! I suspected, and the woman opposite thought so too, that he feared I was a ticket inspector bringing fines and recriminations. Even though I am the greeniest, leftiest, bleeding heart liberalist person you are ever likely to meet, I enjoyed a dazzling moment of evil villain glee at having a young man flee before me. Bwahahaha! Everyone has an inner fascist somewhere.
March 26, 2015
Sophie Masson interviews me
The fabulous Sophie Masson has done an interview with me at http://firebirdfeathers.com/. She's one of Australias most eminent and prolific fantasy writer. Pay a visit and check out her many and varied fantasy and historical romance books
March 23, 2015
Trains and democracy
Last week was very quiet and the customers were disappointingly ordinary - aside from the man who got on the train with two shopping trolleys full of used bricks. (trains are so useful when you don’t have a car) A teacher trailing a class of 40 or so students arrived during my barrier shift at the Junction.
“We’ve come down from the country for a tour of State Parliament and our bus has broken down,” he explained waving behind him. Sure enough there was a bus up the road with two men peering into it’s innards.
Being too humble a functionary to make any decision in this case I referred to the Station Master, who (most graciously) allowed them to finish their journey on the train without tickets. Thus did Metro facilitate these children’s political education and no doubt make the world safer for democracy (loud huzzahs all round)
“We’ve come down from the country for a tour of State Parliament and our bus has broken down,” he explained waving behind him. Sure enough there was a bus up the road with two men peering into it’s innards.
Being too humble a functionary to make any decision in this case I referred to the Station Master, who (most graciously) allowed them to finish their journey on the train without tickets. Thus did Metro facilitate these children’s political education and no doubt make the world safer for democracy (loud huzzahs all round)
March 14, 2015
The ballad of C and M
I’ve mentioned my regular homeless couple C and M before. They were very happy together even though they lived in a derelict shed and supplemented their incomes by begging. Last year they told me they’d moved into a friend’s house for the winter and I didn’t see them for a long time. Then just before Christmas, I was on the train and who should come along but M. He looked better dressed than usual.
“We’ve got into a house,” he said. “We’re getting clean. We’re trying to get the kids back.”
Wonderful Christmas news.
Alas it did not last. A couple of weeks later, I saw M at the junction.
“She’s left me,” he said. “I tried to stop her drinking so she left me and went off with some wino. If you see her round tell her to come home. Tell her I miss her.”
I haven’t seen C again. From the things she shared with me when she’d had a few, stories of domestic violence with a previous partner and the removal of children by authorities, I suspect she has a lot of things to blot out. Sobriety wouldn’t come easily.
I’ve seen a lot of M though. He travels down my line most days. The new house is out the other side of town, but he assures me he’s still there.
“But my friends are all out here,” he says.
These days he mostly has a tin of Wild Turkey and Coke in his hand.
“We’ve got into a house,” he said. “We’re getting clean. We’re trying to get the kids back.”
Wonderful Christmas news.
Alas it did not last. A couple of weeks later, I saw M at the junction.
“She’s left me,” he said. “I tried to stop her drinking so she left me and went off with some wino. If you see her round tell her to come home. Tell her I miss her.”
I haven’t seen C again. From the things she shared with me when she’d had a few, stories of domestic violence with a previous partner and the removal of children by authorities, I suspect she has a lot of things to blot out. Sobriety wouldn’t come easily.
I’ve seen a lot of M though. He travels down my line most days. The new house is out the other side of town, but he assures me he’s still there.
“But my friends are all out here,” he says.
These days he mostly has a tin of Wild Turkey and Coke in his hand.
March 4, 2015
Hooray!! My New ebook is out.
If you share this on your own feed I will love you even more (if that is possible)
http://www.clandestinepress.com.au/eb...
http://www.clandestinepress.com.au/eb...
February 23, 2015
A regular
G, one of our regulars is extremely disabled. He drives his wheelchair with a stick mounted on his head and communicates by tapping out words on a communicator. Were I so disabled, I think I’d be scared to leave the house, but G goes out to his job most days and has a busy social life. Recently I was tasteless enough to tease him about checking out the pretty girls. The way he taped out “I’m engaged” and the dignified way he looked at me as it sounded out, made me feel rather small. Serves me right!
Yesterday he was waiting for a friend at the barriers and we got chatting. Hundreds of people headed for the Soundwave festival were going past and my task was to call out “Soundwave passengers - buses to the left!” at regular intervals.
I was startled to hear a little mechanical voice repeating my words. G had typed the words into his communicator and helpfully kept pressing the button at regular intervals until his friend arrived and he shot off in his wheel chair to greet him.
Yesterday he was waiting for a friend at the barriers and we got chatting. Hundreds of people headed for the Soundwave festival were going past and my task was to call out “Soundwave passengers - buses to the left!” at regular intervals.
I was startled to hear a little mechanical voice repeating my words. G had typed the words into his communicator and helpfully kept pressing the button at regular intervals until his friend arrived and he shot off in his wheel chair to greet him.
February 17, 2015
Happy Valentine's Day
On Valentine’s day saw a sweet couple on the station - both of them good looking and hip in t-shirts and jeans even though they were probably in their early sixties. Both of them had the walking sticks and tremors that speak of Parkinson’s disease. They seemed in the throes of new love, nuzzling each other, cuddling and laughing intimately. I couldn't help speculating that they might have met at Parkinson’s rehab class at the nearby hospital. Where there’s life, there’s still a chance to be happy.
February 8, 2015
Star Struck
A group of people are milling about near the barriers at the Junction. When I see one of them having a makeup artist paint track marks on her arm, I realize they are some kind of film crew. Exciting!
They chat and eat sandwiches until the Director, a tall dark haired woman in too tight jeans and tee-shirt and an impressive set of Tattoos, turns up.
The girl with the painted track marks asks me if this is a good job to go with acting and since we already have two actors working at my station I tell her yes. (you can see one of them, wearing a plaid shirt in the current Sportsbet ad.)
The girl is wearing a street hooker outfit with the most amazingly tall black shoes covered in spikes, which she walks in with great aplomb as the crew goes down to the platform to do its shots. Her co-star (who has had to change in our toilets –shudder-) is a young girl in a school uniform with a peach coloured beanie.
I get chatting with the Assistant Director. He tells me it’s a professional shoot with funding, permits and and -well - an Assistant director. This is the Director's second film and the Assistant tells me its his job to wrangle the actors and do all the administration so that the Director can concentrate on making the film. Wow! I’m in the wrong business. I’d love to have an Assistant Writer.
But their enthusiasm is wonderful to see and reminds me that I too have a creative pursuit I love and which makes my life worthwhile. (wish it paid a bit better, but then most of us are in the same boat)
They chat and eat sandwiches until the Director, a tall dark haired woman in too tight jeans and tee-shirt and an impressive set of Tattoos, turns up.
The girl with the painted track marks asks me if this is a good job to go with acting and since we already have two actors working at my station I tell her yes. (you can see one of them, wearing a plaid shirt in the current Sportsbet ad.)
The girl is wearing a street hooker outfit with the most amazingly tall black shoes covered in spikes, which she walks in with great aplomb as the crew goes down to the platform to do its shots. Her co-star (who has had to change in our toilets –shudder-) is a young girl in a school uniform with a peach coloured beanie.
I get chatting with the Assistant Director. He tells me it’s a professional shoot with funding, permits and and -well - an Assistant director. This is the Director's second film and the Assistant tells me its his job to wrangle the actors and do all the administration so that the Director can concentrate on making the film. Wow! I’m in the wrong business. I’d love to have an Assistant Writer.
But their enthusiasm is wonderful to see and reminds me that I too have a creative pursuit I love and which makes my life worthwhile. (wish it paid a bit better, but then most of us are in the same boat)
February 2, 2015
The naughty bear
A small fluster at the Junction - an intellectually disabled man has dropped a toy bear in the pit and staff rally round quickly to rescue it with the station’s claw thing and prevent him from going onto the busy tracks after it.
This particular man is always carrying a toy. It’s so odd because he has such a scary-looking face, crossed eyes and jagged teeth, the sort of face that would have drawn stones and jeers in a less enlightened time. From the way he walks, I suspect he’s visually disabled as well. Yet he looks clean and well-cared for and seems happy in his own world and the companionship of his toy. If you talk to him he doesn't answer. Perhaps he can't hear.
It’s clearly a rather naughty bear. He holds it to his ear and listens to it and then he turns it over and smacks its bottom. He does it again and again. Sometimes the bear is obviously very naughty and he puts it on the ground and turns his back on it. I suspect was how it wound up on the tracks.
What I wonder is this – is this just some game with a toy or behavior he learned from his own childhood?
This particular man is always carrying a toy. It’s so odd because he has such a scary-looking face, crossed eyes and jagged teeth, the sort of face that would have drawn stones and jeers in a less enlightened time. From the way he walks, I suspect he’s visually disabled as well. Yet he looks clean and well-cared for and seems happy in his own world and the companionship of his toy. If you talk to him he doesn't answer. Perhaps he can't hear.
It’s clearly a rather naughty bear. He holds it to his ear and listens to it and then he turns it over and smacks its bottom. He does it again and again. Sometimes the bear is obviously very naughty and he puts it on the ground and turns his back on it. I suspect was how it wound up on the tracks.
What I wonder is this – is this just some game with a toy or behavior he learned from his own childhood?
