I have a confession to make: I am probably one of many people who was under the impression that Australia is one of the safest places on the planet. For months before arriving, I have been dreaming about leaving doors unlocked at night, leaving the car keys in the ignition (that is really where you need them most, not so?), and writing my PIN-code discreetly on my debit card so I have one less thing to remember. As it turned out, I was grievously mistaken.
The truth about this misconception stared me bluntly in the face while going about a very ordinary daily routine for most people: catching a train from point A to point B.
Initially everything went very smoothly: buy Go-Card, save 20% on fares. Inspect route map, determine which platform to use. Short wait for train, board QUICKLY. (A note to non-South Africans at this point: we have only recently been introduced to the joy of a world-class speed-train between the main airport in Johannesburg and about a dozen other stations. Less than a dozen, in fact. So, strange as it may seem, using The Train is still something of a novelty to most of us.)
The truth about this misconception stared me bluntly in the face while going about a very ordinary daily routine for most people: catching a train from point A to point B.
Initially everything went very smoothly: buy Go-Card, save 20% on fares. Inspect route map, determine which platform to use. Short wait for train, board QUICKLY. (A note to non-South Africans at this point: we have only recently been introduced to the joy of a world-class speed-train between the main airport in Johannesburg and about a dozen other stations. Less than a dozen, in fact. So, strange as it may seem, using The Train is still something of a novelty to most of us.)
The journey itself was uneventful and disappointingly unremarkable. Mostly, it was filled with people who..... sit. And wait. Some keep themselves occupied on phones. Some stare out the windows - not really noticing the landscape they've already seen 1000 times. One guy, slightly disconcertingly, simply fixed his gaze at an unmoving particle of dust about 3 metres ahead of him. He didn't blink once during the 45 minute journey. I wondered if he could bend spoons.
No, the shock didn't come on the journey. It came shortly after, as we climbed the stairs from the platform to cross over the railway. People were coming and going - a normal day for most. The next moment it hit me right in the face: Danger. Right here. Right on the stairs. Right where I am. Right where hundreds of people walk every day.
I gasped for breath. What dangers could possibly lurk beneath the stairs that will cause them to shake and rumble and throw you off unexpectedly? Why else would there be a repeated warning across all the staircases? Are they not solid, immovable, predictable? It must be a terrible, terrible fate to be thrown off something that has every APPEARANCE of being solid and dependable! At least in South Africa we KNEW what the dangers were: hijackings and protests and anything 'armed'.
And so I started off my list of Dangers in Australia, with the single entry:
No, the shock didn't come on the journey. It came shortly after, as we climbed the stairs from the platform to cross over the railway. People were coming and going - a normal day for most. The next moment it hit me right in the face: Danger. Right here. Right on the stairs. Right where I am. Right where hundreds of people walk every day.
"Make Your Next Step the Right Step - Hold the Handrail"
I gasped for breath. What dangers could possibly lurk beneath the stairs that will cause them to shake and rumble and throw you off unexpectedly? Why else would there be a repeated warning across all the staircases? Are they not solid, immovable, predictable? It must be a terrible, terrible fate to be thrown off something that has every APPEARANCE of being solid and dependable! At least in South Africa we KNEW what the dangers were: hijackings and protests and anything 'armed'.
And so I started off my list of Dangers in Australia, with the single entry:
STAIRCASES
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| Make Your Next Step the Right Step - Hold the Handrail |
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