Unfortunately

This morning I woke up early enough, and made it in good time to the KTM station to catch my 7am commuter train. Unfortunately, the train did not arrive until after 7.06am. Reaching my destination nearly ten minutes later than usual, I missed the college bus that would take me to campus.

After being stranded at the station for about 15 minutes, a public bus came by and by chance, it was going to the campus. Gladly, I boarded the bus. Unfortunately I had to pay the RM1 fare which I usually, being a college staff, needn't.

We had a faculty meeting in the afternoon, supposedly from 12.15pm - 1.30pm. The dean and head of programmes made their announcements brief and swift, and were finished by slightly after 1pm. How delighted we were - there was time to go out for lunch because the next class for some of us would start only at 2pm. Unfortunately, a senior management 'associate vice-president' who joined our meeting had something to say. It was all useless, redundant crap and she spent about 20 minutes talking about it. So we ended up having to stay in the meeting until nearly 1.30pm. So much for thinking that the meeting would end earlier!

In the evening, I caught the 5.15pm bus from campus to the KTM station, and was really quite happy because I was there by 5.40pm - in really good time (again) to catch the 5.47pm train. Unfortunately, the train was late (again!!!) - it didn't arrive until 6.05pm. And the damn (ahem, pardon me) driver sped so hard the train almost missed the platform. All the over-eager people ran towards the doors and I, in my 2-inch heels, had to run along (kiasu mah).

The train was quite full, and there were no seats left. However, I am quite comfortable standing for the 25-minute journey, so it wasn't that big a deal. I stood next to a vertical rail and held on as the train moved. Nice and steady. Unfortunately, at the next stop, a bunch of young Malay girls got into the train and one of them grabbed the rail I was holding on to, and stood so close to it that I simply couldn't hold on properly without touching her body (no, I DON'T want to touch her).

I was a little pissed but still managed quite adequately. I happily fed on the thought that I'd be home soon, and these little misfortunes would soon be over. Unfortunately, at the next stop, a man, whose bags were on the floor next to the rail I was deperately trying to hold on to, reached out to take them. So both the Malay girl and myself had to temporarily let go and step aside to get out of his way. The moment the bags were gone, before I could react, the girl leaned her whole self against the rail and there wasn't an inch left for me to hold on to anymore. And there I was - totally helpless and without support. When the train moved again, I had to do a han-senkutsu-dachi (half-wide stance) for balance (note: was still in my 2-inch heels). Just as I thought I was doing rather well (having not fallen over although the train swayed, jerked and rattled from side to side while speeding along the tracks), more unfortunately, the girl who hogged the rail that was mine decided to pull her friend, who had a rather large backpack on her back, up next to her. So there I was - already fragile with balancing on heels in a moving train, having to endure being knocked by a corner of her backpack every few seconds. At the next stop, most unfortunately, a LARGE crowd got up the train and it became so packed I could no longer keep my stance. I was shoved so that I ended up right next to the door, having no more than 2cm of space between my feet (you're not supposed on lean on the doors and you can't balance with your feet close together!). I think the reader can imagine how the train 'ride' was for me thereafter. To top it all - when I reached my stop, it was raining, and because the train was so packed, it was near impossible for me to rummage for my umbrella in my bag.

Gosh, what a day! Really glad I'm home now :)