{ tram stop, by aschroeder. }

We were expecting “scattered showers throughout the morning” today, but it turned out to be “huge motherfucking thunderstorms, bitch”.

I was completely unprepared for the sheer onslaught of lightning and thunder and general torrential rain.  Several puddles were just too wide for me to circumnavigate and/or jump over, so my shoes were filled with water.  At one point, some asshole drove so close to the pavement that he splashed the entire street’s worth of water all over me.  I was soaking from head to toe (my hair was actually dripping), and I could only burst out into a string of expletives.

Despite the weather, I trudged around all day finding a paper bag large enough to carry the framed picture (of Eve) I’d done up for Josie’s birthday.  And after that, I swam to the other side of the city to buy her a little cake from Brunetti’s (I spent AGES picking out the right one — they have so many!).  It was hell to carry my bag + umbrella + the picture + protect the cake from certain squashed doom (to which it inevitably succumbed, thanks to a Hurried Suit), but was worth it in the end.  Josie was thrilled to pieces. :)

Today, I was also approached by a tearful international student.  She was utterly lost and it was her first semester at Melb Uni.  I think she was due for an appointment in the Commerce building, and was quite stressed because nobody had been able to give her coherent directions.  For whatever reason, she was also extremely upset.  She tried to explain to me that she’d had a really awful day, but I think the language barrier was too hard for me to glean much more from that.

But yeah.  I ended up catching a tram with her and walking her all the way there.  On the tram, I distracted her by telling her about Melbourne and asking her about her home.  By the time we arrived at the office, she had a smile on her face and gave me a huge hug before she left.

So despite the shittiness of the weather & getting drenched, it was a pretty good day. Plus, I go to (finally) use my new umbrella. That was cool.