Milkshake Time
It was late July, and we had finished our mid-year exams, and we had what was called correction day.
This was a free day where all the students weren’t required to come into the college.
The teachers would spend the day marking the exam papers.
With a couple of my buddies, we had decided to go into the city to catch a movie and generally amuse ourselves.
The film was Who Is Harry Kellerman?, a movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Dr. Hook had done the score for the film.
At the time I liked Dustin Hoffman as an actor… still do. A couple of years earlier, he had starred in the film “The Graduate.”
After the film had finished, we spent a couple of hours walking around the different shops. I think Alister wanted to buy a present for his dad’s birthday.
This occupied most of our time. I can’t remember if Alister ended up buying anything, and if he did, what he bought.
Probably a tie.
We headed back to Flinders Street train station in the centre of Melbourne.
All suburban rail lines run to and from Flinders Street station. So it is quite a large station, with 14 platforms in all.
It was very busy, the start of the “rush hour.”
People are starting to leave work and head home.
I remember Dave, Jack, and I wanting to get a drink; Alister didn’t want anything; maybe he didn’t have any money… he probably had spent it all on his dad’s birthday present.
Once inside the station, there was a long counter; I remember the servers being slightly higher than us. We were all 6 feet tall, so maybe they were standing on a raised platform.
It seemed they were higher: looking down a bit, that feeling of superiority.
It was busy, everyone waiting to be served, 4 or 5 people deep. One by one, we got closer to the counter to be served.
We could hear the station master calling various trains “Now leaving platform 2, train to Ringwood now departing.”
“Gates closing for platform 5 for the Sunshine line”
We eventually got to the front of the queue, where we could be served by the busy team of servers Frank asks for a coffee and a slice of chocolate cake.
Frank always seemed to be in a different zone from the rest of us—I mean, coffee and chocolate cake. Where did he think we were, Tiffany’s?
I remember one year our family had gone camping over the summer break to a place called Phillip Island where we would camp on my brother-in-law’s vacant land in Woolami Waters.
Frank came along for the week as a break; it was fun to have a buddy come along with our family.
On every camping trip, there would always be this big occasion of going to the Isle of Wight Hotel for a proper dinner. These occasions were special for our family; it was something our family couldn’t afford all the time.
The Isle of Wight Hotel was a hotel on the Esplanade in Cowes, overlooking the sea. Cowes is the main town on Phillip Island. It was an iconic building.
So, a table was booked for Thursday dinner at the Isle of Wight Hotel.
Thursday night arrived, and we went to the hotel for dinner.
Sitting at the table, overlooking the ocean, we ordered our drinks: Dad a beer, Mom the mandatory sweet sherry, and Coke for Frank and me.
While waiting for the drinks to arrive, we pored over the menu to see what each of us would order.
mom was the only person to have an entree in those days; it would have been a Seaford cocktail, served in a cocktail glass.
Dad ordered fish chips always; his favorite, and mom and I settled on the roast of the day.
Frank, bless his soul, “Lobster Mourney, please,” the most expensive thing on the menu. Dad nearly choked on his beer.
The thought of having to pay for lobster was more expensive than all the meals put together.
That’s Frank for you.
So back to Flinders Street Station.
Jack and I settled for a milkshake each.
Jack got served first, as the server gave Jack his milkshake, took his money, and moved to another person.
Overlooking myself several times to the point I was thinking I would have to give it a miss.
At last I was asked what I wanted. “Chocolate milkshake, please.”
It seems like it took forever.
They had started to call my train. Gate closing platform 7 train for Dandenong”
I remember getting my milkshake. I can’t remember if I waited for change or not.
I just took off… Lucky for me, platform 7 wasn’t that far from where I was.
I was racing down the ramp—yes, a steep ramp going down to platform 7.
I wasn’t the fastest runner (believe it or not, Frank was), but I was up there.
One of the station masters was closing the gate, which made me run harder and faster downhill.
It was hard to keep my feet with the momentum.
But I did.
By the time I had gotten to the bottom of the ramp, the train to Dandenong had been called.
“Please stand clear train to Dandenong now departing platform 7.”
The train was now moving slowly in the opposite direction to where I was running.
Alister was standing in the doorway, ready to help me on board. These were the days when all doors were opened and closed manually.
I got to the train, and I put my brakes on to slow down… Fred Flintstone style.
Alister was at the door to help as I took hold of a pole just a foot inside of the door with one hand and milkshake in the other.
Grasping the pole, it started to swing me around.
In the momentum, the milkshake went flying out of its container all over the passengers.
I didn’t know what to do.
Alister appeared with a handkerchief; using this, I started to wipe the not-so-happy passengers down.
It hadn’t dawned on me, but the handkerchief was a lady’s one. Finishing cleaning the passenger best I could, I started to head where my mates were sitting.
They were sitting with my not-too-impressed mother.
It was my mom’s handkerchief.
It was a very quiet trip home.
On reflection, there were choices I could have made along this chain of events which would have delivered a different outcome.
As the situation was, I was made to own it. I apologized to all the passengers and sat with my mom and buddies until we got to our station.
On top of that, there was no milkshake left to drink as it all had flown across the train and passengers.
While I hadn’t done any wrong per se, it was probably not the best to have waited for the milkshake; I should have cut my losses on the first call of the station master.
“Passengers, please board train departing for Dandenong on platform 7 first call.”
And I could have made my way to the train in a more timely fashion.
I should have been more mindful of the situation and cut my losses to live another day.
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