Fun With The Bus

Frankly, taking the bus isn't so bad here. In fact, it can be quite an adventure. Besides, the buses are always on time and most bus drivers are helpful and friendly, particularly when you are travelling with young kids.

And today, I boarded a bus driven by a Malaysian. Chatty fellow. This uncle was a teacher back in Malaysia and has been living in Australia for 26 years. He's from Butterworth and actually knows some of my teachers in Jit Sin! Small world. I sat on the first passenger seat with Joanne (after we dropped Joshua off at school) and this uncle just kept talking and talking. Quite interesting. He related to me how some of the kids of his friends had helped Doncaster East High School become one of the top schools in East Melbourne. Apparently five out of six of them became doctors! It's hardly surprising. Most of the much sought-after schools here have very high Asian migrant population!

When we went to pick up Joshua from school, we took a bus to Box Hill and had some snacks and McDonald's there. Then instead of taking the usual bus home, we decided to take another bus that serviced another route. A change of scenery might be fun, I though. Well, new sights, of course, but it took us half an hour to reach Westfield Shoppingtown, which is about 2 minutes by car from my house.

The kids wanted to walk from Shoppingtown. So we did. It was quite a long walk but they had fun along the way. They picked flowers, saw a small bird picking a fight with a big black crow and best of all, played with a big fat fluffy friendly cat. After the little playtime with their new feline friend, the kids say they want to walk back from Shoppingtown again!

As for me, at least I don't have to worry about wrecking the car the next couple of weeks. And no parking woes! Life isn't so bad without a car.