The Smell of Friendship

The Smell of Friendship is most definitely not the weird smelling cigarette that some dude was smoking today.

So today I had an adventure that I wanted to share. My friend's birthday is tomorrow and it is a 1960's theme, so a couple of friends (Z and Rooster) and i decided to go op-shopping. It started out well. We decided to meet at the front gate, as there was a FISH picnic on at 3:15 at an oval/park thing nearby. Last year there was much the same thing happening and we all went to the park together at the end of school. This time was different though. We waited out the front of our school for a while - but no one arrived. So, i rang my sister to ask her where we were meant to meet. No answer. After a while we decided to see if anyone was around the school. Along the way we picked up another friend who was going to the train station. No one was anywhere in the school. I rang my sister again. No answer. So we decided to ditch the picnic and head into to town to go op-shopping. As we walked into to town my sister rang me, but I was too late to pick up. So I rang her again. No answer. We had well and truly given up on the picnic idea before my sister rang me again. By this time it was 3:01, 15 minutes until the picnic started and we were halfway across town. This time i reached the phone in time and answered my sister.

"Where are you?"
"I'm with my friends in town."
"Why?"
"Because we couldn't find anyone."
"Well i'm already at the park."
"Urggg. Bye."

So, my friends and I discussed our options, and as Z did not have money to buy food she wanted to go to the picnic, so we continued into town to catch a shuttle bus, before we did so stopping in the mall for a toilet break and food. We also made a detour to Uncle Pete's to buy a plastic fly. Don't ask.

After our break we continued to the bus stop when our friend on the way to the train station stopped. "That's my bus" she said as we watched a bus stop at the lights, which is where we parted ways. Our own wait for the bus was long and filled with weird smelling cigarette smoke. Finally we were on the bus and heading to the park. At 3:43 we arrived at the park after walking a fair distance from the bus stop. Once we reached the park it was deserted. That being said, it is rather large and littered with trees etc. We searched for the picnic group for a while until we gave up and walked back to the path to get to the bus stop. At the bike path we stopped and pondered the two paths that would lead us to a bus stop. While we pondered the bus went by, giving us 10 minutes to get to a stop before the next bus. A decision was made to go to the Uni stop and off we trotted, at a leisurely pace. In the end the decision to go to that stop was a bad one, as it took us nearly twice as long to get there. With the bus stop in our sights, our hopes  were dashed as we watched the bus sitting at the stop. If we had started running then, we would have made it, but alas, we did not and when we did eventually start running it was all for naught as the bus pulled away and drove past us.

An impromptu sprint on Z's behalf and a minute later, we reached the bus stop and settled in for a ten minute wait, discussing random things as teenage girls do. A couple of minutes later we missed the third bus. It was quite sudden really, we were chatting and the bus zoomed past us. It wasn't a ten minute wait after all... After that we kept an eye on the road for when the bus came, and a bus did come. A big blue one that is also known as my mum's car. I stood up in shock as my mum went past, and the confusion was mutual as she stared at us through the window. It turns out that the picnic was in fact at the park, we just were blind.

So the 3rd bus was early,... and the 4th bus was late. A full 10 minutes late. Before the bus arrived we lost another friend, Z, who decided that she didn't need anything from the op-shop and decided to catch the bus home. That left only Rooster and I. When the bus arrived it was 4:26 and we only had half an hour to get to the op-shop and shop before Rooster's dad came to pick us up.

We misjudged where the bus stopped, and it was 4:55 when we finally arrived at the op-shop. Just in time to see them locking up. Yes. Very anti-climatic I know. So we waited until 4:20 at a nearby play-park until we were picked up. Then, chatting in the car we missed the first two turnoffs to get to my house. Whoops.

Anyway... that was my journey today and although we didn't achieve anything that we set out to do we did have lots of fun and much needed bonding time :) I think that today was a success in that we bonded and hung out together, in the process strengthening our friendships. It really does prove that it is not the destination that matters, but the journey. And let me tell you, this journey was long and now my legs are tired.