Train Trauma

For those of you that haven't been paying much attention recently, my car is dying... slowly but very very surely dying.  So much so that I am trying to drive it as little as possible because my new car is not due to come until the end of May or maybe even early June.  Anyway, as a result, I have been trying to catch the train back and forth from Castlemaine and Melbourne to give it a little rest on the weekends.  This has actually been quite an enjoyable experience as it gives me an extra hour and a half to sit and just chilax, without too much to worry about, the only thing is the trains run to their times not yours.  Tonight's trip was probably the most traumatic experience of my little life... and I never never never want to do it again. 

Tonight I caught the latest train to Melbourne so that Davo could go to the footy with Dustin.  The train was due to leave at 9:03pm, long after the final train people had left their little office and locked the doors.  When I got to the station I noticed that the office was shut and thought that it didn't matter too much, because I always catch the train to Melbourne from platform 2 and you can buy a ticket on the train.  So having successfully made it to platform 2 with all my belongings (which were quite large in number tonight as I have a big weekend ahead of me, including my purple carry on size suitcase, a full to the brim of books and computer stuff country road bag, a jumper and my handbag) and a couple of minutes to spare.  However, once I was at the station I noticed that there were actually a lot more people on platform 1, so, as you do, I called out and asked only to be informed that I was in the wrong spot and I now had about 2 minutes to get to the other side.  This wouldn't have been such a big problem if I had found out a couple of minutes earlier or even if I had less stuff.  But at that moment panic set it and I started to run to wards the above ground crossing (1. so I could see/hear the train and 2. It seemed like the quickest way). 

As I finally made it to the crossing and made it out onto the tracks I heard the crossing sounds and the gates in front to me to get off the tracks shut.  As I began to panic a little bit more I fumbled around until I found the emergency exit and then continued to run up the ramp towards the train, which seemed like a impossible task.  In a lot of pain I continued to run and made it on... just and then collapsed into an empty seat. 

I am not really sure what I found more traumatic, the fact that I almost missed the train, or the moment those gates in front of me closed leaving me with just the train... it was dark and cold and I was really really frightened.  It turns out that even though I always catch the train from platform 2, there are only really 2 or 3 Melbourne trains that leave from there, they just all happen to be the ones that I have caught in the past.  I guess I will know for next time... although next time I might also leave my self a good 10minutes at the station, just in case.