Making Pliny Wait

Pliny has caught a bus and a tram to Glenelg on a day that is windy but fine. She wonders if she will be late. Just as we are about to find out we are interrupted by Pliny the Elder who wants to talk about magpies. He is persuaded to wait until the story is finished.


Pliny is 5 minutes late. This is negligible, when you have caught a bus and a tram. In fact it is quite good. She sees her mum waiting on a seat, dressed in blue. They sit together on the seat in the shade watching children run in and out of the water spouts under the palm trees, It is windy but no windier than it was in the city. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, there are red and white petunias in flower beds either side of the Governor Hindmarsh monument beyond which they can see the jetty, a sage green sea and a jumping machine that has been erected for the children during the summer holidays, which are drawing to a close. There are people everywhere. It is exceedingly gay.

Telescoping some events, it is now time for Pliny to catch the tram home. She gets on at quarter to 3 . She knows she will need to purchase a new ticket, but she is happy because she has until 3 o'clock before the ticket price goes up. She looks around; the tram is full. There is one vacant seat next to a really scary looking man, but like everyone else she elects to stand up. But where is the conductor? The tram moves off. It is 10 to 3. Then she remembers that travel is free along Jetty Road. Curses, she thinks, that means the conductor will probably get on at Brighton Road and I will have to pay peak rates for a ticket. She feels anxious, as her watch ticks towards 3, faster than the tram is moving.

It is 3 o'clock. No conductor has materialised. The woman in the blue shirt sitting near the front was not a conductor, nor was the uniformed man riding in the cabin with the driver. Pliny is resigned now to paying an extra $1.50 for her ticket. So what? she thinks , it is only $1.50, although for that I would have liked a seat.

There are 17 stops to the edge of the city square. They are now at stop 11. Pliny is wondering if she will ever see a conductor. Is it possible, she asks herself, that there will not be a conductor on this tram at any stage of the journey? Is it possible that the only people on this tram that have paid are the ones who had a prepaid ticket, or a ticket that is less than 2 hours old? Pliny is now feeling ambivalent. She really wants to purchase a ticket, because she believes in public transport. On the other hand, she really likes the idea of getting a free ride, especially now that she is nearly there. If she pays now, (they are passing stop 6), she will be paying the full price for a very short journey indeed.

The tram reaches the edge of the city square. All tram travel is now free. Pliny and an unspecified number of people on the tram have had a free ride. Pliny wonders how often this happens, and feels outraged. She fantasises about sending the fare by post to Adelaide Metro, with a covering note.

Pliny gets off the tram in Victoria Square. The wind is blowing in mighty gusts towards the Central Market which is where she wants to go. She waits at the lights for the tram to move off. The wind nearly blows her into its path.