The Blog

   ...And exams are finally over...
But, because I'm too tired to think of something to write here, I'm going to instead give you the story of my yesterday, which I started to write up last night.


   Catherine's Big Adventure...
This morning, Catherine did get up, for she had a morning exam at 9.20am (it's that funny time because they get ten minutes of reading time before the three hours of hell). She normally gets up anyway, but today in particular she thought it best to get up at a reasonable hour, so there she was at 6.30am, moaning and groaning cause she had a bit of a tummy ache. It was nothing major, and had mainly cleared up by 7.30. She'd spent a large chunk of that hour studying, as well as preparing her things for going out for the day.
Anyway, Catherine headed out at 8am, knowing that if she caught the 8.12 train from Straithfield, she could make it to uni by 9am and therefore be on time for her exam. No sweat.
So, she changed trains at Straithfield at 8.30, running between platforms and nearly knocking over a little old lady to catch a fast train out to Epping.
It is at this point that I would like to present to you article 1: an artist's representation of a tangara train. Although this diagram does not show it, most tangaras are usually seen with large overhead electrical cables, which are used to provide power to the train for propulsion.


Article 1: Tangara

The train travelled slowly, barely cresting 10km an hour between the first two stops, and then, as it pulled up to Concord West Station (not to be confused with Concord Dawn Station), the train doors opened, and an announcement was heard to the effect that the train was stopping due to some form of fault that would soon be fixed.
Well, okay, but only because they said it would soon be fixed.
Catheirne did then sit on the train, reading over her notes on fermion exchange, and ignoring the train guys wandering up and down the train in search of whatever was going wrong.
And it was not until the guard, who was a large man who looked like santa with dark hair and no beard, went running down the platform, screaming to the driver that "we've lost the whole pantograph arm".
I refer you now to articles two and three, pointing out exactly what one of these things is, and where abouts you might find one.


Article 2: Pantograph arm


Article 3: Tangara with extra-noticible pantograph arm

Now, it was at this moment that Catherine, unlike most people on the train, was starting to pay attention to what was going on outside, knowing that it might actually end up affecting her. It was 8.40am.

Bang!
A loud noise, not unlike a thunderclap, rocked the train. It was followed a few seconds later by another, just as loud, and Catherine found herself murmuring, "I think it's time to get off this train".
A couple of the other passengers looked to her in shock, as if to say "why on earth would we do that?" but even as Catherine was picking up her bag and heading up the stairs, another two thunderclaps exploded somewhere in their vicinity, and others started to gather their things together as well. Even the morning sleepers were woken up by all the racket.
As Catherine paused on the threashold to an unknown train station, an announcement was heard over the loudspeaker, "ladies and gentlemen, this train will not be moving any time soon. Please alight from the train, and another will be arriving on platform three to continue your journey shortly."
It was rapidly approaching 8.45am.

Standing on the platform of Concord West at this time were very few people, most of them train officials such as the guard and driver, not to mention the station master and a couple of others who happened to be lying around.
Knowing that joining the passengers who were milling under the shelter would be boring, Catherine allowed herself to stand something like two meters behind the guys to hear what was going on. She needn't have bothered.
I refer you to article 4 to demonstrate the view that Catherine got of the last carriage of the train (she had been seated in the second last one, for anyone who truly cares). While the diagram does not accurately represent what had happened, the top half of the arm had at some point been torn away, and the lower half of the arm, the bit that is spring loaded to ensure that the upper half is always touching the wires the was it is meant to, was in fact reaching up, and touching both wires when the wind allowed it to.


Article 4: Missing pantograph arm

Even as she was looking at it, the wind blew, and the two wires momentarily touched across the arm, creating a short circuit. There was a bright spark, a really loud banging noise, and a tiny brown cloud of smoke drifted upwards into the sky. This show was demonstrated several more times as Catherine (and it would seem the cityrail guys) began to wonder if the short circuiting here would affect the other lines at all.

An announcement came over the platform speakers: "Ladies and gentlemen, due to an electrical fault, we will not be conducting any further hornsby services until we have tested the electrical wire between here and straithfield and ensure that it is safe. Pleased be advised that at this time the next train to arrive here at Concord West should be able to come through in another twenty minutes."
Catherine did some quick mental calculations. That would mean she would be arriving at the university in around forty minutes, which would get her there late for the start of the exam, but not that late by anyone's standards. She felt confident enough that she could get through the paper with ten minute's less time than anyone else, but the stress of her morning was starting to get to her, so she withdrew her mother's mobile phone from her bag and called her mother at work.
After a few minutes of reassurances that everything was going to be alright, Catherine allowed herself to hang up before the phone bill ran too high, and sat down to wait out the fifteen minutes remaining.
Now, if I could find you any pictures of Concord West Station, I would demonstrate them now, but instead all I could find was one of Granville, which looks almost identical (not surprising, they were both renovated by the same company), and so I present this as Article 5. Catherine would have been seated in the sun, on the ground next to one of the light poles, for the shaded area was full of milling plebs.
It was 9am.


Article 5: Granville Station.

As the twenty minutes foreordained wore on, Catherine got more and more anxious, as she saw more and more people decide to leave the station and catch a taxi to their destination. Many university students did this, as a way of making it to their exams almost on time, but Catherine decided to have faith in the train system.
Time wore on, and as the deadline came and went, Catherine found herself worrying more and more. She was obviously not going to make it to the exam on time now, and that time was rapidly slipping through her fingers.
Catherine called her mother again, this time with a useful piece of information that she had found in the front of the book she had been trying (and failing) to study out of. But her mother was not in the office at present, and so Catherine had to be content with leaving a message on the machine giving out her teacher's name and number with a request to call him.
Her phone's batteries were protesting at thie point, but Catherine pressed on, trying to call the teacher herself. She got through and he answered, but the phone cut out before she could say anything, and Catherine cursed the lousy battery that failed her a such a crucial time.
It was 9.10am.

Anyway, Catherine was sitting on the platform, miserable, alone in the metaphysical sense of the word and even as she pulled her physics book from her bag to attempt to study further she found tears silently starting to trace silver trails along her face. She tried to call her mother again, but again got the answering machine.
Resolving to see what angst she could spare herself later on, Catherine got up and climbed the stairs to the station master's office. He was there, looking frazzled, as if he feared she too would ask him for more information that he simply didn't have. But instead, Catherine asked him for a note to give to her teacher. The station master beamed, knowing that he could do this for her, and fetched a pad of paper.
At this time, if my scanner was working, I would insert the scanned image of that note, however, the scanner is dead, so I present as Article 6 the typed text of the note.

MEMO from the Station Manager Concord West
Date: 26-11-01
To Whom it may concern
Overhead wiring damaged at Concord West at 08.40. No further trains north until repaired.
*signature*
S.M.
Concord West
Article 6. Transcript of a note given to Catherine. Words in italics handwritten, purple stamped.

It was at 9.15am as Catherine was descending the stairs once more that there came a message over the speaker system. "Ladies and gentlemen, we regret to announe that due to electrical failure, there will be no train arriving on platform three anytime in the near future. Rail buses have been called up and will be arriving in the next 25 minutes."
Catherine started to cry for real now, though still without too much noise to distract anyone else, and she tried once more to call her mother, knowing that she would get the machine, but just wanting to hear a friendly voice.
But crying would not get her anywhere, she realised, and resolved that she would find a way to make things right. Catherine looked in her purse and found only large gold coins in there. She got to her feet and looked around. It was 9.20am.

Approaching the nearest stranger, Catherine asked if they could provide her with change for a shiny 2-dollar coin. They said no, but Catherine approached another stranger, only to again be rejected. Finally, she was able to obtain for herself 2 silver twenty-cent pieces and then she moved, climbing the stairs once more and crossing the bridge before descending to the street below, where others were gathering to wait for buses.
But as she looked out at the unfamiliar little shopping village, it came to Catherine's notice that there was no public phone anywhere within view.
She quickly crossed the street, and walked a block to the nearest intersection, and looking both ways still could not find for herself a phone.
Resisting the urge to scream, Catherine tromped back to the station, climbed the stairs, and waited while several people bought tickets from the station master, wondering why they bothered, before stepping forward and asking politely, "excuse me, sir, can you tell me where the public phone is please?"
"It's down on platform one", he said, and she found herself taking a deep breath and thanking him all the while wishing that she had an excuse to wring his chubby little neck.
She went down the stairs to the unfamiliar platform, realising that the reason she hadn't seen this phone before was because it had been obscured by the dead train that was still sitting there, and wandered down to where a queue of four people were waiting for the phone.
Finally, it was her turn, and she stepped up to put her only change in the phone.
At the university, reading time was finished, and the exam was beginning in earnest. It was 9.30am.

Feeling somewhat frantic now, Catherine called the university. After many rings, just as she was about to give up in disgust, it was answered.
"Steve Bartlett speaking."
Catherine found herself smiling and starting to rant a little hysterically. "Steve, it's Catherine. My train died and I'm stuck at Concord West and I don't know what to do and -"
She was cut off by a rather confused voice saying, "Hello?"
She paused, dumbstruck. "Steve, can you hear me?" She said loudly, attracting the attention of a man who was still twenty metres away but approaching to use the phone.
"Barely..." The voice of her lecturer said.
"Look, I'm stuck at a train station and I going to be really late to the exam", Catherine said in a near scream, fearing that she was going mad.
"I really can't hear you", he said and Catherine suddenly felt the weight of all that had happened that morning come crashing down around her. This was supposed to be her day to shine in the quantum physics exam and yet instead of that it seemed as though she wouldn't even get to sit it.
And it was at this moment that Catherine realised that if she had to sit a make-up exam, she would not be able to go on her planned vacation because she would need to be in Sydney the week of the eclipse.
Feeling her resolve crumble, Catherine sobbed loudly, "Don't worry about it then", and slammed the phone down, crumbling on the platform with only the fact that she was leaning against the payphone keeping her on her feet.
After a few very loud, very noisy and very messy broken sobs, Catherine pulled herself upright, and walked away from the phone, knowing that she was just keeping the man from his chance to use it. Her tears continued to fall and she cried without restraint as she sat herself down at the foot of the station stairs to await the arrival of the rail bus. It was 9.35am

At 9.40am, the rail bus came, dropped off two passengers, and left again, full to the brim with people it had picked up from Straithfield. People who, it should be noted to appreciate Catherine's mood, had obviously missed the train she had been on and therefore had no right to be picked up first.
It just wasn't fair.
Another bus came two minutes after, and while this one was also will of passengers, it did not stop, merely slowing so that all who were waiting got a good look at what they were missing out on.

Catherine reached into her bag for her mum's phone one last time, hoping against all hope that the battery would hold out long enough for one last phone call. She called her mother, and this time there was someone in the office, who had just arrived back and not yet listened to the messages on her answering machine. Gemma (Catherine's mother) took down the teacher's details, and promised to call him immediately to explain the situation. Catherine hung up, feeling only a tiny bit better. It was 9.44am.

Suddenly, an announcement was heard over the train station speaker system once more. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce that the electrical fault has been repaired, and a north-bound train will be arriving in five minutes, if you'll make your way back onto platform 3." It was 9.45am.

Catherine sat on the platform, on one of the actual seats rather than the asphalt, next to a nice-looking young woman, who had a rolled-up copy of Cleo in her hand.
As they sat next to one another in silence, Catherine's phone rang. It was her mother.
"Catherine, I spoke to your teacher. He said that once you get to uni, you should go directly to his office, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. Make sure you don't speak to anyone on the way."
Catherine allowed herself to cry a little more. "There's no one to talk to, they're all trapped in exams." She was thinking not only of the other three students in her class, but also of her friends, who all seemed to have other exams on this morning. She had promised to meet them for lunch, but doubted that would happen now.
"Anyway", her mum went on. "It's all good, you'll get to sit the exam. Now you just need to calm down and stop worrying about it, because it will all work out in the end."
Hanging up, Catherine once again sniffed and dabbed at her face with an already-damp tissue, knowing that she must look a fright with her puffy red eyes and red nose. It was 9.47am
"It'll be alright", the woman next to her said in a friendly voice.
Catherine sighed and explained the situation. The woman smiled.
"Look, your teachers sound like nice people. I'm sure they will let you sit the exam late, and it'll all work out. There's nothing you can do about it, so just calm down and stop crying."
It should be noted at this time that Catherine had in fact stopped crying, but the young woman was being so nice that Catherine decided to force a smile and nod.
"And look, here comes the train."
Catherine looked where she was pointing, and, sure enough, there was a train, approaching the station in the right direction and everything. Getting to her feet, Catherine glanced at her watch and saw that it was 9.50am.

Catherine got on the train, and the woman smiled at her before boarding in the adjacent carriage. Saying a quick prayer, Catherine took a seat, and was finally back on her way into uni. For ten minutes she stared out the window, wishing that she had the concentration to study.
As the train started to slow in readiness for Epping Station, Catherine got to her feet and made her way to the doors, determined to let nothing and no one get in the way of her exam now. She made a decision then to do her best, to prove to cityrail and everyone else what she thought of the distractions they had thrown at her.
"Hey, are you alright?" A voice interrupted her musing and she looked up. She had the vague impression that she had seen the guy it belonged to before. "I saw you crying back at Concord", he said by way of introduction. That was right, Catherine realised, he was the man who had been approaching to use the phone.
"I'm just having a really bad morning", she said, feeling herself come close to tears again at the kindness in his tone. "I missed a big, life-determining exam this morning, and it's kinda upset me a little."
"It'll be alright", he said with a smile, "you go to the uni, right?" At her nod, he went on, "tell them what happened, and if they don't let you do the exam, get your student union to help out. It'll all work out, I promise."
The train stopped, and both alighted, Catherine feeling strangely warmed by the man's honest sincerity. It was 10am.

Passing by the shop at the station, Catherine purchased for herself some lifesavers, knowing that she would need the sugar sometime soon, what with not having eaten breakfast due to her stomach bug. She handed over the money and accepted her change, all without saying a word, remembering her promise not to speak to anyone as she went the last little bit of the journey to the university.
She got on a bus, handing over the right money and just smiling at the bus driver while showing her student card, and took a seat. As the bus made its way to the university, the roll of lollies fell from her pocket, but they made such a clatter that she sprang from her seat to see what was the matter. After crawling around on the floor of the bus just a little (fortunately at this time of and exam day the bus was relatively empty), she recovered the most precious thing she could think of (having given up on her dignity) and resumed her seat. The rest of the journey was uneventful.
At long last, she stepped off the bus to find herself in familiar territory, slightly sunburnt from her morning outside in 30+ degree heat and still looking the worse for all the crying she had done. It was 10.13am.

Walking across campus, she did not trip or stumble, and encountered no one familiar to her. She stepped into the physics building and climbed the stairs, meeting no one's gaze as she made her way to the teacher's office. Finally, she knocked on the shut door, and it was opened with a flourish. It was 10.15am.

"Hey, come on in and have a seat", said Barry Sanders, head of the department of physics and a guy Catherine has always been slightly afraid of. She'd forgotten that her teacher was a post-doctorate researcher studying under Barry in the field of quantum networks (but that is another story for another day) and that Barry would no doubt be involved in what was going to happen to her.
But he was smiling, and Steve was smiling too, so she smiled back a little and came in to sit herself down in the seat proferred.
"We've just got a few more things to get ready for you, so just sit down for a minute, relax, and calm down a little. It'll be okay", he went on, as Steve left the room with a stack of papers in hand, "Would you like a drink?"
Catherine was startled into saying, "Umm, no thanks, I've got a bottle of water with me. I'll be right." Why weren't they rushing her into the exam? What else could go wrong this morning. Responding to the question that must have been showing on her face, Barry smiled again and she found herself feeling better.
"Your mum said you were getting very stressed, and so we decided to make sure you got a chance to relax. After all, you'll be able to do the exam because you didn't talk to anyone on the way here, so you don't have to worry about that anymore, and we want you to do your best."
Feeling suddenly close to tears at how nice everyone was being, Catherine was glad when Steve came back. Barry gave her one last grin and wished her luck, before disappearing into his office.
"Okay, we're going to take you upstairs into the conference room and sit you down there. I won't be able to supervise you, though I'll check every so often in the first hour or so before I have to go to a meeting. The lady in the physics office, do you know her? Well, she'll be taking care of you for the rest of the exam, and you'll get the full three hours, so, if there's nothing else you need, let's go upstairs, shall we?"
Knowing that he would have waited had she declared she had anything else do to, Catherine grabbed her pencil case and drink bottle from her bag, and followed him from the office.
In the physics enquiries office, she was introduced to the woman who worked there (though I cannot remember her name), who took her bag and locked it in a filing cabinet before wishing Catherine luck.
Then they headed upstairs, and Steve handed over a stack of booklets, only one of them with questions on it. "I can't tell you anything about the paper", he said and Catherine nodded, knowing this, as she sat down at one of the desks in the otherwise empty room, "but there shouldn't be anything new to you in it." He then went over and turned on the air conditioning, stating that he knew how hot it was outside and that she must be melting.
"Anyway", he said, "you've got ten minutes reading time. I'll be back to tell you when to start the exam." And with a smile that said "you'll do well, I believe in you", he closed the door, leaving Catherine alone with her exam.
It was 10.20am.

Reading over the exam, Catherine realised that it was familiar to her. She had seen many of these questions before in her studies of the previous exam papers, and knew just how to answer them. She was glad. At several points during her reading she paused, attempting to puzzle out something a little tricky, or trying to decide which five of the eight questions she was to answer. There was one cool question about Schrodinger cat states, but the bit before it involved a proof that she wasn't quite sure of, so Catherine decided to leave that one out.
Finally, just as she thought she would go mad from stress, and she was sure that her watch clearly said that twelve minutes had passed, Steve came back, asked if everything was alright, and told her she could begin.
Looking at her watch again (for there was no timepiece in the room), Catherine realised that it was indeed 10.30am.

As the exam progressed, Catherine frequently found herself zoning out, much more so than usual, and instead of finishing with half an hour to spare as she normally did for quantum physics exams, she was done just as the office lady was coming in to collect her paper, not giving her any chance to go back and fix the few things that had scored a "fix this" on the question paper.
The exam was broken by any number of interruptions, including several people wanting to use the conference room for their meetings, and one group of students who were looking for someone who wasn't Catherine, but she sent them all away with a "I'm doing an exam here, please don't distract me" and a faint smile.
At one point, one of the physics lecturers came in and tried to engage Catherine in a conversation, but it did not turn out so well, for Catherine was concentrating on a difficult problem. Peter Browne came into the room with a flourish, then looked at her in surprise. "Catherine", he said, restoring her faith in the opinion of the physics department about her, "you're doing an exam?" It certainly sounded rhetorical, but she nodded anyway, "when will you be done?"
Not looking up, Catherine answered, "I'm doing phys304", no doubt sounding out of it.
"Catherine", he said in a more gentle voice than his usual brisk tone, "when will you be finished?"
This time she looked up, trying to process his question. "1.30", she said finally, feeling pleased for having gotten it right and he nodded and closed the door again. That was at around 12.50pm.

Just as she was putting the last full stop on the first draft of her last question. the door swung open, and voices could suddenly be heard. The office lady was standing there, and a bunch of physicists stood in the corridor.
"Oh", Catherine gasped, a little startled, "I suppose you want my papers then?" and the woman stepped forward to pick them up once Catherine had rearranged them into some semblence of neatness.
Then she stepped aside and the physics guys came in, continuing their conversation from outside as Catherine gathered up her things. Alan Vaughan, the astronomy teacher at Macquarie, came over to talk to her for a little while, but as that conversation adds nothing to the story I shall not repeat it here. Eventually, Catherine picked up the last of her lolly wrappers and followed the office lady downstairs, glad that the exam was finally over and she could get on with her life. It was 1.32pm.

Catherine was escorted into the office, where first her exam paper was locked away, then her bag recovered. The office lady smiled at her and asked if she'd like a chocolate, and, Catherine being who she is, she could not resist. A large box of chocolates was produced, and Catherine chose one at random as the woman told her that she'd been given a huge box and she didn't eat them that often.
Catherine climbed down the stairs and left the physics building somewhat depressed, though definitely relieved about the exam, knowing that her friends had all finished their exam an hour ago and that none were likely to still be at uni.

Catherine sighed, having walked through the computing labs to discover them empty, and having checked her mail to realise that no one had left her a "where are you? I fear you might be dead" email. They were no doubt all out, enjoying their first day of vacation, whereas she would have to go home by herself and pick up where she had left off on saturday in studying for her maths exam the next day.
She sighed again, as she walked outside the building, then suddenly, dropped her bag to the ground to rummage through it until she successfully produced the mobile phone.
Desperately hoping that it still had a tiny bit of charge left, having been turned off more than three hours before, Catherine dialled Heidi's phone, hoping that it too had charge and was switched on.
For once that day her luck proved true. Heidi not only had the phone on, but heard it ringing and managed to answer it before it went to the machine automatically. A quick exchanged revealed that everyone still were at uni, and that they were indeed no more than a hundred metres away from her, being in the carpark. Catherine walked over to meet them, and all of a sudden felt so much better, joined by her friends and able to tell someone about everything that had gone wrong with her morning.
And so, despite a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad, beginning, suddenly her day didn't seem so bad after all. Catherine wasn't sure what the time was, only that it was the right time for the first time all day.

The End.

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