A Guitar Down Under

"But are there sharks in Perth?"

I had to ask. I was heading there and wanted my bad news in advance.

"Well, not exactly IN Perth. If you stay away from the water you should be just fine. There have only been 892 shark attacks since 1791, so no worries."

Why was I worried? you might ask. It was because I had been invited to sing in Australia! And not just Australia, but Western Australia, where shark rumors were rife and made people twitchy. I had read of a shark attack upon a young swimming man whose fiancé was walking along the shore in Perth. After sunset. It was ugly.

And worse, I had seen JAWS the movie, and never forgot.

But - "No worries,"  I was told. The Australians themselves seemed in a perpetual yawn at the prospect of sharp rows of teeth. So perhaps I should follow their lead, adopt their indifference.

Qantas flew me the 9,330 miles, and darling Joyce was there to collect me, after clearing Customs. 

At last I walked out the chute and into the main terminal, sleepy, bewildered, and into the arms of Joyce and Bob. We talked a mile a minute, but then I began to feel uneasily that I'd left something important behind. On the plane, which was still on the tarmac. I rummaged in my purse..

"Joyce! My ticket! My airline ticket - it's not here!!!"

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chewychua/88487196/

"What!? Where is it?" She said with a sudden touch of panic.

"ON THE PLANE!!!"

We dashed back to the chute. I ran to a Qantas agent and blurted out the ridiculous truth - that I had gone and left the return portion of my nonrefundable paper ticket, in the pocket in front of seat 17D.

The agent said, "Run right now and tell the custodial staff!"

I ran. I told the custodial staff and was miraculously allowed to go back to my seat. I reached inside the seat pocket, felt around, and then - touched something that might be a ticket.

It was a ticket! Hurray for miracles! As I floated down that airplane aisle clutching my paper ticket, I spoke to a flight steward.

"Thank you so much for letting me find my ticket!" And I knew exactly what his reply would be. Two words I came to know and love during the weeks I was a guest of this wonderful, quirky country.

Oh that's fine, Miss. NO WORRIES!!"

Nope. No worries at all.


See you along the way!
the SconeLady










photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/trblmkr/1051625662/">Mshai</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chewychua/88487196/">Chewy Chua</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>