’11 OZ PHOTO SERIES PT11
ST KILDA TRAM
LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES
It was just another day in Melbourne where myself, Ben, Kai, Lorz, Louise and Ken (Jenny) headed to St Kilda for a day on the beach. Melbourne doesn’t always guarantee you beach weather but when it does everyone either heads to a beer garden or St Kilda so it can get pretty busy.
I’LL F**KING JUMP ON YOUR HEAD
We jumped on the 118 tram and were sat facing a few of Melbourne’s finest dregs of society. One of the junkies passed comment on Lorz a few times and I asked him to leave her alone in a completely relaxed and unoffensive tone. It was then I realized I should’ve laughed at his shit jokes instead of sticking up for my mate because he completely went off on one.
Death threats in Melbourne
THE DIALOGUE
“WHAT DID YOU SAY MATEY?!!”
FUCK!! I knew I was fast approaching a bad situation here
“I just wanted you to leave her alone.”
“I’LL CUT YOU!”
At this stage I thought I would be better saying nothing
“I’LL GET OFF ON THE NEXT STOP AND GO FOR YOU!!
I WOULDN’T THINK TWICE ABOUT JUMPING ON YOUR HEAD, WHAT DO I HAVE TO LOSE!”
I believed it, in fact the way he spoke we all believed it
Death threats in Melbourne
JUST ME AND THEM
We were penned in so Lorz got up and walked off to another seat which is what I would have done had it not been directed at me. Then she was followed by anyone else within earshot. Now it was just me and my junkie friends facing each other in our own little booth, cosy.
Death threats in Melbourne
I’d like to think I’m a man of principle. So not keen on rolling over and just taking abuse like that but at the same time not wanting to get sliced I just maintained eye contact with the guy and said nothing. After a few seconds (which felt like hours) of staring into his lost soul I regretted it but had already committed and I’m stubborn as shit!
I could hear Lorz calling for me to get away from the situation but me being me I wasn’t giving in. Anyway I sure didn’t want to get up and have to walk past them and I’m not going to lie, I was quietly shitting it. Most of the passengers were now gathered at the front of the tram talking to the driver and asking for the police.
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TIME TO GET OFF
Stops are fairly often on the trams but theres a bit of a gap between the Southbank and St Kilda stops. Nothing more than 3or4 minutes but it felt closer to 3 or 4 hours before we got to the next stop which wasn’t even ours. But the guys and the rest of the tram for that matter weren’t having any of it and jumped out at the first opportunity, quickly followed by me, leaving the junkies to an empty tram on their own.
If I’m honest I was glad to get off, we all knew these guys were good on their word and had nothing to lose to teach a young fella a lesson. I have a certain amount of sympathy for them and where they find themselves. Theres a good chance they wont last another 5 years with the stuff they are putting inside them. They clearly have a huge chip on their shoulder and probably feel society has failed them and they may have a point, I don’t know their history. But telling a young lad that you’ll jump on his head after he told them to stop teasing his friend, not sure I could excuse that!
HIGHLIGHTS OF MELBOURNE
Death threats in Melbourne
Death threats in Melbourne
Death threats in Melbourne
Death threats in Melbourne
Death threats in Melbourne
Death threats in Melbourne
FINAL THOUGHTS
Could have dealt with the situation better and not said anything but that wouldn’t be me 🤷🏻♂️ But as I say for every crazy experience I’ve survived, it’s another anecdote for the blog 🤷🏻♂️
NEXT UP
Myself, Ben and the Brummies jump in the smallest camper van we found and do an epic 2 week trip to the centre of Australia and back! Click to read!
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
15/229
This episode is part of The Oz Photo Series, click to see episode 1.
