make way for the lady with the cake: or how to get a seat on the train during the busy Christmas shopping period

Last weekend was a two barbeque weekend. As a part of my contribution to the first barbeque I volunteered to bring a cake. It was all a bit last minute so I dashed down to my favourite bakery on Smith St to secure just the right comestible. Ah, yes. A chocolate mud cake. Flourless at that. Size: large. Into the box it went and then back with me to my workplace. At the day’s end the cake took a tram ride with me into the city to purchase (1) a present for my housemate (the reason for the second barbeque) and (2) something very pink from ‘Morning Glory’ for a certain nine year old I know. And all the while delicately balancing the increasingly weighty cake box as the shopping bags piled higher. By the time I reached Melbourne Central Station I must have been looking slightly harried. “What’ve ya got in yer box?” asks one gent. “It’s a cake. Largish. And heavyish now,” say I. “Have a seat love,” he generously offers. I gratefully sink onto the seat. Settle bags around me and take a quick peek to check that the cake remains in one piece. It is. Starting to look a bit melty around the edges though.
Soon comes the train to Footscray. Assemble packages. Clutch the cake box a little more securely and prepare to get self onto train without losing anything vital. Successfully achieved. But no seats. Steel self to remain upstanding with cake box and parcels until destination reached. Getting really heavy now.
Tap on shoulder. “Here, have a seat”, she says. “No really, it’s OK (martyr to cause),” say I. “There’s a spare seat. I’ll move.” she says. I turn and there is indeed a seat for me and a seat for the cake box. “What’s in the box?” “It’s a cake. Chocolate. Largish. And heavy. Miraculously, still in one piece.” “Ah,” she says, “have a piece for me”. ‘You bet,” I say. And I did. Thanks to the kindness of stangers a lowly chocolate cake in a box navigated from Collingwood to it’s eventual destination in Newport – and none the worse for wear (at least until it was time for a cup of tea and a piece of cake!)