Police Wrap - 17 December

FC said :

and the doctor says I should just think of my soothing thoughts and avoid acting on it. 😉

My doctor says that too. But the voices in my head are so much louder and very very persuasive.

haha. funny call dexi.
I actually find the children’s conversations quite amusing sometimes
I say sometimes because it very much depends on my mood.
Sometimes I wouldn’t mind hitting some of them in the back of the head.
But I get that urge a lot and the doctor says I should just think of my soothing thoughts and avoid acting on it. 😉

> Its your children that make the bus awful

Not mine. He’s well behaved & attends his local public school, no interchange visits required. 🙂

Personally I wont travel the buses during the school bus time. Its your children that make the bus awful. Try listening to their conversations or watching the poor behavior going on from some of the uniformed schools.

I would think 14yrs is a good age for independent bus travel.

tylersmayhem said :

These Canberra interchanges are scary places.

Oh FFS! I agree completely with Dexi – nad man there appear to be so many paranoid, scared and sheltered people in this town. The interchanges now are the same as they were when I was that age, just probably a few more of what some of you would call “undesirable”. Some of you should be ashamed, and go back and live in your little bubble! We have it considerable better here than so many other places in the world, and I tell you what – places even in the UK are miles worse than here. But then again, if you want your kids to grow up in cotton wool, jump back it your Ranger Rover and keen ferrying them to school. Just might be interesting watching them out in the real world later in life.

so true.. I’ve caught buses since I went to school and spend a lot of the time in the city and travel through interchanges all the time. yeah there’s drama here and there, but I’ve never felt threatened or unsafe. Some ppl need to HTFU… it’s Canberra ffs.

How many school ages children are actually made ‘victims’ from hanging out at the interchange while waiting for a bus.
Yes there may be puch ups between school kids that know each other but I would suggest it would be rare that kids are randomly attacked while catching the bus home from school/
The interchange seems the same now as it did when I was a kid and while it gets more interesting on a Friday night because of all the young ones hanging out, i wouldn’t be fazed sending my kid there on 4 pm on a weekday.
The main thing they might haev to be aware of is that they might get asked for money, which I have found occurs more often in the interchange than other areas. And you know what. You simply say yes and donate a dollar or whatever and say ‘no, sorry’ and go on your way. The same as I did when I was young. usually when I was young I didn’t have ‘spare’ change to give out anyway so you wouldn’t even need to be lying. I’m assuming the ‘responsible’ parents who are worried about their children going in there would provide their kids with a bus pass to use instead of was of money, so there shouldn’t really be anything to worry about.
And if you are there to catch a bus and not as a social scene, then you are likely not to get bothered anyway.
That was the way it was 10-15 years ago too…
And there are plenty of transiting adults around that would help out a school kid anyway if there was trouble.
And wait a minute – the offenders were listed as 18-19 years old here.
Hardly kids. They are ADULTS.
And the victim was also an adult.

justbands said :

dexi, tylersmayhem & Jim Jones: Just out of interest, are any of you parents?

Almost.

I commuted to and from school through the bus interchanges from a very early age, and it’s hardly any different now. It’s certainly not more sketchy (if anything, the absence of a young Jim Jones makes it infinitely less sketchy).

The bulk of the times that kids are using the interchange are before and after school (when it’s loaded with kids). I probably wouldn’t want young kids wandering around there late at night, but young kids shouldn’t be wandering around unsupervised late at night anyway.

dexi, tylersmayhem & Jim Jones: Just out of interest, are any of you parents?

I can handle the interchanges fine (although I rarely use public transport, nothing to do with being scared..I just like getting places in less than hours. It’s quicker for me to ride my bike than to catch a bus), although I’d not want my 11yo hanging around in them on his own.

Thanks for keeping this thread in check Tyler.

I spent many a Friday night hanging outside Metro in the Woden interchange in the 90’s, occasionally engaging in the gentlemanly art of biffo with our more than obliging Marist College foes. I turned out fine.

I’ll second that rant.

These Canberra interchanges are scary places.

Oh FFS! I agree completely with Dexi – nad man there appear to be so many paranoid, scared and sheltered people in this town. The interchanges now are the same as they were when I was that age, just probably a few more of what some of you would call “undesirable”. Some of you should be ashamed, and go back and live in your little bubble! We have it considerable better here than so many other places in the world, and I tell you what – places even in the UK are miles worse than here. But then again, if you want your kids to grow up in cotton wool, jump back it your Ranger Rover and keen ferrying them to school. Just might be interesting watching them out in the real world later in life.

so you haven’t met the “train spotter”, then. if you do, you will know about it. I have never learned so much about train gauges on a seemingly long ride from belco to tuggeranong…

he visits retail stores on a full moon week.

My absolute favorite gem of the buses is “Archive Guy”. He collects information. Its always interesting sitting behind him and sneaking a peak in his folder.

jessieduck said :

Dexi I hear you! Last week I had the luck of sitting in front of a smack addict explaining to his friend that lesbians like being in jail because of the “lickitisplits”. I nearly did myself an injury trying not to laugh out loud! He was also pretty sure that someone tried to inject herion in his eye but he might have just dreamt it so he wasn’t going to bash them.

LOL! I love those kind of fellow bus travellers! Definitely one of the pluses of buses!

poptop said :

I’m with dexi on this; it is Reality Soap Opera.

It is a bit scary when emotions explode on the bus, rather than at the interchange, though.

the human zoo (buses) has always been the best place to see all walks of life in canberra. my personal favorite is the female wino who kicks over the signs on the pavement in civic interchange, before demanding money from scared suit wearing young men.

she has never bothered me, but then, i knew of her in the village. must still have enough memory to know that she won’t get very far with me.

I can remember a time when the interchanges had heaters running in the closed off cubicles in winter. me and my mates would sleep there. It was better than the refuge, and you woke up with all your possessions and teeth.

The ferals, bogans etc all congregate there once they are too old to go to the youth centres, or get banned from them. There are no venues for these people, so they spend their days getting drunk and stoned in the interchange, or nearby, then sit around or bother others for money, cigarettes etc.

pretty sad state of affairs for these people. Then they go home to the village or their miserable little housing accomodation. (or their cars, parked out the front of a flat)

Something needs to be done, but they won’t go to refuges, considering that the pecking order after lights out is pretty harsh, and you won’t come out with all you came in with.

Dexi I hear you! Last week I had the luck of sitting in front of a smack addict explaining to his friend that lesbians like being in jail because of the “lickitisplits”. I nearly did myself an injury trying not to laugh out loud! He was also pretty sure that someone tried to inject herion in his eye but he might have just dreamt it so he wasn’t going to bash them.

I’m with dexi on this; it is Reality Soap Opera.

It is a bit scary when emotions explode on the bus, rather than at the interchange, though.

“What is it about ferral people and interchanges?”
Maybe they are catching the bus.

Some of you really have a sheltered life. I use public transport all the time. Occasionally you get loud mouths shouting stuff at each other or the kiddies threatening to scrap. This is entertainment to a otherwise bland, safe form of transport. Without them Id have nothing to talk about when I get home.

You know they are not interested in, all you citizens. Who they want, is the C### who sold them salt or are wearing the trainers they had stolen. My personal favorite are the pram pushers with potty mouth, an arm full of plastic bags and a dislike of some girls sexual choices.

I like the bus. It is an interesting slice of Canberra.

Must be the entertainment hub of their pathetic lives.

Semi-captive audience?

What is it about ferral people and interchanges? Surely it can be that exciting for them to hang out there.

Madman said :

fnaah said :

You can be charged with posession of ammunition?

If you don’t have a license to posess it of course you can… Just the same as being charged for driving without a license.

Bet the MacGregor house was the one a street over… I’ve always had my suspicions.

Plus it has to be stored correctly.

Back to the interchange… politicians should have to catch public transport and experience what the rest of the public have to endure. I also think that there may be more to this story than meets the eye – I am ready for the blokes mates to jump in here and defend him (and would be happy to be wrong).

poptop said :

Or have your car surrounded and searched by policemen with master keys.

I see what you did there.

Or have your car surrounded and searched by policemen with master keys.

R. Slicker said :

Does anybody else see the contradiction between attempts to force us onto buses and then expecting us to run the gauntlet of the hoods and bogans at the interchanges? At least when I drive my car I don’t have to put up with low lives begging money for drugs.

I’d love for my 11 and 8 year old children to catch a bus to school. And then a bus to my work when they have finished school. Alas, all our Action buses to school (public school) go through an interchange. It will never, ever happen. These Canberra interchanges are scary places.

I have had the misfortune to collect my partner from the Woden interchange when his car died on him. I have never seen so many people with so few teeth.

R. Slicker said :

Does anybody else see the contradiction between attempts to force us onto buses and then expecting us to run the gauntlet of the hoods and bogans at the interchanges? At least when I drive my car I don’t have to put up with low lives begging money for drugs.

Least not until you’re held at knifepoint in the carpark, have your car broken into and/or stolen…

fnaah said :

You can be charged with posession of ammunition?

If you don’t have a license to posess it of course you can… Just the same as being charged for driving without a license.

Bet the MacGregor house was the one a street over… I’ve always had my suspicions.

Does anybody else see the contradiction between attempts to force us onto buses and then expecting us to run the gauntlet of the hoods and bogans at the interchanges? At least when I drive my car I don’t have to put up with low lives begging money for drugs.

5’7” (170cm) tall, medium build, olive skin, medium length black hair, wearing black track suit pants, a dark coloured shirt and white sneakers.

Who would have guessed?!

You can be charged with posession of ammunition?