Tuesday, September 23, 2014

I Got Lost...

Yep... I got lost at the new and supposedly improved Westfield Garden City.  First off, I had to fight for a parking spot... a woman walked to where her car was parked (telling me she was leaving first, so it didn't seem as though I was stalking her), got in, and then waited for me to block the traffic.  Then some, 20-something year old tried to steal the spot from me!  I cut him off in a second... he wasn't pleased, but then, he really shouldn't be trying to steal parking spaces from people who have been waiting for them longer than he has.

Well, once I was ready, the car was locked up, and I had found my way inside David Jones, I found out the place had free Wi-Fi!  Very cool... so signed up for that on my iPod, and got it, so I could look up stuff online if needs be, walked through to the main larger area of Garden City I knew and prepared myself to find StrandBags... the place I came to look at.

I got lost looking for it.

You see, I had looked for it online, and it had been shown to me in its old place - where The Pancake Manor is now - instead of its newer place - near EB Games.  It's been in the new place downstairs for over a year, and the map hadn't been changed?  Now, that's awful!  

Once I found StrandBags, I talked to the lady I had spoken to on the phone and she showed me the bag I had lusted after online - and like most things we find online, as well as ourselves - it looked so much better in real life!  I loved it even more when I saw it up close, so much so, I pulled out the $30 StrandBags Voucher I had received for my birthday from Graham (one of my sci-fi writer friends) and added on around $9.00 more and bought it.  The ladies there at the store let me look through the bag and I found it zipped up just right for lefties!  How cool is that?
Well, after I bought it, I was offered a membership card, which I said yes to and signed up to be a member of their loyalty club.  Very cool.

Once all this was finished with, I stepped out into the bustling crowds of Garden City thinking it might be time to go home; but then, thought it would be a good idea to find Riot Art... as the new section of Garden City had opened just last week, and the finishing touches were being put onto the place.

I walked past The Book Cafe, and the place seemed to just... keep... going!  I was amazed at how many more shops there were.  I found Target, The ABC Shop and a few more hair salons around the corner as well as Noosa Chocolates... woah!... now that's a place I'll have to nose around when I return.  But there was no Riot Art on the top floor.  So, I got to the end where a massive red Target sign was and I went down the electronic ramp to the level below where I started talking to a man in front of me and asked him if he had come across Riot Art and he - thankfully - pulled out a map!  But we couldn't find it.  I spotted the concierge - and they were on the phone.  Then, I saw one of the new, huge, white touch screens which were maps of the place... amazingly easy to use.  So, I typed in what I needed to know and found the place... not 100 metres away.  Very cool!  These maps were great!  The man watched me use it and thought they were great too; as he had seen a few of them dotted around the place - and it was about time they had put them in for us to use.

I found Riot Art easily, and found the store had been squished into a tinier shop than it was previously.  Actually it reminded me of the shop over at Westfield Carindale... tiny and cramped.  I walked down one isle and found the paints and brushes tucked away there, when a lady walked in after me, and I commented how tiny the place had become.  She turned to me and said my name... strange thing was I didn't remember her until she said she knew me from RACQ and we had worked together!  Man!  That was a long time ago!  I had run into Regina Chandler!  She worked on the phones in Administration when I first started at RACQ when I was 18 years old!  Amazing how fast those years have flown by.  She said she didn't know it was me until I said something... and that I was so young when I started there that I just a child really; and very immature.  I agreed with her, saying I had a lot to learn.  But I learned a lot while working there, just not as much as most people would by the time they hit 24.  She disagreed, saying I was just young and my mind was young. 
I told her I was 40 now and she said I've grown into my own by now. And we chatted about what we're doing now and I told her my health really did me no favours after I left work; that I had a rough time with it and had to stop driving my beloved Celica.  Regina thought was bad, but it's great I'm going well now.  

We were going in the same direction and so chatted while we walked towards Coles.  And after we parted company, I still almost got lost getting back to my car.... stop laughing... it's gotten really confusing at Garden City now.  I kinda liked it... but then, I kinda didn't.  I guess new things aren't liked until we get used to them.  Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

2 comments:

  1. There are two Riot Art stores! One at Chermside shopping centre on Gympie Road and the other at Mt Ommaney shopping centre (off Western Freeway) at Jindalee.

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    1. I found one at the Hyperdome which is bigger than the one at Garden City and it has more supplies there too... so I've been going to the Hyperdome more than Garden City because I'm less likely to get lost at the new sections - less likely to lose my car as well. :P

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