Ways to get followed, practice the trumpet and be hip.

I can't really think of a subject that these things all relate to or have in common. This blog entry is more like just a brain-dump of strange, possibly blog-worthy things that have happened to me over the past week.

One lunchtime last week, I was walking back to work from having lunch North Sydney with 2 of my colleagues. Sometimes we walk along a route that is next to a motorway back to work. It's only slightly quicker, but provides a bit more sunshine. It also takes us past 2 luxury car garages, which always have 6 digit price tag cars for sale.

This particular day we had decided to walk back along this way and were rewarded for our choice. In the photo I've marked the trumpet player with a red arrow (you can slightly see him). He was hiding behind a corner and to protect his anonymity I took the picture partially obscuring him (my friend convinced me to not directly take a picture of his face. I wanted to take a full picture of him. He was dressed in a suit and a scarf and looked so out of place...) 

Hiding trumpet player

And then today on lunch, we were walking along the road back to work and I heard the muffled sounds, barely audible ffffpppppwaaaah-waaah sounds of a brass musical instrument. He's back! But as we walked further down the road and looked he wasn't in his usual position. He had changed up on us, and was secretly practicing his lip-vibrated instrument somewhere else. Immediately this became a game. I had to track him down and get a better photo of him. Maybe even talk to him.

We were crossing the road when I head the noise. I turned to my friend...

"Listen. That noise. It's a trumpet!"

"My friend stops and listens. "Ohhh yeah" she says also excitedly. "But I cannot see him"

"Don't worry. I will find him" listened to the faint fffpwahhh-ing for a few seconds, then sprinted across the road. 

"He's over here", I whispered. I'm not sure why I whispered, cos we could shout and the sound of the traffic would still make our voices virtually silent.

I sprinted across the road and peered over the edge of the bank of the motorway.

Sure enough he was there. I got my phone out and motioned to my friend that I am going to film him. My friend made chuckling motions in agreement. The video below is the short clip I've got. We think he plays near to the traffic probably so that no one can hear him practice. Maybe if we see him again, I will interview him. 

Last week I was in the Westfield shopping mall in Sydney central plaza. I've been there maybe 10 times and still manage to forget what shops are there, and what locations they are in.
Each floor is different, and so you would think easy to navigate. Well, it is, until you actually get in there, look at the map to find what shop you want, walk around a bit, find the shop and then not know how the fuck to get back out.
Last Thursday evening was one such day. I decided to look at some shops on the basement floor, but after going down an escalator, looking around and walking about seemingly aimlessly and seeing a guy that looked like Howard Marks walking in a similar direction to me, I came back up the escalator. This fruitless mission took 10 minutes of my time. On my way back up the escalator I turned round to look back down and noticed this guy a few metres behind me again, looking at me with a bemused look and slightly lopsided grin. I sort of did a double take. He did look a bit like Howard Marks. Maybe not as curly hair, and not as weathered.

"How do you get out do you get out of this mother fucker?!" he chuckled.

"Fuck knows mate...follow the light?" I slurred back, as I too was lost and slightly fed up

He laughed.

"Try going that way" I said, and pointed. "There's daylight over there..." (It was evening and pretty dark outside by now...)

I walked away and giggled to myself about what just happened. The guy calling it "this mother fucker" was quite funny and the fact that he was probably just following me for at least 5 minutes trying to escape too made it even funnier.

I've recently got a bar code scanner app on my phone, that also generates QR images,...so I made one for my blog in case anyone wants to print out the QR image and make a cool sticker and be hip and trendy and technologically savvy and soooo 2001. (Interestingly QR imaging started back in 1994) .

The one one the left is for this blog; http://16983kms.blogspot.com/

/EDIT
I think the instrument that he plays is actually a trombone not a trumpet. I never was able to get a really good look. Apologies for my ignorance, it's just that brass, wind-powered instruments all look the same. Gold and shiny.