Surry Hills Tramstop
“We apologise for the delay, but we’re still not sure when we can leave, after an earlier incident”, the tram driver told us twice.
While many others got off the tram, I decided to wait.
And what a lovely experience it was. There was a couple sitting opposite with a child of maybe eighteen months old. That age when children start to develop their own personality, are usually always smiling.
They were a French couple and she was was talking to the child in some very basic French, which was good, as it was at about the level of my understanding of French.
And then she burst into song.
Alouette, gentille alouette
Alouette, je te plumeraiJe te plumerai la tête
Je te plumerai la tête
Et la tête, et la tête
Alouette, Alouette
Oh, oh, oh, ohAlouette, gentille alouette
Alouette, je te plumerai
What a joy it was to remember that song from my own childhood. I sang along in my head.
Anyway. after about twenty minutes, I’d lost interest in the family, and on my plans to travel into the city, so I got off the tram.



By this stage, I decided there wasn’t much point waiting around for the next tram heading into the city, so I popped down to my local pub instead.
Your alternative to going by tram to where you supposed to go and then going off to the pub is funny. The L2 and L3 have improved their service since opening but the dealing with problems and breakdowns is hopeless. Nothing to learn from Melbourne’s old tram system though.