The Day the Impossible Became Possible

On the last Friday of January 2015, the impossible become possible for me.


The quick background is: I was finishing my job in one area within my organisation and moving to another area. The lovely folk whose area I was leaving threw me a morning tea (with home-made cupcakes - very yummy!) and gave me a lovely box of flowers.

Now, finishing up always takes longer than you think it will, and I decided I had to take a slightly later shuttle bus. It wouldn't be a problem, I told myself. My usual shuttle bus always drops me at the train station with 10-15 minutes to spare. There would be plenty of time for me to make my usual train, I told myself.

(I had to make this train, otherwise I would miss my connecting train and, bottom line, I wouldn't get anywhere near home until about 8pm).

I finally finished boxing up stuff. And I went outside and waited.

And waited. With growing concern and impatience.

The shuttle bus was later than expected.

And waited.

A good 10 minutes later, the bus rocked up.


My chance of getting to my train had shrunk to an impossible window. I was calm, and resigned to the inevitable.

And yet, this is what happened next:

• I was the only one on the bus and as the bus driver was the regular driver, I told him about my impossible window of time to get to my train. Yes, I was maybe, kinda hoping that he might be able to drive a smidgen quicker.

• First things first. The bus clock was two minutes fast, he said. That widened the window by an extra two minutes. (Hope flickers...)

• The bus driver halved his regular loop to go straight to the train station. But it still took time. (Hope rises and battles with pragmatism...)

• We had to get through two roundabouts, where we couldn't afford to have to stop to give way to traffic. (The roundabouts were clear and there was no traffic to have to stop to give way to. Hoping against hope... or hoping with hope!)

• We had two pedestrian crossings, where we didn't have to stop. (A desperate heart of hope...)

• The bus driver said he would stop before the actual shuttle bus stop which was further away. He said, if he could, he would stop at the inside lane at the traffic lights to give me a shorter run to the train station. This meant the inside lane had to be clear, and the lights had to be red. (The inside lane was clear and the lights were red! Hope and desperation and determination all going berserk!)

• Four lanes of highway had to be free of traffic for me to scamper through. (They were!! I ran [lumbered] across, as my laptop bag bumping awkwardly against my hip as it threatened to slide off my shoulder taking my handbag with it, as I carried a box of flowers in my left hand, and as my right hand clutched my e-card/ticket - all as I wearing stupid wedge-shaped shoes that bit cruelly at my feet and that I couldn't walk in comfortably, never mind run).

• THEN, I still needed the train to be late by 2 minutes - and guess what??? By all the gods who were smiling on me that afternoon, the train was late by two minutes!!!!!

It rolled into the station as I walked onto the platform. And I walked straight onto it.

I was SO thankful and disbelieving and so relieved that I had to giggle out loud. I stood on the train, in my cruel shoes and clutching my box of flowers, and just giggled to myself. I HAD MADE IT!!!!!

Massive, massive thanks to the shuttle bus driver who drove carefully, safely and within the speed limit and who halved his loop, and in so doing, helped me catch my regular train and not a later, potentially less-safe Friday night one...

There was an entire sequence of elements that had to line up perfectly. And they did!!

It's always worth remembering these moments. I'm still in awe at the number of completely impossible hurdles that all sorted themselves out one by one, to let the impossible become possible!