PAPER CHASE

Back in 1968, while I was living in Brisbane, I managed to pay $3 for a copy of The Courier Mail. It was 8pm when I knocked off work at Freedman’s Clothing in Fortitude Valley and hopped on a tram. When it reached Queen Street, I quickly jumped off the tram to grab a copy of the paper from one of the newsstands at the tram stops. Just as I handed over my 50 cents for the paper, the doors of the tram closed and it pulled away.

I needed to make my connecting bus that would be leaving Moorooka bus terminal in 30 minutes, so hailed the first passing taxi. “Follow that tram!” I said to the cabby.

The fare cost me $2.50 but I managed to make it in time for the bus. I was still a little out of breath when I dropped into a vacant seat on the bus – only to see a copy of the newspaper lying on the seat next to me.