Sally at the controls of Canada Creek railway

Being a woman of a certain age my eyesight is not what is was and this was the cause of much hilarity amongst my delightful friends when I worked at a local theme park. When running any of the various rides and attractions it was necessary to record how many guests passed through each hour and for that you need a watch. The trouble was that my eyesight was so dodgy in poor light that I quite often couldn’t see the digital display on my cheap watch leading me to frequently ask my colleagues for the time. My propensity to do this resulted in me becoming the butt of many jokes and the victim of some ridiculous pranks.

The Train

The park had a lovely train which took guests on a pleasant ride around some of the attractions. One of my many jobs was to drive this train and I loved doing this until one of my lovely friends decided to turn it into a nightmare. The track passed by a water ride which sometimes malfunctioned and when this happened we had to stop running the train in order to allow park managers safe access to the water ride. If this or any other problems had occurred I would be called at the ride and the phone was at the end of the platform in the station. As most calls to that phone were to some degree important or urgent if I heard it ring I would rush to it to take the call. As I was out of the station driving the train for much of the time the phone would often be ringing as I pulled back into the station resulting in a mad dash from the cab to the phone. One day I returned to the station to hear the phone ringing away merrily and hastily parked the train in order to make the dash across the platform. When I answered the call a voice simply said “what’s the time?” Oh very funny I thought! Calling me to ask the time became a park wide hobby with the operators of rides close to the station going so far as to notify my friends on the other side of the park as to when I was pulling in.

Accident

What a dilemma! I knew that I was going to get pranked all day long but I had to answer the phone in case it really was an emergency. I got particularly annoyed on the day I rushed to the phone and tripped up flying across the platform in front of 80 amused guests and on another occasion when my efforts to reach the phone ended with me falling and throwing my paperwork onto the track. The joke was completed when I was presented with an enormous clock to hang around my neck and then the phone calls stopped.

Great Memories

I suppose the prank was rather funny and I have some special memories of my time on the train. Predictably when I left I was presented with a lovely with a very clear face that I could actually see. I have never asked anyone for the time since and probably never will!