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There have been a couple of things that have happened recently that make me laugh every time I think about them. It's really a shame that we didn't have a video camera with us during these recent comic happenings. But, hopefully the humor will come through in the re-telling!

The first thing that happened was on the way to our Frisbee game one Wednesday evening. Because it's just getting to be spring, until recently, our games always started well after dark. We were riding to the game on our bikes, and we had to go a different way than usual. This was because the fields were we play were also being used for parking for the Adelaide Show, a big festival akin to a State Fair, with contests for the best pies, jams, and pigs.

They had put up a bunch of flagging to convert part of the fields into parking. We ducked under one set of flagging and got on our bikes to ride the rest of the way to the Frisbee fields. Ahead, I noticed there were a number of big logs lying down on the ground. I turned to Dave and said, "Be careful, there are a bunch of logs here."

Dave, however, didn't see the logs that I was talking about (they were pretty well hidden in tall grass, and it was very dark out), and so did what he usually does when he first gets on his bike. He got out of the seat and stood up to get some good momentum going on his bike. About 3 peddle strokes later, Dave's bike ran smack into one of the logs hiding in the tall grass. I heard a low grunt, which sounded like air being expelled from his lungs, and then turned to watch as he did a slow motion flip over his handle bars and disappeared into the grass.

I was very concerned about Dave, and wanted to make sure he was OK. But, he was soon laughing, which I took as permission to laugh as well. It was so funny. The good thing is that he wasn't going to fast, and the tall grass cushioned his landing. That's the best when something really funny happens and no one gets hurt!

The second thing also involves Dave. We were having a lovely dinner with our friends the Dales at their home in Melbourne. Conversation was going along normally when I happened to glance across the table at Dave and noticed his wine glass and saw something in it. I was terribly confused because from my viewpoint, it looked sort of like the wispy strands of egg in egg drop soup. I couldn't help but lean in to get a better view. Suddenly, I realized that the egg-looking thing was in fact a piece of chicken breast. I looked down at the table and realized that Dave's wine glass was between the dish of chicken and his plate, and quickly guessed that he must have accidentally dropped a piece of his chicken in his wine glass as he was transporting it to his plate.

I know I shouldn't have laughed, but the realization of what had happened came so suddenly, that I couldn't help it. And, it would have been rude not to explain why I was laughing, so I unfortunately had to give away Dave, who had been successfully hiding the incident up until that point. Some fiance I am.

I realize it may not seem that nice to share these stories about Dave. But, I promise, these things make me love him even more. And, it's more fun if you can laugh at yourself (or your partner) anyways.

Thankfully, the third situation does not involve Dave, but instead a ticket validating machine. When you get on a train, tram or bus here, you're supposed to stick your ticket into a little dark blue box, that is about the size of a shoe box, but is turned on its side. The machine sucks in your ticket, makes a sound like a time clock when you punch in for work, and then returns your ticket for you to take with you.

We were sitting on the train one night, waiting to leave, when a guy got on and went to validate his ticket. The machine took his ticket, made the validation sound, but then didn't send the ticket back out. It's such an automatic process for people validating their tickets, that he had even started to walk away from the machine before he realized that his hand was empty. He came back to the machine. He crooked his head to look at the entry slot for the ticket, saw nothing, and so banged lightly on the top of the box. Nothing happened after a few seconds, so he went and sat down, not knowing what else to do.

A few minutes later, the red 'X' on the mysterious blue ticket box began to flash red and was accompanied by the repeated rejection sound (just imagine the sound you would hear on a quiz show if you incorrectly answered a question; or, if you've ever played Taboo, the sound that the dreadful buzzer makes). It was as though something had gone seriously wrong with the ticket machine, and it was sounding the alarm, loud and clear. Then, suddenly the noise stopped and the machine violently spit the ticket back out, sending it flying to the floor. Usually when you stick your ticket in, the machine just sends out about half of the ticket, and you have to pull it the rest of the way out. So, you can imagine our surprise when the ticket came flying out of the machine. The guy calmly got up, picked up his ticket, and went back to his seat. It was hilarious. I've always wondered what happens inside of those ticket validation boxes, and after the incident, I can now report that I have even less of an idea.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I just love it when things happen which make you laugh out loud. Hopefully there will be more such comical happenings to share soon, and please do feel free to share any that may have recently happened to you!