Loveday Writing

Describe a time when someone helped you**

One specific time that someone helped me which has stuck with me is when I threw up on a train last year. Early last year I was on a train on my way to the Pacific Magazine offices as I was undertaking an internship at Marie Claire. I woke up that morning with a migraine and a strong urge to vomit which lead to me making the decision to go home halfway through my trip. I got off the train at Helensburgh and got on a train back to Wollongong. It wasn’t long before I realised I was going to vomit and tried to make my way to the train toilet, I was about a carriage away from it when I involuntarily vomited in a vestibule in front of four women. Three of those women were travelling together and gave me a paper bag to throw up in to prevent further mess, they had the paper bag as one of them would constantly get travel sick. They stood next to me the entire time and notified the guard on the train. The three of them were all mothers, which is why they helped me and weren’t grossed out by it like the other woman in the vestibule. That being said, I don’t blame the fourth woman for being grossed out, I would be too if the roles were reversed. I thanked them and got off at the next carriage.

 

**Reference: Marsden, J 1998, Everything I Know About Writing, Pan Macmillan, Australia.