Arriving in Brisbane on Friday afternoon

I'm still a little apprehensive about driving into and through Brisbane. I can cope with getting to South Bank, but crossing the river into the CBD and the inner suburbs scares the bejesus out of me. I find the city's roads very congested, there lots of one way streets and roads as well all these 'ramp' things which I don't understand. Anyway, on Friday afternoon I eventually found my way across town to Fortitude Valley and to the apartments I was going to be staying at while I attended my massage course (see posting below).

When I got to V Apartments in 82 Alfred Street, just around the corner from the methadone clinic and the four strip joints - hey it gave the area some interest - I was alarmed that after I pressed the intercom thingie to speak to reception, nothing actually happened. There was no friendly, welcoming human voice reaching out through the amplifier thingie greeting me and making me feel at home. So I then pressed the 'After Hours' buzzer which did elicit a reasonably friendly voice which told me that The Manager was 'in a meeting' and could come and see me in 'half an hour'. 'What the?', I asked incredulously. Seems that my wotif booking hadn't actually made it to V Apartments and so didn't exist and in the mysterious mind of The Manager, neither did I. So I waited for half an hour before The Manager appeared. Not a hint of an apology, just a certain kind of disdainful look that you get when someone's broken wind in front of you at the checkout in Woolies....I was pretty fired up...'how very dare you!' I muttered at a volume which was almost audible...anyway he upgraded me to a 2 bedroom unit which was fantastic because it's always good when you are by yourself to have a choice of two bedrooms when you stay somewhere strange, I think. No apology though. And then he sent me to the incorrect parking bay...'How very bloody dare you'.