I have some more public transport observations to share, spurred on by some delays this morning. To start with can I advise everybody that modern trains are fairly quiet, some people may have missed this. Because they are quiet loud conversations will carry which, in itself, is bad. If you are stupid or otherwise ill-equipped to hold a conversation, but insist on trying anyway, then you need to lower the volume. This morning I endured two gents who were holding a serious, and loud, conversation on the difficulties of wireless provision on the metro. One of them had obviously come across the term “leaky feeder” but stopped at this point. This small amount of knowledge led two men in their 30’s to debate the fact that the wire that they installed fell off the tunnel roof and got caught on trains. Seriously, their conclusion was that this instability of the “heavy copper wire” led to it “stretching and leaking”, they were not joking.
This was one of those horrible moments when you have to sit on your hands to stop yourself getting up and strangling the idiots whilst yelling “how stupid can you be?”. Luckily they departed the train at the first interchange, where I don’t doubt they spent the rest of the day in an office contemplating the marvel of the ball-point pen. I do wonder how people who stupid survive to adulthood, natural selection must have had a day off.
My morning train was delayed due to overrunning engineering works near London. Delays are never popular but they actually don’t happen that often and hey sometimes stuff happens. The problem with overrunning engineering works is that morning availability is reduced and so trains have to queue while staff work around moving vehicles. The superstar on this morning’s train saw two guys standing by an equipment case as the train crawled past them and moaned “no wonder were delayed they just stand around smoking”.It wasn’t a sunny morning, it was cold and wet, did this man think that these guys enjoyed standing in the cold? I am sure that they would have preferred to hold the trains, complete their work and get back to base. Another example of a mouth that is disconnected from any form of mind.
One final thing to share is from the retiming of my train from Derby over the last few weeks. I have written before about how possessive passengers are over their space but this retiming took it to a new level. There are normally a few of us that board the train at Derby and although the train company issue reservations they actually don’t enforce them. When I started using this train I followed commuter etiquette and found a seat that wasn’t already ‘owned’. Having used the train for a while I have now progressed to nodded greetings with my companions.
The retiming of this service meant that it headed it out in one direction and then reversed around a loop to continue the trip. In short this means that the rear becomes the all important front on arrival at London. The guys that always board the lead coach and get up before it arrives in order to be closest to the door, and therefore first to get off, havent moved. There is no rocket science involved here, the train reverses before the next stop so I simply sit at the ‘back’. I thought at first that I was wrong and that these guys were respecting their reservations, but when I checked my reservation placed me at the final front of the train.
As we arrived at London I started walking down the platform and somebody in front stopped to tie a shoelace. As I skirted around the crouched passenger I looked behind me and noticed one of my morning companions running down the platform. It would seem that the ‘ownership’ of the seat overrides the desire to be first off the train, how odd. Commuters really are a strange bunch.
In other news my battle with Ms Nature appears to have reached a new level of teasing. I know that I cannot sleep on my left shoulder, it is uncomfortable and means that I wake in pain. As much as I know this it seems to appeal to my refusal to conform and so during the night I roll onto said shoulder. I did, briefly, try sleeping on that edge of the bed but my subconscious is as stubborn as the rest of me and I simply fell out of bed. I have now realised that as my subconscious is running its own battle with Ms Nature and I simply have to accept it. They will fight and I will suffer the pain but I have faith in my subconscious, just like my consciousness it will be victorious over the nefarious Ms Nature.
