People on trains

If like me you enjoy observing the behaviour of others you would relish the opportunity for a day out where the use of public transport is necessary. Today I went to bond with other commissioning types in London and therefore went by train. This is generally the best mode of transport into the capital from my home town. Travelling by car is really out of the question, firstly because the traffic is likely to be bad, secondly because of the congestion charge, thirdly because you can’t park easily and fourthly because you might want to arrive without wishing to murder someone.

This morning’s journey was interesting because of the girl on the train who was taking up two seats. I saw this as I climbed aboard and walked through the carriage. She was asleep with her feet up on the seat beside her. There were quite a few seats available so I didn’t bother trying to wake her, but within minutes a lady was trying to do just that. Her response on waking was that “I am trying to sleep here”, well yes fine sleep, but what right do you have to take up two seats while others stand. A few others tried to get her to move her feet as the train travelled from station to station but most were told not to “f****** touch me, I am trying to sleep”, so a pleasant girl! The best thing was that as we all got off at the final destination she was still sleeping, lets hope she didn’t wake until the train had returned to her station of origin (but that may be too much to hope for).

On the journey home after an interesting but cold day (the heating in the building we were in seemed to be less than perfect) I managed to get on a train which was travelling to Leeds, with a first stop of my home town. These trains are worth getting onto because you get to your destination more quickly, this proved a blessing. Behind me sat 2 men who had been to a meeting in London and were travelling back to Leeds. On this occasion I was glad that my journey was short, and I can only imagine that one of the two wished his were the same. His companion spent the entire journey that I endured moaning about pretty much every work colleague he had ever come into contact with. Slagging people off and generally gossiping is, if you believe many men, the domain of the woman, but I beg to differ. I would hate to have ever worked with, emailed, phoned or just come into contact with him because he went through the lot before complaining that someone had emailed him to complain that if he though he was so perfect why didn’t he just try running the show himself. I have no idea what line of business he was in, but it is my suspicion that he would love to do just that and whats more could do a much better job than anyone else.

For once I got a seat in both directions, and didn’t need to use the underground as my destination was within walking distance from Kings Cross. A day on a train was fun, but it is back to the car tomorrow after all you don’t want too much of a good thing!