Here’s an interesting observation from last night’s 16:15 from Paddington.
People on trains are thoughtless c*nts.
As the train pulled in to Reading the guy who was sitting on the opposite side of the carriageway one row down got to his feet and slung his rucksack over his shoulder with way too much force.
The resulting thwack was so loud I could even hear it through my Muse-swamped iPod earbuds.
The girl who got smapped on the back of the head by it looked dazed and had to straighten her glasses.
He didn’t even apologise, but it doesn’t end there.
People got on the train – at Reading – and walked down the aisle attempting to find a vacant seat.
Do you know how narrow the aisles are on the latest generation of British train carriages?
And do you know that people – of either the getting on or getting off variety (but not getting off in a rude way) – walk up and down these aisles while the train is in motion?
With things slung over their shoulders?
You know, rucksacks, handbags, gladrags, small children, crocodiles etc.
And what they do, these people bearing these diverse things, is they commit a form of assault on the seated passengers.
Twenty five times.
Because twenty five times is the number of occasions I’ve seen people sitting further down the carriageway from me get battered by thoughtless, couldn’t care less c*nts.
When did we get like this?
I was going to ask ‘When did we become a nation of thoroughly unlikeable train passengers?’, but the use of the word ‘nation’ implies that it is a purely British problem.
But tonight I’m on the coach; the two oriental girls sitting at the four-person table opposite me have taken the area over, spread themselves out across the table and the two chairs facing them.
Then they got a bag out, set up a significant range of food (Sushi), got out a couple of pairs of chopsticks and tucked in.
Whilst talking.
Non-stop.
So no, it’s not a British phenomenon.
But the question is when did we stop caring about how we impact on the lives and environments of those around us?
This comes after I read today on the BBC websites that casualties on the Titanic were higher among the British people because of their politness and good manners. Times have changed.
Sometimes I just don’t like other people. 🙁
“Sometimes I just don’t like other people.”
That’s how it starts! 😉
My sister and her husband have been living in the UK for probably 15+ years now. They are born and bred Kiwis, though my mother is English. Their insight into the modern English culture is very interesting.
Whilst I have met and befriended many Englishmen, it appears that as a society the English have come a long way down from the days of the stiff upper lip and refusal to be bullied (1939-1945).
A friend of my sister, who hails from mainland Europe once observed “People watch Fawlty Towers and they think it is a comedy. It’s a documentary!” Although I have stayed at a hotel (in Brighton) that was clearly run in the manner of Basil & Sybil, I have to disagree.
It seems that the English and many of their former colonies (including NZ and Aus) are becoming complacent, ignorant and self-serving. It is a state in which we are all ripe for the picking by those forces and agencies that seek to regulate our freedoms.
Wake up!
This is what bugs me about train travel, other people. I am always the person who gets thwacked on the head with a bag and then has to sarcastically yell “Don’t mind me Sir/Madam”. Why the hell can’t people just watch where their bags are going? And don’t even get me started on people who eat stinking food on the train, yell into mobiles and have conversations at the kind of volume that wouldn’t be out of place in the middle of a rock concert.
I find the issue a lot worse on First Great Western trains than I do on Cross Country services.
I have never, ever seen someone apologise for doing it either.