Secret Friend

I've already talked about the people you get used to seeing when you catch the same train every day. Now that I've changed carriages, I have the fun of starting all over again - people accepting that I am a part of their circle of not-known compatriots on the journey. Something I have noticed is that I seem to attract the same middle-aged lady to sit next to me quite regularly.

There's no particular reason why she would choose to sit with me  the train is less than half full, & I sit in the middle of the carriage, but she's done it several times now. I don't mind - she flaps her arms about a bit at first, but then she settles down to quiet reading. She doesn't wear overpowering perfume. She doesn't even sniffle. One could almost call her the perfect travelling companion if it wasn't for the fact that I have no idea what she looks like - she approaches me from behind.

Interestingly, I think she is just as oblivious of me - I get up before her, & she invariably has to get up & pick up her second bag from the floor. She blocks my way forward down the carriage, & then gets back into the seat with someone else. You would think that her consistency of sitting next to me would eventually get her to the point of realising that I always get off at that stop, & that she will always have to shift her stuff to allow me to do so.

Maybe she hopes that I will not get off there. Maybe she dreams of the days before I joined the carriage, when that seat had been empty for her to be on the window side.

For now, we shall be comfortable companions who tolerate each others' existence, even if we have no idea who we're travelling with.

While She Sleeps ...

One of the interesting things about getting on the train at the end of the line is finding people who are still asleep. You can try to work out whether they were meant to get off there, or whether they missed their stop & are waiting for the train to get back to where their home. I've seen plenty of people who have done then regularly, or else they've been night-shifters who get on the train before me & just have a routine of sleeping for half a dozen stations going home - or else on to their next job.

The problem starts when other people start getting on & the train starts to fill up. Sometimes, sleepers have the seat facing the wrong way, which confuses people even if the sleeper isn't filling the whole seat. In the middle of the train, you don't expect to have to face someone else, but if the sleeper is facing the wrong way, then you have to either face away from them (the wrong way) or towards them.

This morning, I saw a range of faces heading towards the sleeper's seat with an expression of expectation (empty seat!) that quickly turned to dismay or disgust as they realised that there was someone being socially awkward with the seat around the wrong way. Eventually, some brave soul - a mother, no doubt - took the risk & sat opposite, which broke the taboo.

It was quite some time before the sleeper found their station, at which point everyone got up & rearranged the seats - back to "normal". God is in His heaven ...

Mystery Solved!

Although I don't get bored often, I can imagine how some people can get so bored on public transport that they get obsessed with little things - like having a spare seat next to them for the maximum part of their journey, or hoping for that little South-East Asian lady to sit to next to them instead of the big bloke with the briefcase.

Along these lines, I used to get intrigued by a young lady who would walk along the platform of the last stop before I would get off the train. Her timing was impeccable, & that was the interesting bit. I can imagine someone leaving a nearby house to arrive at the same time every day - but to arrive at the same time relative to another train was impressive. I should point out that she walked up the other side of the platform, not as if she was trying to catch my train.

Recently, my office moved, & so I get off the train one stop earlier - at that station. Because of this, I also changed carriage to get closer to the stairs. As I waited for the train to stop & people to begin to move off down the carriage, I looked up this morning, & there she was, two people ahead of me.
Mystery solved. Her impeccable timing came from her being on my train & changing to the other side of the platform.

Now I need a new mystery.

Nose to the Door

It's interesting to watch passengers when their routine is disrupted. This morning, I arrived at the station to discover no trains. This is unusual, because there's one, sometimes two, trains already on the platform - I live at the end of the line. My mild distress was confirmed on finding people standing around on the concourse staring at the (lack of) information display. I joined the throng, but in this age of technology I could open up an app & hope that it had something useful to say. It didn't.
The screen still said no trains for forty minutes - or more - so I decided to go back home for a while. Just as I was leaving earshot, there was an announcement for a train in twenty minutes. This was fine by me, but it meant three trains' worth of people. I can rough it.

I stood on the platform somewhere near where my carriage should have ended up. People started congregating in very specific places. Sure enough, that was where the doors did open when the train arrived twenty minutes later. The important thing is that these people were crowded around a single spot, pushing to be the first on the train - & I mean literally, as the train was empty by definition.

So, how did they know where the train would stop? It's something that just doesn't happen often enough to memorise. It's different when you're coming home, because the train pulls in & you're waiting. Of a morning, the train is there for me, & there's no crowding.
Next problem - why did they stand there like sheep trying to push up the race? These people were almost shoving each other out of the way to press their noses into the door as the train stopped. Is it that important to get that one special seat ahead of everyone else? I should point out that we're only talking about five or six people in total doing this, plus one or two like me standing back with a look of shock.

After that amusement, it was just a SNAFU day.

Putting the Squeeze On

Although mornings are a slow accretion of people approaching the city, the afternoon train ride is guaranteed to be a bit of a squeeze. On some trains, I'm lucky to get a seat. When I do, it's often in between two others - I'm lucky if I get to sit on a two-seater.

I accept that some people are bigger & take up more space, but when I see someone not gravity challenged still managing to take up more than a reasonable percentage of the seat, I have to join them. Thus, I ended up beside one of those chaps who must get their privates pierced regularly, because they can't bear to put their legs together. I have heard the complaint that guys who try to do so end up with bruised knees, but, seriously, if you only have two positions for your legs - 0degrees apart & 90degrees - then it's time to see a doctor.
This chap, as they all do, gave the impression that he was put out because I wanted almost half (!) of the seat. Generally, I am quite comfortable on an average suburban train seat because I have that special skill of being able to keep my legs together without knocking my knees. It takes practice - in my case years! - but I know that it is physically possible for a male of far-from-slight build to not have to sit with his legs apart.
Of course, such practice also comes with wearing a kilt on weekends, but that's another story.

Perhaps men should just imagine that they are wearing a kilt & someone's grandmother is sitting opposite.