28th February, 19:25 London
Midland service to Hereford
I, like many other people who attend uni, need to get the train back to
my home-town for weekend visits and the like. Now, compared to
others, my one hour twenty journey seems like it should be a relatively
uneventful trip, but on a train that's almost always full regardless of the
time of day I find I still have stories to tell - from a girl with a budgie to
the ticket woman who liked to lie across the tables because she thinks no-one
can see her.
Mostly, although I'm not particularly fond of public transport, my
journeys are perfectly normal; people get off, people get on, not a lot
happens. However I still cannot escape a few pet peeves. For example (and I
think a lot of people can sympathise) there's always those annoying people that
sit in the isle seat seemingly reserving the seat beside them with a jacket or,
I once saw, a newspaper. Now I understand that your jacket needs somewhere to
sit, but really? There are overhead shelves for that. And there's no need to
roll your eyes at me when I ask to sit in the blatantly unoccupied seat (that
is, unoccupied by any human). We'd all rather sit alone, but I'm afraid
sometimes that's just not possible.
My next pet peeve on trains is mobile phones. I know, the majority of us
own them, but there's always one person, in my experience, who just shouldn't
be allowed one on a train. Like my journey now, for instance; if I hear the
samsung message tone one more time I think there's a good chance I might throw
their phone onto the tracks. Yes, whatever you're texting about may be
important, but all phones have a silent function. Please learn to use it.
Furthering my dislike of noisy phone users would be the bearded man
currently sat in my eyeline. After his dire ringtone invaded everyone's ears,
he then proceeded to answer with 'where have you been? It doesn't take a
fucking hour to get home'. Delightful way to answer indeed. It was then
revealed, between more swearing and angry sighing, that he only knew the caller
was safe because they were online on facebook. Oh the wonders of social
networking will never cease. I think the people sat near him, and the caller,
were very glad when we entered a tunnel.
I know, my journey could be worse, and now I'm pretty much alone in a
carriage, but these little things are sent to try us. Or certainly my patience.
