I've been getting in to work mega early this week, which means I've been getting the train just after 6am. The usual crowd at that time are builders, early office workers and one man who carries lots of fishing equipment. Since I'm such a people watcher, public transport is like a mini haven to me. I make up stories about where these people are going, what will happen in there day and what are they reading on their kindle or listening to on their iPod. On the way home however, I need not guess what one commuter was listening to as he had no headphones in and was playing his music through his phone speaker.
Do people really still do this??
I remember being younger and the teenage scallys on the back of the bus would play music while trying to hide the ciggy they where smoking. Back then I just accepted it and thought it was the norm on public transport. But that was 10 years ago. What made this 30+ year old man think the whole carriage would like to join him in listening to Eminem- "Without Me"? I could think of around a billion other songs id rather him play, but I knew this wasn't the appropriate situation for song requests. You could see the puzzled look on people's faces as they joined us at later stops. They clearly hadn't noticed this carriage came with a DJ.
What made it even worse was as I was sitting so close to this man, people started to think the music was coming from my headphones. I got so paranoid about this that I quickly unplugged and packed my headphones away in my bag to prove my innocence. The elderly couple opposite me where looking around with stern faces and tutting. The song is not exactly age appropriate for everyone on the train.
I was inwardly cringing so badly and just wanted it to stop. I was praying to the gods for this mans battery to rapidly run out or for him to accidentally spill all his Red Bull on his phone. I was board line tempted to stage falling over and crash in to him causing his phone to break- bit extreme but I couldn't stand the thought of what would come out the speaker next. I wanted to inform him that for the price of his Red Bull he could of gone to the pound shop and bought headphones. There's been plenty of times I've left headphones at home and turned to the trusty pound shop for some temporary headphones. He didn't look like the kind of man who would appreciate this information though, so I stayed quiet. 15 minutes of musical torture later, I had arrived at my stop Walking in the torrential rain that greeted me was better than having to endure this mans jukebox of madness!
Another thing that baffled me a bit on a different trip home from work this week, was a lady sitting opposite me who spoke solidly (and very loudly) for the 15 minute journey despite 1 underground stop and around 5 tunnels. It's a FACT that no one has reception underground or in a tunnel. It just doesn't happen. I don't care how good your network is, no signal is reaching you in a train station basement. Yet she spoke the whole way home. I don't know if this woman was insane and there was no one on the phone to begin with, or that she had been speaking so much she hadn't noticed the other person had been cut off. Regardless I got to hear how her weekend was and how she is dating her old friends boyfriend- tut tut.
I Would tell you all more about past experiences with weird and wonderful people on my commutes but my brain has now turned to pulp after this 18 hour day. Night Night.
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