Gary's Boring Blog

Train Tales

I have talked before about the pleasure and fun there is to be had from wedging your body into a confined space for 2 hours a day, and sharing body odour and recycled air with hundreds of other people...

Anyway, here is another train tale.

I was patiently waiting for the train the other day, with some other passengers, all tired after a long day at work. We dutifully lined up on the platform where the sign said 'line up here'. As the train pulled in, from nowhere, a middle-aged businessman craftily sidled up to the front, to push in. Since I was second from the front of the now-quite-long queue (line), he was stood slightly in front of, and to the side of me.

'This cheeky bugger is not going to push in front of the 20 people who have been waiting properly for 10 minutes', I thought. As he moved forwards to get on the train, without thinking, I put my arm in front of his chest and stopped him. 'Hang on a minute', I said. His look was a mixture of shock and bewilderment. 'Everyone here has been lining up - please wait', I continued, to which he replied 'OK'.

That's the end of the story. No fight. No almost-fight. No argument. Just a 'excuse me, please follow the rules' sort of statement, followed by a fairly simple acknowledgement. If I ever wonder why I like living in Japan, I need to imagine how the above story would have turned out in England...

Posted by Gary at May 24, 2004 02:28 PM