Escalators, oh good god the arguments that can start. Woe betide anyone who stands statically on the left hand side of an escalator in London, especially at commuter time. At best you'll get an "excuse me" before it moves up the ranks of tutting and sighing to the pinicle of "get out of my bloody way" and other less polite versions of the same sentiment. Out of towner, obvious tourist, tough luck cos no one could care less, you're still in my way making me late by those fractions of seconds on which the London commuter thrives, though ironically the fractions lost tend to lead to fractions of increasing heartrate!
And for those of us who dare to imply someone moving too slowly down the left hand side of the escalator, there's a whole new plethora of hatred aimed through vicious looks and petty reactions. I was once rushing for the tube as I was running late for my train and very politely (yes, really) said excuse me to a man carrying suitcases slowly down the left hand side as I tried to pass to his right on an empty escalator. He actually sped up until we ran into someone else on the righthand side just to stop me, and I missed my tube... That's how petty it can get! I glared at him for the whole twenty minutes spent waiting for the next tube and travelling as far as his stop... Also petty, but it amused me.
Seats on tube trains. Every morning without fail someone will shunt their way past people to make it to the last remaining seat on the tube, regardless of whether the people they'd barging out the way are male, female, pregnant, carrying suitcases, it's irrelevant. Okay, fine, I get that you desperately want to sit down, but the bit that drives me crazy is that they invariably sit there while the train travels one stop and then get up and alight from the train... You couldn't stand up for one bloody stop?! You really think you're that important that the rest of the world can get the hell out of the way so you can sit down for ninety seconds?! Sadly enough if you actually ever posed these questions the answer would most likely be yes...
These seat grabbers are joined as well with the ones who seem to think they deserve more space than others, like the woman last week at rush hour who decided that her bag required it's own seat and refused to move it... Arrogant, idiotic, sad morons. Next time I'll just sit on her damn bags!
I'm not innocent in all this, I'm sure I have my moments of acting like a real commuter. I'll admit I walk through Paddington every day growling to myself that they should have a section just for commuters cos I'm sick of dodging people off on holiday walking at the speed of a severly disabled sloth while I'm trying to make it to my office on time. At least unlike a large proportion I remember that everyone is in the same boat and there's very little point making other people's mornings any worse than they already are!
It's a dog eat dog world, that of the London town commuter, and you need to find your amusement and enjoyment of it in whatever way works for you! This city is mad, crazy and often rude, but it's also beautiful and I love it.
Please come to Washington DC; You'll fit right in with the rest of us who know how to use trains and escalators ;)
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