The one thing that really genuinely annoys me on the underground is the utter lack of consideration given to pregnant women.
Boarded the tube this morning and ended up standing between the two rows of seats facing each other. When we reached Embankment the woman sat closest to the doors stood and disembarked and I was promptly shunted out of the way by another woman wanting the seat. To be honest I'm not that bothered about needing a seat, I'm not ninety nor am I in bad health plus it means not sitting on the who knows what that is ingrained into the fabric...! Two short stops later she got up and got off, well thank god she sat down or she might've collapsed from the strain!!! Okay, this drives me crazy but it's not what actually bothered me.
Sat next to her was a rather pregnant woman. When she sat down she did so very heavily and for those of you who don't know the underground this causes the neighbouring seat to buck you up in the air. At at least seven months pregnant I can't imagine this was a pleasant sensation. Then the pregnant lady fumbled her umbrella and dropped it. Simply put, at her advanced stage of pregnancy she simply couldn't reach the floor to get it, and her rather charming neighbour completely ignored her struggle regardless of having very obviously noticed. So I quickly crouched down and, with a smile, handed the umbrella back to her. The look of surprised appreciation was lovely but just wish people showing simple consideration wasn't such a rarity that it's met with surprise.
The way I figure it is if I was pregnant or someone close to me was I'd like to think people would help if they could over simple moments of thoughtfulness. Is it really that much to ask? It took me a matter of seconds to retrieve this particular woman's umbrella, and it made her day a little nicer, surely that's always going to both worth it? And I have never been able to understand how people can watch someone struggling and just not give a damn.
These two women got off at the same stop, I may have "accidentally" stood in the way of the other one so the pregnant lady could get off first... Shame... *innocent grin*
What a terrible shame if you did "accidentally" happen to be in her way. Having been a pregnant commuter, I can honestly say that it is the most testing experience ever - been pushed out of the way for a seat on a bus by a woman holding what I can only assume was the worlds heaviest mobile phone and been beaten to seats by the latest Burberry Birkin bag too. Not an experience I am in a rush to repeat despite the rather loud ticking sounds of my bio clock!!
ReplyDeleteSimple acts are indeed met with surprise - a man stood for me to have his seat and commented 'My Wife is expecting, it's what I would like people to do for her'. He made my day!
I once stood up to offer a pregnant woman my seat and in the time between me standing and her walking over, some guy had sat down. People can be such arses!!! Think by the time I'd finished tearing him a new one he was so scared he'd not do it again! ha ha!
ReplyDeleteI remember 'fondly' standing next to a woman who was more heavily pregnant than me on the Metro (Newcastle's answer to the Tube). While we both hoped SOMEONE would offer us a seat, in the 30 min journey it never happened once, and it was the height of summer. It wasn't unusual to stand my whole Metro journey.
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