My worst commute ever!
I can put up with a lot of things on my commute when I have an MP3 player to listen to and/or a book to read and in the past have had quite a few annoying/unpleasant journeys, but this was just hell.
The fact that it's school holidays is bad in itself, the trains are more crowded and the overcrowding is largely due to the vast numbers of families that appear on the trains. Now I don't have anything against parents taking kids out when it's holiday time, I was taken out as a child during the holidays and I wouldn't begrudge any kid a day trip out. I do wish that the parents would avoid commuter trains home though, or if they can't that they would try if at all possible to keep their offspring quiet. The journey I had in the morning was the perfect example of this. There was a mother with 5 kids, (not all hers) and she had brought colouring things for them to play with. When they got bored of that she had another game for them, then another different drawing task, then they talked about all the things they wanted to see at the museum they were going to and each child had to pick something they wanted to do. It was all rather sweet and the children were well behaved and as quiet as I could hope for from a group of excited kids.
The journey back was very different. Now obviously some thought had gone into giving this particular child something to keep them occupied during the journey. However the choice of a whistle was IMHO not the thing to go for. Not when the child has a very unusually long attention span and can quite happily blow on said whistle, at roughly 3 second intervals, FOR 20 MINUTES! Had the child been closer to me I would have strangled it, or the supposedly responsible adult that was allegedly in charge of it. As I couldn't see where the child was sitting I had to resort to turning up my MP3 player to 11 (no Spinal Tap joke intended, that's the highest it can go without hurting my ears). When you can still hear the sound of whistling through loud heavy metal, that shows just how shrill and piercing it was :-( The guy next to me was also wearing headphones, but every now and again he would wince as the child gave a particularly loud blast.
There was a distinct feeling of relief in the carriage, when the kid and the whistle got off at Bromley South, unfortunately my relief was short lived when the guy sitting next to me was replaced by 2 small girls aged about 6 or 7. They were part of a party of what seemed to consist of about a hundred small giggling girls dressed almost solely in pink & glitter, though I think there may have only been about 8 or 10 of them - it was hard to tell in the seething froth of sequins. It proved impossible for them to sit still, so it was very irritating having them endlessly squirming next to me, especially as I was trying to concentrate on gloating over the lovely new Ice & Fire Role-Playing book that I'd picked up from the Post Office that morning. (It is book number 840 of 2500 and has a lovely inscription to Bacchus from GRRM himself). I think it was the shiny silver page edges that attracted this child to the book, but the last thing I wanted was grubby little fingers touching it (apart from mine!). Fortunately at that point the person in charge of the girls appeared and told her to leave other peoples property alone, though I think the stare of doom that I had given her had already worked.
Unfortunately it turned out the adult had only appeared to lead the girls in a chorus of 'Kum Ba Yah' *weeps* I felt like Wednesday Addams in 'Addams Family Values'. It then became clear that several of the girls had been to the same place as the previous child and they too had whistles, which they joined in with :-( I've never been so glad to get off a train in my life, not even when the drunk guy next to me p*ssed himself before Christmas last year. Maybe I'd be more tolerant if I'd not had a very long and tiring day, but somehow I don't think it would have made much difference.
I know I don’t have kids and don’t want them, so I really have no idea about how difficult it must be to look after that many small children and keep them in line, and can’t really comment on parenting, as I know I’d be cr*p at it. However please can I make a heartfelt plea to the parents out there never, ever to give your child a whistle before they get on a train and please, don't sing let them sing 'Kum Ba Yah' either, it’s just too much to cope with when you’re in a confined space.
The fact that it's school holidays is bad in itself, the trains are more crowded and the overcrowding is largely due to the vast numbers of families that appear on the trains. Now I don't have anything against parents taking kids out when it's holiday time, I was taken out as a child during the holidays and I wouldn't begrudge any kid a day trip out. I do wish that the parents would avoid commuter trains home though, or if they can't that they would try if at all possible to keep their offspring quiet. The journey I had in the morning was the perfect example of this. There was a mother with 5 kids, (not all hers) and she had brought colouring things for them to play with. When they got bored of that she had another game for them, then another different drawing task, then they talked about all the things they wanted to see at the museum they were going to and each child had to pick something they wanted to do. It was all rather sweet and the children were well behaved and as quiet as I could hope for from a group of excited kids.
The journey back was very different. Now obviously some thought had gone into giving this particular child something to keep them occupied during the journey. However the choice of a whistle was IMHO not the thing to go for. Not when the child has a very unusually long attention span and can quite happily blow on said whistle, at roughly 3 second intervals, FOR 20 MINUTES! Had the child been closer to me I would have strangled it, or the supposedly responsible adult that was allegedly in charge of it. As I couldn't see where the child was sitting I had to resort to turning up my MP3 player to 11 (no Spinal Tap joke intended, that's the highest it can go without hurting my ears). When you can still hear the sound of whistling through loud heavy metal, that shows just how shrill and piercing it was :-( The guy next to me was also wearing headphones, but every now and again he would wince as the child gave a particularly loud blast.
There was a distinct feeling of relief in the carriage, when the kid and the whistle got off at Bromley South, unfortunately my relief was short lived when the guy sitting next to me was replaced by 2 small girls aged about 6 or 7. They were part of a party of what seemed to consist of about a hundred small giggling girls dressed almost solely in pink & glitter, though I think there may have only been about 8 or 10 of them - it was hard to tell in the seething froth of sequins. It proved impossible for them to sit still, so it was very irritating having them endlessly squirming next to me, especially as I was trying to concentrate on gloating over the lovely new Ice & Fire Role-Playing book that I'd picked up from the Post Office that morning. (It is book number 840 of 2500 and has a lovely inscription to Bacchus from GRRM himself). I think it was the shiny silver page edges that attracted this child to the book, but the last thing I wanted was grubby little fingers touching it (apart from mine!). Fortunately at that point the person in charge of the girls appeared and told her to leave other peoples property alone, though I think the stare of doom that I had given her had already worked.
Unfortunately it turned out the adult had only appeared to lead the girls in a chorus of 'Kum Ba Yah' *weeps* I felt like Wednesday Addams in 'Addams Family Values'. It then became clear that several of the girls had been to the same place as the previous child and they too had whistles, which they joined in with :-( I've never been so glad to get off a train in my life, not even when the drunk guy next to me p*ssed himself before Christmas last year. Maybe I'd be more tolerant if I'd not had a very long and tiring day, but somehow I don't think it would have made much difference.
I know I don’t have kids and don’t want them, so I really have no idea about how difficult it must be to look after that many small children and keep them in line, and can’t really comment on parenting, as I know I’d be cr*p at it. However please can I make a heartfelt plea to the parents out there never, ever to give your child a whistle before they get on a train and please, don't sing let them sing 'Kum Ba Yah' either, it’s just too much to cope with when you’re in a confined space.