She's got a ticket to ride.

[pooryorick]

Whether you ride BART, the Tube, the Metro, or some other sort of subway or mass transit system - you'll usually have a raised platform to stand on, while the trains run on sunken tracks below. I've talked to various friends about this, and found that there seems to be certain things that come to mind whilst in this setting.

Poll mind the gap

Comments

[alexds1]

CA burning= inductive warmth yayy

Bart mice <3

Where is the "all of the above" option? Since all three are flashing through my mind as I glance at the prospective pushers/ pushees/ witnesses to my demise standing around me.

[pooryorick]

Insta-reply!

I was so excited to see the mice. After you told me about them, I really wanted to see them. :3

Heh, I didn't think to include that option, but I should've. By the way, I totally took #2 from your response... I don't remember when, but we must've been discussing BART riding at some point.

"pushees" haha!

[alexds1]

Haha, I guess we must have talked about that XD I recall telling you about the saftey space under the track, maybe thats where the mole-men mice (molemice??) garrison their troops.

[rosynose]

Hah. I am suicidal, and yet I chose the second option. I... I guess I don't trust Londoners? I even make sure to check that no one stands behind me, just in case. One second you'd be peering down to look at the dear, sooty little mice under the tracks, and the next second, wham, knocked to one's gruesome and public death by an oversized luggage-on-wheels that went for a joyride. Or something X) I always start imagining the worst-case scenarios like that - it seems to be a weird human thing (most people know what it's like to look off the edge of a tall building and wonder what it would be like to fall, etc. Curious monkey programming, perhaps).

[rosynose]

Also I heard somewhere that drivers on the London Underground (and most other places too, I suppose) almost always retire if they're unlucky enough to be driving a train that someone goes under *shudders* Darn you for bringing up such a morbid but fascinating subject.

[alexds1]

the phrase "dear, sooty little mice" elicited an "AWWWW" from me

[rosynose]

They are SO cute. And wee! And probably completely deaf.

[pooryorick]

Man, I'm glad I'm not the only one! And oh yeah, street crossing, that's another.

Haha - rail mouse, I CHOOSE YOU.

[floorlamps]

1. I am usually running some kind of suicide scenario in my head anyway. I'm not entirely sure why.

I also plan thefts when I'm in a store, and occasionally cook up murder plots.

I think maybe I have weird habits.

[pooryorick]

I think we have similar habits, heh. High bridges and tall buildings are another trigger for me.

And oh! Thievery! I always do this too. I especially hate it when a store makes it far too easy, like setting stuff outside in bins or whatever.

Perhaps people like us - well behaved, highly principled, etc. - are more prone to these mental meanderings than most. We have to plot and scheme in our heads because we can't allow ourselves to act these things out at all.

Or maybe that's just me...

[oddriddle]

I'm option number one.

Trains are hypnotic... especially subways. Maybe it's the lights, kinda like a deer about to get hit by a car. In any case, I'm always happy for the little marked-off safe lines on the waiting stages. I stay well away from even those until the train arrives. I'll never be first in line, but I don't like imagining myself falling onto the tracks. I find myself planning escape routes in case I ever wound up down there...

...of course, there's no train system where I live now, so I don't have to worry about it too often. And the funny thing is, I really do like taking trains.

[pooryorick]

Yeah, deer-in-headlights, definitely. And I feel the same way about the marked safe lines - I always feel horribly uneasy if I accidentally step outside.

Escape routes is a good idea! I try to look for the space under the platform or maintenance doors or something.