Bloody-mindedness and the British reserve

Another transport tale of woe! My train was delayed today. This is the station that only has one train every 30 minutes, and all those trains were held up due to animals on the line (polite way of saying horse jam). No woe on this score, these things happen; at least we have a nice warm station building to stand out of the elements in. Also, the guy who runs the station is a really nice bloke, who gave us all regular updates from his console and phone calls to control.

One of these updates was to let us know the other company that uses the track was going to stop for us. Usually they shoot through at 50 mph, but today, for the first time anyone can remember, they were going to stop. Hurrah!

Out we all trooped into the cold morning light where we watched the sun peak above the industrial units, and presently the train turned up. Here's where the problems began.

The people who regularly use the train all have their favourite places to stand, their little talking circles, and they weren't happy about interlopers. The doors opened, and there was a corridor of people into the vestibule area, and enough room for 2 people. There were 6 of us, and I knew we'd be stopping at the next station which has the ticket office opposite the door that I was using. This wasn't going to work.

I got on the train, and looked into the carriage itself. There were 2 people standing. Right by the exit. Not showing the slightest inclination to look up, acknowledge the problem, nor move down to create more space. At this point, the crowd shuffled a little, the guy in front of me decided he could stand over his briefcase, and maybe it didn't need a space of its own, and we managed to get on.

The complaining now started. "We can't stop at the next station, how will everyone fit?", "We're going to be stuck waiting for a platform", and then my favourite, "Why do we have to stop to let all these other people on?". Pillocks. I calmly explained that there were no other trains, and we wouldn't be stuck waiting for a platform as there were no other trains, and we couldn't have got anywhere without this train as there were no other trains. The reply? "Hummph"!

Just the we arrived at the next stop. The doors opened. 10 people. Did any of the regulars finally move? Give a little bit of space? Move into the practically empty first class section? Finally move into the aisle of the carriage? Not a hope. It was all just one big inconvienience for them.

Just a little aside, it only takes 9 minutes from my station to the final destination when everyone gets off. We're not talking about a serious issue here!

Finally, myself and the bloke who'd got on behind me snapped. The reserve was broken. He pushed his way into first class, opening that route up, and I pointedly asked the people in the aisle to move up. The response? A raised eyebrow, and a shuffle of maybe 1mm. Twit. I allowed the crush behind me to move me into the aisle forcing the moron to finally move up. Amazingly (note the sarcasm) we all fit. With room to spare. Who'd have thought it!?

Gits.

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