Trains & Tribulations Part4

It's been a fair while since i last posted i know. Work has continued to be hectic and the social travelling never ending. The antics of those of the rail travelling community continue however and more importantly continue to irritate and bemuse me.

Having some free time one Saturday i decided to take the train through to Glasgow to meet a friend up from South Shields who was driving his sister up to start her university experience. I jumped on the early train from Waverley and headed for Queen Street. I didnt expect it to be quite as busy as it was but settled into my usual pull down seat by the door of the carriage.

Rangers had an early kick off but the vast majority of glory hunters seemed to be bussing it in from elsewhere. Only one brave `Rangers` fan took the journey by train. With the time barely 10.30 he was seated quite comfortably, can of Stella Artois in one hand and flicking through the Daily Record with the other. Convivial. Later as he made his way from the carriage onto the platform he had the paper rolled up and stuffed into his rear jeans pocket and his last remaining can of Stella in the adjacent pocket. Presumably this is a local custom.

The return journey sees an even busier train headed back in the direction of Edinburgh. With more people standing in the carriage than sitting compromise and understanding is going to prove vital. Not so for our cyclist friends. Sure enough with the carriage packed one lycra clad idiot shuffles up the platform, hauls on her bike and proceeds to hit every standing passenger in order to mount her bike on the rack before looking about in the hope of a seat. Not content with this when it came to her departing the train she proceeds to hit the same people with her rucksack as she tries to lift the bike down from the rack. Now having the two wheels on the ground would seem like the best plan. This achieved she decides this is not the case, attempts to lift the bike, whacks the trailing wheel againt the laptop of a now decidely angry man (clearly deep in thought over something important previous to his cycle assault) and blissfully unaware she continues down the carriage with passengers swaying and dodging out her way. Idiot.

More amusingly on the train to Edinburgh the following week, as we pulled into Kirkcaldy a blind man came onto the train with his guide dog. The railway staff, it has to be said, are always helpful in these situations. They help the person aboard, store their luggage and call ahead to the destination to alert staff there of any help required. A point that may be raised however when staff are trained in dealing with these situations is this - however well trained guide dogs may be, if you board them along with owner on a carriage that has seated areas to the right and the buffet car to the left, the dog will always opt for the smell of food over a comfortable seat! Never before has a guide dog been more determined to ditch its owner in favour of an overpriced lunch!