Can i grab that newspaper please?

How many of you have experienced this. You are seating and behind you and the window glass lies a London Metro or London paper or London Lite. You have your copy, so are you busy reading, it trying to remain oblivious to the crowding and crushing around you.

Suddenly, a long he/she hand approaching your face and then takes left or right turn just missing your ear. Now most of the travellers are courteous and then normally say "Can i have that paper please" but some are really nasty. They just grab it and start reading as if they are trying to honour your reading and not wanting to disturb you but eventually they do more harm then good.

I had this lady who ran and got in the tube just second before door close and may be due to being out of breath or whatever, she just grabbed the paper behind me without a word of excuse or please. Not sure if this is rude but she was definitely attacking some my private space, on the other hand, requesting it would be a better approach, i think.
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A terrifying experience

This happened about nine months ago but i didn't have a blog then, so posting it now...

I am a bit lazy on answering mother natures calls when i am rushing to work and already getting late. That day was the height of my patience and tolerance.

I was then travelling in Piccadilly line everyday to work. I boarded from Alperton station in the east bound tube. I was already feeling a bit of pressure to go to the toilet but i thought i would do the job at Piccadilly station. The train was moving as usual. We passed Acton town station. After this station, Piccadilly line skips about three stations and therefore picks up a good speed once it leaves Acton town. I was reading the ads in tube and looking at people's faces when suddenly there was a big jerk and a big sound. For some reason, no one seem bothered with only some eyebrows raised. Then there was a second bang underneath which really caught everyone's attention and before anyone could guess whats going on..........bang bang! Third bang - this almost made all the kids and girls scream in the tube. I was terrified and the tube was moving too much, more than usual. Suddenly the driver started applying brakes, as hard as he could. No one could guage what was going on. Were were all heading an accident? Will we all die? What's going happen next? and finally(thank God) the train stopped. It was half in the tunnel and half outside.

None of us know what happened and then the driver moved in. He explained that the brakes system malfunctioned and the trained could have derailed if it wouldn't have stopped so quickly as it did. We then realised how close we were to disaster. Then the drivers tried to pacify us saying the danger is over now that the train has stopped. But then another thing suddenly ran through my mind........

What about my pee? I had to pee and its now getting increasingly difficult. It takes 34 mins to reach Piccadilly station and now were already 40 mins in tube so my original judgement was already off by 6 mintues and still another half an hour before i could see myself standing at the door of the toilet. It was getting more and more painful and i approached the driver in a very humble voice. I said i had to get down now! He thought i was still terrified due to the tube brakes failure, little did he know that I had bigger things to worry now!

Finally, another train came from behind and pushed our train to Hammersmith station where we all got down. Except me, everyone else seemed very pleased and relaxed. I could barely walk now and i was told that the toilets were upstairs. I prayed and then started my march up the floor. And that was wasn't enough, the toilets there, unlike Piccadilly station were not free so i paid to pee.

That's it, what an experience in the tube.

Its summer, hay fever is around...

This is more of a general thing. I had this person sitting next to me today in tube, sneezing continuously. I am quite sure he wouldn't want to do it if given a choice and wouldn't want to discomfort his fellow passengers. But the poor fellow was helpless. I think it was hay fever that was haunting him and with his eyes very red, nose very busy and his face almost constantly covered with tissue.

What i noticed is that while he was struggling with himself, the passengers around him, especially some beauty pageants were giving a very strange and disgusting looks. I felt very much compassionate for that chap because there was hardly anything he could do. He actually got up from his seat and went near the door to cause less hassle to others but still these 'freaks' kept looking at him as if he was a terrorist or someone from a another planet.

Just wanted to ask my readers, is this fair? That poor fellow cannot afford the congestion charge and heavy parking fees to bring his car to central London, if he had one. So what else he could do. He can't ask his boss to allow him to travel after peak hours. He was doing his best to cover himself and cause as less hassle as possible to people around him, but we must realise that the looks we give him in that troubled state is going to give him more pain then his actual hay fever.

So guys, next time you find someone suffering like this, please don't at least given him a frown or bad look unless he is behaving irresponsibly.

Mind the closing doors...

This happened some time ago but i thought to share....

When they announce this famous statement "Mind the closing doors..." i think it applies to both passengers boarding in as well as leaving the train. But some people just don't get it right.

The trains arrived on White City(Central Line station) and doors opened. All passengers are obviously expected to leave the train when door open and not wait till the last moment. This young girl couldn't be bothered. She kept reading her newspaper and looked like she wanted to finish it quickly before leaving the train rather that taking the newspaper with her. Just when the announcement came, she ran out of the train. And quite expectedly, her purse couldn't get through. So here she was, standing on the platform with her purse caught in between door.

For some unknown reason, she just believed that the trains operators are there to just serve her only. So he expected the door would open again and release her purse. But of course, the train started moving! Now i am not sure how much attached the girls are to their purses, but this girl was really not going to give it up. She started to pull harder and started running with the train!!! Passenger around her started giving shocked and surprised looks. But she kept running until the train was too fast for her to keep up. Finally she let the purse remain in the train to be collected at the next station.

So, lets understand that we all must mind the closing doors and not let the closing doors mind our belongings....

Oops, my phone' s ringing but at wrong time

I am writing this post just to express my apology to my fellow passengers today because i was not bold enough to speak to them and apologise.

I was in my Eastbound Central line travelling to work. Normally, the tube enters tunnel about 10 minutes after i board from my station(so no mobiles work after 10 mins) but this time due to signal failures there were some delay. And guess what...my phone rang! Now i was wearing a tight fit trouser and my phone was in my right pocket of my trouser. First, i just tried in a very polite and descent manner to reach for my phone and take it out. But my tight trouser didn't even allow the tips of my finger to get into the pocket. Next, i just moved a bit forward and tried, no good. I tried straightening my legs causing a bit of discomfort to fellows sitting on opposite seats but still no joy!! And all this was happening very fast because my phone would go into voice mail after 8 rings. Finally i had to stand up in that crowded carriage, making all other standing and sitting around me a bit annoyed. I just made a sorry face and took the call.

That wasn't enough. The summer is really gearing up and i forgot to remove my coat before entering the train. Now, this was another mess. I went through all the steps mentioned above and finally stood up again with a sad face and removed my jacket. But wait, my tissues were in left pocket of my trouser and i forgot to take that out while removing jacket. My nose started running(really at the wrong time!) and i had to stand again.

I just wish i had organised myself better before boarding. I am sure this is a common thing that could be happening to many passenger on the tube. If we do our bit, the tube travel could become a more comfortable experience for everyone. Cheers....

Excuse me, can you please let me through?

This morning i was standing at the Greenford station, waiting for my East Bound Central line to Oxford Circus station. As always, i didn't have any hopes to get a seat so as the train was approaching the station, i started to prepare myself.As i got in the carriage, although it was crowded, fortunately or unfortunately(as explained below) someone just got up and i sat down on his seat. While i was seating, i noticed something interesting.

A girl with relatively long legs(of course partially covered, its summer!), was sitting crossed legged. And her legs were practically blocking the whole passage for those who wanted to move through the carriage. Every time someone wanted to pass through, he/she would have to stop before her legs and say "Excuse me, can you please let me through", The only thing ran through my mind was, well young lady, are you sure you have just bought a ticket and not the train? Why can't you just sit like all of us. May be she always goes around in Limo and that would be a bit too much of discomfort but Oxford Circus(where she eventually got down) was just 25 minutes away and she can definitely do this bit of favour.

More over, while seated, the tip if her toe(in cross legged position) was almost touching the knee of a very nice descent gentleman seating in front of her. I am not sure why he never mind it, may be it was a privilege or may be it was an implied obligation(for she being a woman). This also reminded me the great heritage of "The English Gentleman" who can go to this lengths.

In the tube, they advertise things like please don't eat smelly foods, please don't put your feet on seats or please don't carry huge luggage in peak hours but may be this is also something we need to take address.

So the moral of this post is, can we all be a little more considerate to others please?

This train is ready to depart...

This may seem a bit too common but how many of us have actually been through this rather unreasonable experience. Here i am, standing at the Oxford Circus station waiting to catch Central Line - West bound. After getting 3 Ealing Broadway branch, finally i get my long awaited West Ruislip branch train arriving at the platform. Now I've already been waiting for about 8 minutes and by then, a huge crowd for West Ruislip has already gathered on the platform.

The tube arrives and doors open. As usual, there is an announcement, "Welcome to Oxford circus" Okay... fine, the announcement continues - "Please allow passengers to alight first" fine, fair enough, we stand on side to clear exit and guess what??? the next announcement goes "This train is ready to depart, please stand clear of the closing door"....... no its not !!! What a minute, what about all of us standing here, isn't this train supposed to wait to let passengers in.

Now i am not sure how many of you have gone through this, but this is really annoying and i go have to put up with this every single evening! Everyday, i have to literally push a little to make sure i get in before the impatient doors close.....

I would like to raise this to Transport of London that waiting another 15 seconds may not cause a big delay on the tubes but it gives us a comfortable entry into the tube.

People acting oblivious

Now this one is for women. Have you ever found the people around you in the tube during the rush hour behave as if they are completely oblivious to the obvious? They know very well that they are touching some areas of women's body but taking advantage of the crowd and rush, they just behave very helpless or still worse "innocent".

Often they keep listening to their MP3 or appear struggling to read newspaper but actually just making sure that they make every minute worth in that blissful crowd.

I have found that there is always a way in which someone can adjust or move so that the women or girl next to him doesn't feel squeezed. But why on earth they will do that? Its just not what they are on the tube for.........

So the onus is on the women to make sure they move right into the carriages or leave an overcrowded train if they prefer to have some private space. Of course, there will be exceptions on this amongst women :)