Every Friday I travel into work on the train so that if I have a big drinky session I dont get stuck with the car.

Anyway, there are a number of annoying things that always occur on my train trip into work:

1. Why is it that there is always someone on the train who has a walkman/ipod and a set of headphones on but has the music so freakin loud that you can hear it all over the damn carriage? And it is ALWAYS that crap house type music that has no melody but blasts along at 200 beats per minute.

2. Why is it that people panic and get up from their seats (if they are lucky enough to score one) and make their way to the door, disrupting everyone in their way, a good two minutes before they even get to the station. It's like they feel they have to be right next to the door or they'll be trapped in there forever

3. As soon as you get out of the train and out of the station you immediately get hit with a wall of smoke from all the desperate smokers who have to suck down some cancer after having been deprived for an incredibly long 20 minutes. (by the way, why is it that young female smokers outnumber young male smokers almost 2 to 1?).

4. Why is it then when walking along the footpath (sidewalk to you Americans) that you always get stuck behind a group of slow walking young women puffing away on their ciggy's? You try to get your way around them but have to dodge their cigarette laden, gesticulating arms, for fear of having your eyeballs burnt out.

5.Why is it that when you do get past these people but have to stop at the next light, that somehow they always manage to get in front of you again? They then take off quickly but slow down so that you again have to manouvre your way through the cigarette gauntlet, before this all happens againat the next light.

Okay, my rant is now over. I'm really looking forward to some drinkies () at lunchtime.

...On 2nd thoughts BKW. Id take the car.

Lete me take these very good questions one at a time:

bkw said:

Don't know.



Good question. See above.



That's two questions, neither of which I know the answer to.



Wait!...I almost had it....

No. Sorry. Don't know.



I'll have to get back to you on that one.











[Edited 1/13/05 14:44pm]

Lemme guess...u catch da Broady train too?

And once there were these to young men sitting at da back and all of a sudden i heard da sound of water running yes, one of them was pissing!!! And when i turned around and frowned in disgust, he was like 'aww haww haww haww sorryy m'aam!!!' U see, it makes me even more paranoid about da freaky germs on these thingz!!!

lilmissmissy said:

JDINTERACTIVE said:

Cant drink and drive

commuting sucks ...I used to travel 2 hours down to Sydney and 2 hours back to the Central Coast every day when I worked in the city a few years ago

2the9s said:

I D I O T

2the9s said:

lilmissmissy said:

Yep, Broady line.

By the way, that story is gross.

bkw said:

Australians take that really seriously dont they?! I know its a serious business all the same, but...

JDINTERACTIVE said:

That's because we have VERY tough laws on it here.

bkw said:

Bloody Broady line!!! But it's better than the line that goes down to Coburg, Brett!! I had to wait at dat station once, after bein there for a job i was going for ...men look at women like they never seen a girl in their lives. It was a little bit scary!!!

Broady train...yesterday i had this woman wif her big ass right infront of me. I can understand if she wanted to stand, but really, i was not enjoying da view....not as gross as da pissing guy. And by da way, he was sittin on one of those middle seats while doing it. So u guessed it, he took his willy out like it was some hose and pissed on da train like he was hosing da floorz down or something!!! I could see da piss treacling down da floor as da train moved...i felt like this

IT WAS GROSS!!!

Feel sorry for da cleaner who had to face dat mess.

JDINTERACTIVE said:

yep ...a couple of years ago my brother and father had accidents with a few months of each other because they'd been drinking

first, my brother drives home from the club after a football match after drinking lots and slams himself into a huge tree - I wish I'd taken a photo of the wreck now to scare the shit out of him because he still does it the idiot! he was almost killed

then a few months later my Dad is driving home after golf one Saturday (he plays every Saturday and usually drinks afterwards) now Dad and Lindell live on top of a mountain and it's very steep, very windy, dark and scary at the best of times let alone when you're drunk. He slams himself into one of the only telegraph poles on the mountain which was, believe it or not, a blessing in disguise because if he hadn't he would have kept going down the mountain and I don't even want to think about what would have happened...as it was he was extremely lucky someone found him and called the police and an ambulance

both of them still drink and drive and my stepmum and I try and try again to reach them both about it but it doesn't work

lol sorry for the longwinded response

lilmissmissy said:

I suspect I might have become violent in that situation.

bkw said:

Which situation, da big assy lady or da pissy gentleman?

lilmissmissy said:

The soon to be departed pissy gentleman.

bkw said:

Yeah, i felt kinda offended by dat pissy behaviour. It was just plain stupidity!! And the thing is, I always wonder if ive stepped into that carriage again with out knowing it u know...would hate to think of sittin in dat spot he was in!!!

1 - That's what that music does to you, it makes you an idiot.
2 - again idiots, the train isn't going to leave without you getting off
3 - smokers crack me up, my favorite is here when it is raining they all huddle together to not get wet outside....LMFAO
4 - LOL, it's like impossible to get around them too!
5 - It's all a plan to get us to smoke bkw

JDINTERACTIVE said:

aside from the obvious - only bloody idiots drive drunk - the cops here breathalise us, not just make us walk in a straight line, so you can't get away with it (if you manage to not get yourself or others killed) if pulled over.

bkw, I admire you for being sensible, and sympathise with the shit you have to put up with on public transport. I travelled on the Met so many years I made a rule to work with a 5km radius of home only, I got out the Melways, drew a circle around my house and got a job within the circle, and it turns out to be the best job I've ever had!

I do that I dont want to get trapped behind everyone and the door closes and I miss my stop and well.. then I have to get off at the next stop and take the train back again and it turns into a right palavar. So it's better to be prepared and just stand by the door 2 mins early

Lleena said:

Okay, that's weird.

You're weird.

Weirdo.

2teh9s said:

I do it to get away from the weirdo reading the NY Times magazine sitting opposite me with his hand in his pocket and a strange grin.

Lleena said:

I'm sure I'm just...I mean I'm sure he's just reaching for his keys.

ooh. i take public transpo etiquette very seriously. i take the bus and the train every day, so these are issues near and dear to my heart...



people who listen to loud music in public spaces will never be listening to something you'll want to hear. that's just the way of it. there's only been one time that i can remember someone playing their music too loud and it was actually something i WANTED to listen to, and it was actually kinda refreshing.

sometimes i'd like to give these people a friendly little card that says something like "hey, no big deal, but i just thought you'd want to know everyone in the train can hear your walkman/discman/iPod/etc."



okay, i'm guilty of this and i'll tell you why. because, at least where i live, people take their damn sweet time walking out of the train. seriously, it's like when the train doors open, people kinda bumble around the doorway, like they've just discovered the concept of "door" for the first time and they're marvelling at the possibilities. IT'S A FREAKIN' DOOR, PEOPLE - NOT AN I.Q. TEST!!! so i try to be as near the door as i can before i get to my stop, because i actually step out of the train as soon as the doors open, and i keep going. novel idea, i know. but i don't want to be stuck behind some freakin' mouthbreathers who have difficulty figuring out how to walk out of a subway train.

AND: i'm always very considerate of people entering and exiting the car when i stand near the doors. at every stop, i get out of the train and stand by the door and wait for everyone to enter and exit. then i reboard the train. seriously.



don't notice this where i am, you're on your own with that one.



again, don't notice the ciggy part, but i DO notice the slow-walking idiots part. here, it's not limited to women. slow-walkers embrace every age, gender, race, creed, etc. - and none of them seem to be able to grasp the concept that other people use the sidewalk, because they trudge along in their big, fat, slow cadres and posses and packs, and take up as much of the sidewalk as they possibly can, and they NEVER move when you say 'excuse me'.

cattle prods should be legal on city streets.




maybe your real issue is with ciggies?

but i know what you mean, and i always get a dirty look from them, like "you just HAD to pass us a block ago, and look who's ahead NOW?"


my biggest peeve on public transpo is JERKS ON CELL PHONES.

fortunately, there's an entire book that addresses this problem. i found it on clearance at borders after christmas, and i think every cell phone user should have a copy of this book sent to them ASAP.