It's so hot on the London underground in the Summer months that peoples behaviour becomes even more irritating. There are also a lot of tourists on the tube owing to school holidays (more on that later), as I am a Londoner I am clearly massively intolerant of people's confusion. Here are my top ten annoying things people do on the tube...
- When the train reaches a station, some people feel the need to lean out of the doorway looking up and down the platform before either getting off, or shrinking back in to the carriage. Very frustrating for those behind you trying to alight.
- Getting on to the platform and stopping right in the entrance so that nobody can get passed without risking their lives by stepping over the yellow line.
- Taking up more than your designated seating area and then huffing and puffing when someone tries to budge you over.
- Not giving your seat to an obviously pregnant woman. Rude.
- Groups of school children whether English or foreign is unbelievably annoying. I don't understand why you would want to opt for this method of travel. Surely it's hard to keep tabs on them all?
- Any kind of coughing, sneezing or sniffing is generally not acceptable on the tube at the moment. If you think you've got the swine, please avoid public transport.
- Pushing on to a train before you've let people off. No need to barge on.
- Men (mainly, although not exclusively unfortunately) sitting with their legs as far apart as possible.
- Trying to get through the ticket barrier with a ticket/oyster card that doesn't work and then doing it over and over again just to check whilst a growing crowd emerges behind you.
- PDAs. Not good anywhere, but don't you think the tube is unpleasant enough without watching someone essentially having clothed sex?
Last week a friend and I embarked upon a small tour around France. We wanted to travel more, but our pesky jobs got in the way of taking too much time off so we took advantage of living so close to Europe (anybody who is English probably doesn't class themselves as European). We took a train very early one morning to Paris from London Kings Cross and had checked in to our hostel just North of Gare du Nord by lunchtime. We spent the next few hours wandering around Notre Dame, Saint Germain des Pres and Montparnasse finding our feet and enjoying the incredibly hot Parisian weather. We got up crazy early the next morning (showering in what felt like a hospital toilet) before lugging our giant backpacks south of La Seine to get a train to Nantes. It was over 30 degrees C in Paris at the time so I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt – something the Parisians clearly thought was an overreaction.
I love taking trains in Europe (especially if they're fast and long distance) as they're clean, efficient, spacious and generally run on time! After a brief nap I decided to get some breakfast from the on board cafe which had sold out of croissants 30 minutes in to a two hour journey. I wanted a hot chocolate with a croissant to dunk in (French style), but seeing as this wasn't an option I opted for tea. I can't speak perfect French or even close, but I can definitely make myself understood so I politely asked for a cup of tea. The slightly rotund French man serving behind the counter clearly understood my request and laughed in my face, "ah ha tea for the roast beef!"
Whilst I am not easily offended, I can't help but feel I would get attacked if roles were reversed. Can you imagine a French guy in London ordering a glass of wine for an English person to chirp back, "haha wine for the frog" ??? Oh and the best bit – I'm a vegetarian!
