train travel

Like most locals, I grumble at the rising cost of train fares.

However, unlike most locals, I do like taking the train. I do like reading the free, yet uninformative, Metro paper and playing the sukodu game in the mornings. I do like looking out the window at the brilliant yellow fields of rapeseed. I do like playing tetris on my phone.

I especially like people-watching on the train.

From men in dark suits tapping away on their laptops to university girls in leggings and jelly shoes (remember those?) flipping magazines and texting on their mobile phones to a young bloke unsuccessfully pretending to be asleep to avoid having to pay his fare, it gives me a chance to catch a glimpse into these strangers’ lives.

Yesterday, I had to the pleasure of watching a man prepare his breakfast.

And I wasn’t the only member of his audience.

He was a small, older fellow in a rumpled suit and moved at a snail’s pace. He stood in the aisle and blocked much of the passageway. He pulled everything out of his Morrison’s shopping bag systematically, while getting his coffee ready: a paper cup, a spoon, instant coffee granules, a thermos of hot water, sugar, coffee whitener. (I wonder why he only had a paper cup as everything else was in glass jars.) He continued to dig a bit deeper in his bag for breakfast buns, newspaper, crossword puzzles, a pen, and reading glasses.

This process, I kid you not, took a good 15 minutes.

I was really concerned that my stop was going to arrive before I chance to see him sit down and enjoy his breakfast. Also, I didn’t want to miss the prospect of a white rabbit being pulled from his plastic bag.