Altercation on a train

Coming back from London, on Wednesday, the train was busy, even though it was past rush hour. At King’s Cross, I walked down towards the end of the train, and came across a set of 6 seats, 3 opposite 3, occupied by two guys. Seated on the same side, one was on the window seat, the other on the aisle, with the seat between them occupied by bags and newspapers, that turned out to be owned by Window Seat Guy. Both guys were stretched out so their legs touched the opposite seats, discouraging anyone else from sitting there.

I initially squeezed past the guy on the aisle and sat in the middle seat opposite them, leaving them their legroom. But seeing there were more people boarding, I moved into the seat opposite Window Seat Guy. As I did, our legs touched, and he tutted and grudgingly moved, but not by much. He still insisted on stretching out, and we ended up with his legs in front of him, and mine either side.

Soon after, a couple saw the seats next to me, and came over to sit down. Aware of my size, I sat up straight, and wiggled, to move myself as far into the window as possible, so I didn’t encroach on the seat next to me. The woman sitting down saw me, and said thanks.

Once again, my legs touched Window Seat Guy, and he gave me a glaring look above his paper. I don’t know if the kick was deliberate, but the loudly muttered “Fat Bastard” definitely was.

I leaned forward and flicked his paper. He pretended to ignore me, so I did it again.

“Excuse me, but since it is my legs and feet that are annoying you, and not my arse, shouldn’t that be ‘Tall Bastard’?”

I didn’t bother to lower my voice, so pretty much everyone heard. The woman next to me snorted, and Window Seat Guy glared at me again, but finally sat upright, so his legs were no longer in my way. Aisle Seat Boy also rearranged himself.

It still burned me a little that this guy had all his belongings on a seat, while others were standing, but I decided that was their battle, not mine – I had said enough. As it happens, they both got off at the first stop, so the rest of the journey was peaceful.

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *