Things I don’t want to hear

Travelling to and from work on the train everyday has been an experience with ups and downs.

I enjoy the train. It’s really great being able to sit down and just chill and not worry about other traffic and parking spaces and petrol. Sure, I have a 20 minute walk from the train station to the newsroom, but that just gives me a chance to turn on my ipod and zone out for a bit.

One of the first days I was on the train, it came to a stop in the station, and I stood up to get off. I quickly realised, after glancing around, that not one single other person had gotten to their feet. It soon dawned on me that, while the train had come to a stop, it was not yet at the platform because there was another train in the way. I sheepishly sat down, and a woman smiled at me.

The train, though being conveniently regular and, as I mentioned, relatively relaxing, is sometimes delayed or cancelled. Bad weather, slips, oh, and earthquakes can all put a damper on your train riding experience.

Today I saw a girl on the train wearing a hat that had ears. I feeling of joy swelled up within me – I, too, owned a hat with ears. We were a kindred spirit.

When I got off the train this evening, I walked past a bald, bespectacled man doing something on his phone. As I went past, I saw that he was playing a game. I chuckled inwardly.

Of course, then there’s the awkward train experiences.

Yesterday, as I sat down at the station to wait, a man came and sat down on the seat next to me. A few minutes later, he was on the phone to somebody.

“I thought you’d be away because it’s school holidays,” he said.

‘Oh,’ I thought to myself, ‘he must be talking to his daughter or something’.

This assumption of mine immediately put the next five minutes of his conversation under a very suspicious light, when he started saying things like “well, are we going to meet face to face? I really think we should.”

I wasn’t meaning to eavesdrop, but he was sitting right there and by this point I was highly concerned that he was sexually grooming a child. Everything was put into perspective when he started talking about how they needed to work on their marriage, and my inward sigh of relief almost instantly turned into an awkward groan when I realised I was listening to a man trying to convince his estranged wife to meet and talk with him.

I felt really bad being privy to all that. It was at that point I remembered I had my ipod in my pocket. Huzzah.

Despite all this, I’m going to miss the train when I head back to Hamilton this weekend. Of course, I’m not going to miss the evening walk up a ridiculously steep hill from the train stop to my grandparents’ house. Not one little bit.