[Travel] The morning commute.

[HangletonGull]

I have to get a bus from lewes to hove 3 times a week don’t get me started, yesterday in example on way back I’m on back seat lad sits directly opposite me decides to put his feet up in the back seat next to me then proceeds to put his hands down his trouser’s and smell his fingers, then we have the Saturday morning vapour

 

[Happy Exile]

I now find long journeys on public transport really wearing, in that my brain is processing all sorts of irrelevant conversations, which I have no interest in and can't properly tune out of.

I have a sensory processing thingy and this is my entire life, always - my brain doesn't filter out stimulus but receives everything. I was in my 20s before I learned not everyone experiences the world the same way. The good thing is it makes music and art quite intense and it's like a 6th sense for picking up social signals and reading people, it's also great for spotting patterns in data and other gubbins, the bad thing is that a couple of hours in a visually or audibly noisy environment is absolutely exhausting, I can be over-sensitive to being dragged down by other people's negativity sometimes, and it can make me a bit socially awkward because I can't focus on a single conversation if there's lots going on around me. I literally have to find a dark, quiet space to de-load my brain for a few minutes every couple of hours if I'm in a day of meetings.

In the office or if I remember to take them on public transport I wear small earplugs of the kind musicians wear (or ones made for people who go shooting). They filter out most noise to the point it's not distracting but don't close you off entirely from the outside world and important/nearby sounds can be heard just fine. Might be worth a go?

 

[GJN1]

I used to hang out in the buffet carriage where you could get two slices of buttered toast in the morning and cup of tea. I can still
smell that toast now.

I remember the buffet car in the trains from Victoria in late 90s when the seats faced each other along the sides of the carriage. Everybody drinking, everyone smoking. Like one big party train, especially on a Friday evening.

 

[CroydonSeagull]

The amount of people who watch loud videos with no headphones on public transport astounds me. Death penalty for them all.

What gets me is that they would rather use awful tinny phone speakers rather then better quality headphones. Madness.

 

[essbee1]

I remember the buffet car in the trains from Victoria in late 90s when the seats faced each other along the sides of the carriage. Everybody drinking, everyone smoking. Like one big party train, especially on a Friday evening.

They had study groups for learning languages that used to run on the journey I remember.

 

[el punal]

I see this a lot as I try to use public transport as much as I can as I really don't enjoy driving these days (aggressive driving everywhere as mentioned by @Weststander ).

They do it because they know that no-one is going to challenge them or say anything. And if anyone dared to say anything ... well, who knows what might then happen.

As you say, selfish and disrespectful ... all quite depressing really.

Payback time. Make sure you’ve eaten lots of garlic, had a really spicy meal the night before giving you terrible farting issues. Put on some really smelly clothes. Sit next to offending twat and let rip - burp, fart, cough, fidget and all other unsocial and anti-social bits and pieces. Perhaps engage in some conversation with a dull, meaningless subject matter.
That should do the trick!

 

[S.T.U cgull]

This crosses into the bellcheeses at work thread but…

Definitely a difference depending on the time and route you commute. Going in for an 8am start in London, ahead of the main rush, you tend to miss most of the issues of the opening poster.. so too being on the Gatwick Express - quicker, more room and pricier, which keeps the hoardes at bay

Put it down to a lot of people hybrid working and thus treating their work day in the office as more of a jolly up - certainly the case at my workplace immediately post return to the office.. probably a bit like the study that shows school pupils in uniform behave better than on non uniform days or whatever..

 

[LamieRobertson]

Bus wankers

Ooooh er that to? Yuk

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

One of the things which seems to have impacted me post covid and working from home, is that I have learnt to listen without paying full attention. This is really useful in an online world, where you can listen in on a call and only really focus on the relevant bits, whilst gettig on with other things.

I now find long journeys on public transport really wearing, in that my brain is processing all sorts of irrelevant conversations, which I have no interest in and can't properly tune out of. The answer for me is noise cancelling headphones and I can now get off planes and trains feeling much fresher.

It doesn't stop people from behaving like dicks, but it does lessen the impact. It might of course just be I am getting old.

I first paid out for decent noise cancelling headphones about 9 years ago and they have been a real game-changer when travelling.

This weekend, I got the train to London with Mrs DCH so didn't take the headphones as I thought I'd better be vaguely social while traveling with the wife. Never again - the level of noise is one thing but the conversations on the train would make many of those mentioned on the bell cheeses at work thread look like fairly normal, civilised human beings. I'm sure the ones talking on their phones forget that they have microphones so don't need to shout so everyone has to hear their inane drivel.

Possibly the most annoying was the family who got on at Gatwick and were having a very loud discussion on their kids behaviours in public (I'm sure the woman would have had a very pretentious name) without getting the irony of having that discussion in the middle of a train carriage.

Mrs DCH is much more tolerant than I am and even she made a comment when the family got off about how up themselves they were.

 

[pasty]

I commuted to London Bridge for 25 years, and back in those days, the low lights were.

Someone pushing in to get on the train
Opening or closing a window without asking first
Non regulars talking rather than just reading their newspaper

But this all changed when mobile phones arrived, having a phone call, which usually all you could hear in the carriage was

I'm on a train.....I'm just going into a tunnel....hello, hello can you hear hear me.......Hello again, I through the tunnel now......
Having the volume too loud, which usually resulted in a chorus or can you turn the volume down please

The worse was probably one person on their phone on the same call from London Bridge to Preston Park, until someone told them it was probably time to end the call.

I once spoke to a youngish woman after she had finished renewing her car insurance on the phone on a train.

I politely pointed out to her I clearly heard her house number, postcode, car reg, debit card number, expiry date and cvv number.

She told me I “shouldn’t have been f***ing listening”

 

[Commander]

You're right and it is definitely noticeable.

I put it down to a combination of many factors, but mostly technology and social media.

Many people are so absorbed in their internal worlds with their phones, headphones, social media and so on - that they have little interest in the people around them in the real world anymore.

I think this is closer than the pandemic explanation.

 

[dazzer6666]

This crosses into the bellcheeses at work thread but…

Definitely a difference depending on the time and route you commute. Going in for an 8am start in London, ahead of the main rush, you tend to miss most of the issues of the opening poster.. so too being on the Gatwick Express - quicker, more room and pricier, which keeps the hoardes at bay

Put it down to a lot of people hybrid working and thus treating their work day in the office as more of a jolly up - certainly the case at my workplace immediately post return to the office.. probably a bit like the study that shows school pupils in uniform behave better than on non uniform days or whatever..

100%. I used to get a 6am train, that was fine. Everyone knew the ‘rules’ and anyone breaking them was instantly met with a series of glares and epic levels of tuttage. Compare that with going in at say 9am or after, or a train out of Victoria late afternoon during the school holidays

 

[Napper]

vote tory , get tories

 

[S.T.U cgull]

100%. I used to get a 6am train, that was fine. Everyone knew the ‘rules’ and anyone breaking them was instantly met with a series of glares and epic levels of tuttage. Compare that with going in at say 9am or after, or a train out of Victoria late afternoon during the school holidays

As a fellow Hillian, I recommend an hour or two working at home & the 0925 if going into London later in the day - it avoids the delays / aggro of the main commuter rush & the first off-peak train..

It is still busy after Gatwick with tourists (Spaniards & Italians do love a voice note on whatsapp!) but up the front coach is ok

 

[dazzer6666]

As a fellow Hillian, I recommend an hour or two working at home & the 0925 if going into London later in the day - it avoids the delays / aggro of the main commuter rush & the first off-peak train..

It is still busy after Gatwick with tourists (Spaniards & Italians do love a voice note on whatsapp!) but up the front coach is ok

Got a couple of pals that do that. Thankfully I don’t have to any more

 

[Dr Q]

I don't get why people can't hold their phone to their ear to make a call, rather than pretending they're on the f***ing Apprentice and letting everyone else hear their banal conversations.

 

[BHANSC]

This has been covered in quite a few LBC shows for example. Nothing certain, but a feeling that a sizeable minority of people now feel fck society/everyone else. After the unreasonable/illegal lockdowns in their view, “I’m going to do whatever the hell I want”. Litter, play music loud on public transport, drive aggressively, confront others, be rude to shop staff, shoplift, keep my kids out of school if I want.

The pandemic was a game-changer. Will it drift back to a ‘norm’ over time?

We will look back on lockdowns as one of the biggest mistakes in our history.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

This has been covered in quite a few LBC shows for example. Nothing certain, but a feeling that a sizeable minority of people now feel fck society/everyone else. After the unreasonable/illegal lockdowns in their view, “I’m going to do whatever the hell I want”. Litter, play music loud on public transport, drive aggressively, confront others, be rude to shop staff, shoplift, keep my kids out of school if I want.

The pandemic was a game-changer. Will it drift back to a ‘norm’ over time?

I very much doubt that it will. Sad, but welcome to modern day life, Britain in the 2020's.

 

[jcdenton08]

Things are unquestionably getting worse, and I’m not sure that it is only a generational thing.

COVID caused a lot of people to forget their manners and behave as if they are at home when in public.

Behaviour at the theatre, for example, is atrocious and it certainly isn’t the young’uns in this case.

That said, societally, the “TikTok” generation has led to a real entitlement in Gen Z. It’s a now now now culture of everyone being entitled to nice things without earning them.

I used to get expensive luxuries like a video game (singular) on my birthday or at Christmas. Now it’s just “this is new - I want it, I am entitled to that”.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

We will look back on lockdowns as one of the biggest mistakes in our history.

I think you are right, it is the root cause of so much mental illness amongst many.

The saddest thing of all is that no one knew it then, all any Governament can do, whatever party, is what is thought best at the time. I'm no lover of the Conservatives, but l can't believe any other party would have done anything dfferently. Indeed they were led by the scientific advice available at the time.