Well after posting Filthy animals and their clothing–stay away, please – and stating “All I know is that I see this sort of thing regularly nearly every time I use public transport. So – to my mind there is a good chance that people are putting their stink feet in shoes, on seats in public transport (such as trains, buses etc).”, some would have left thinking, “Oh he’s always rather dramatic. It can’t be that bad! Take him with a pinch of salt.”
Uh huh.. so I get on the train yesterday at 16:15 PM heading into London –
and what do I see to my left as I sit down? Well, you look left and right, now! If you don’t see a foot in a shoe on a train seat, you’re either blind, or stupid.
The chap obliquely opposite to me, whose foot that is, got on the train about a minute after I did. Guess how long that foot remained there, just like that. Forty-seven minutes!! “What was he doing?” you wonder. The crossword – a favourite Brit pastime.
Hey, you gotta be doing something – in England especially, you can’t be doing nothing. Allowing your eyes to rove around a train carriage (other public transport), will get you labelled as a voyeur or paedophile or sumik – well that’s not openly stated, but it’s there. So what do the natives do on trains etc. They reach for a book or their mobile phones – cuz that takes eyes away from roving around. Yes – I know they do other things too like talk to each other but I’m not here to give you a full list. [I should say that I am making generalisations based on my personal observations over 20 years of what I estimate to be over 50% of the natives]. So – doing a crossword and having your foot on the seat is the mark of being Brit – I’ve come to think. Hey calm down – you too come to conclusions based on your personal observations.
But I still don’t get it. I mean, would you walk around on the street where there may be crap, snot, mud and vermin and after that take your shoes onto your bed or settee (aka sofa)? Well I’m likely to think that if the Brits do what the do on trains etc., that a proportion of them do take filth into and onto their furniture. Or maybe I’m wrong – maybe they only do this sort of thing on public transport, because they can get away with it.
Well, some may be wondering what were my thoughts as this chap put his foot there. I was really rehearsing in my mind to say, “Could you please not put your foot there on the seat?” So why didn’t I get on with it? It’s called fear. I feared that such an ignorant person would react with hostility and cause me to apprehend immediate personal violence – or cause me actual bodily harm – or grievous bodily harm. No – getting assaulted is not something I’d relish in trying to make things better for this country. If British Rail wants to stop this sort of thing, it’s for them to get on with patrolling the trains more – but they won’t I imagine – cuz that’ll bring interpersonal violence to their people and it costs money to patrol trains – innit? [That photo is well pixelated but leaves sufficient detail to show why I said nothing.]
When I got home I changed my trousers immediately. I just could not stand the thought of what I’d been sitting on. Oh the trouser goes into the washing machine a bit later today.
