Train Again But Not In The Rain

Hello Splodgies!

Firstly I'm sorry if it looks as though I didn't post on Friday or Saturday. I did post but I just didn't share them on social media. If you want to give them a read, here are some links:

Friday: http://dailysplodge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/train-in-rain.html

Saturday: http://dailysplodge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/liverpudlian-exploration.html

Today I got back on the train, having had a fabbola time in Liverpool. 

It turned out to be a little more hectic than I had bargained for- When I got my first change at Wigan, the train I was supposed to be getting on... simply never came(?) There was no "expected time" listed on the departure board. It just said "delayed" Nobody seemed to know what was causing it, but everyone travelling seemed to be taking it remarkably well- y'know how usually there's someone who's very cross or stressed and they start yelling at the poor station staff who can't do anything to help except be the face of the people who are preventing them (however indirectly) from reaching their destinations. But everyone was very polite to the station staff. Strangely, I was recognised by someone on the platform- it was no case of mistaken identity, they were right about where they knew me from. But I had no idea who they were and the explanation didn't much satisfy me- this person recognised me from a shop I used to work in, and whilst it was pleasant to have some common ground, the conversation didn't go any further and we were just stood in an awkward silence for 18 minutes. 

But when another train eventually turned up, it was one of those transpennine express ones with only 3 carriages... to fit 11 carriages peoples worth of passengers plus the people who would've been getting on the transpennine express anyway. 

I was very surprised to find myself able to sit down. Sadly it was on one of those not especially comfortable ones that folds into the wall and was also right next to the toilet, but I was glad to be sitting down on a train where reservations had been cancelled and seats were in high demand. I did get to chat to an interesting woman though who was telling me all about Oxenholme where she was from and about her life and her family. It's strange how you can easily find such common ground with strangers. But I quite like it.

That said, I also know when NOT to speak to strangers on the train- on my third (and thankfully, final) train of the day, which I only just managed to get in time, thanks to my late connection; was full of drunk rowdy people who had come down from Newcastle after seeing a football match and were on their way home. I'm fine with people being sociable on public transport- and I don't even mind a bit of noise- but this was becoming excessive and they were beginning to verbally abuse people nearby. And sing very loudly, very drunkenly and tunelessly. It wouldn't have been so bad if they could sing in tune and together. 

In addition to this, I knew I was going to have to stand on either the seat or the table to retrieve my gloves that had escaped from one of my bags in the overhead luggage rack. These were prized gloves I was given last Christmas; dark purple leather, and I wasn't going to let the idea of being seen standing on the table on a moving train surrounded by drunken idiots put me anywhere near a situation where I might have to sacrifice my beautiful gloves for the sake of saving myself a few minutes potential embarrassment. And luckily none of them noticed anyway during my little climb. I was slightly annoyed however when most of them got off at the same station as me, and as walking alone in the dark ahead of this bunch of 5 or 6 drunk, loud men seemed like not a sensible thing to do, I hung back until they were ahead of me and carried on behind them at a distance.

I rather resented the fact that this sort of thing can make me feel like other people are dictating how safe I am- but I guess this is a problem with society. Not with me. I'll leave the proper discussion of this for a future blog post, but if anyone else has something to contribute on the subject of women feeling safe walking home in the dark on their own, please leave your thoughts in the comments section. 

Sorry again that I didn't share the previous couple of days' posts on Facebook... I just didn't have much written on those posts! But I had a lovely weekend in Liverpool with my friends :) 

Today, this is me, ready to get some sleep: 

See you tomorrow!

-Rosa

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