I have just spent the last two hours on the train home from London trying not to cause an argument over a number of small children that got on the train with their two women who I’m guessing were their mothers.
I got on the train, put my bag and coat in the locker overhead, and two old ladies sat down alongside in the group of six seats I was in. Just before the train left the station, two women got on the train with a number of small children. The women instructed each child to sit in the various spare single seats around the carriage, and then sat down together away from the children.
For the entire rest of the journey the children ran riot. Neither of the mothers could tear themselves away from their conversation (no doubt fully aware of the increasingly annoyed attitude of the entire rest of the train carriage).
I had been wanting to write an email to a very good friend to cheer her up a bit, but ended up curtailing it pretty rapidly due to McDonalds happy meals being stacked all over the place.
Quite predictably, the bags, wrappers, drink cups, straws and tissues were strewn across the carriage in no time - and neither the children or the parents lifted a finger to clean them up.
The two women were perfect stereo-types of stay-at-home mum’s you find in this part of the world. They have perfectly manicured hair and skin. They have a physique that screams “gym”, and each of their children could be a walking advert for Gap, Billabong, or Quicksilver. No doubt there is a father somewhere in London that earns the money that allows this to perpetuate.
I really wonder how “anti-elitist” I can become. Don’t get me wrong - I know lots of people who are affluent - and they are on the whole very nice. It’s just those people who are unthinking that wind me up.
I spend a good proportion of my energies in relationships trying to keep the peace - helping, cheering up, and attempting to make sure I don’t do too much harm… and then of course I cross paths with people like those today, and quietly withdraw within myself for fear of exploding.