Unusual

Wow, it’s February already. How did that happen??

Anyway, sometimes you do things because they are very sensible or logical but then you realise they might look a bit odd. It may not be a surprise for you to learn that London Underground is not one of the cleanest environments. In terms of coming into contact with grime it maybe isn’t so bad if you are sitting on a seat because it is probably only your clothes that are in contact with it, but if you are standing up then you normally want to hold on, so your hand touches one of the handrails. Of late, I have taken to putting a glove on before my hand touches a handrail. I’m not someone who is overly fussed by muck or dirt but there is just something about touching things on the tube that particularly appals me. People do all sorts of things with their hands - touch things, stick them in places that most people wouldn’t if they were in polite company and just generally move dirt and germs about. Somehow I don’t want to come into direct contact with that and so I put on a glove. But just the one glove. I occasionally wonder if people think it is odd or perhaps instead they secretly nod in agreement at the good sense I am showing – or more likely that they don’t care at all absorbed up in their own little world.

Although there are hundreds of people on a train, people still seem able to be oblivious to all that is around them. With the increase in iPods and MP3 players people shut out more and more around them. Most days I end up standing next to someone who is listening to their music so loudly that I could actually sing along. I can hear not only the dull beat of it, but also the tune and every single word of whatever song happens to be playing at the time. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone ask someone else to turn down their music instead people seem to get their own iPod and play that equally loudly in order to block out the sound. If you have not put your own defence system in place you are surrounded by a rising cacophony of sound with people’s competing music tastes music attacking you from every side

Mind you, if you cut everybody else out then you also miss out on listening in on other people’s conversations, such as last night when two men got on the tube engrossed in conversation and all I caught of what they said was “It’s really the most selfish thing you can do. Leaving some poor person having to use a toothbrush to clean up the mess made by your kidneys” Erm, yes that does sound quite selfish - and also an unusual use of a toothbrush.