What about "you are allowed to chat to strangers here" carriages?!!

[Howardh]

(Yes I know the video's a gag! But there's a serious point....)

First carriage of any tube dedicated to those who would love to chat to a stranger without being a threat, sicko or weirdo?

I once travelled solo for a few stops from my hotel to a party dressed as a St Trinian girl with the shortest skirt imaginable (er, with very strong trunks underneath I hasten to add) during a Friday rush-hour and...yes, nobody noticed as their heads were deeply buried in their papers. I could have been nude.....

Or maybe they though if they said something they would get a backlash from my hockey stick, which I wouldn't anyway as it's my fave stick and I wouldn't want it blood-strewn.

Will admit though that at the first sign of a disaster then all the distance gets thrown out of the window and folks are only too willing to help. Funny that there are the two opposite ends with seemingly no middle-ground.

Great party mind!!

 

[Cowley]

I'm glad you said the bit about the party at the end.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Nothing to stop anyone talking to strangers. However whether you will get much of a response from people who have a head full of their own thoughts is a different matter entirely. And on a busy tube train people can't expect to be picky in terms of which car they choose to travel in. My advice for travelling on the tube is have something to read rather than trying to make conversation with strangers.

 

[Howardh]

I'm glad you said the bit about the party at the end.

Can't remember much about it, might have had a sherry!

 

[Howardh]

Nothing to stop anyone talking to strangers. However whether you will get much of a response from people who have a head full of their own thoughts is a different matter entirely. And on a busy tube train people can't expect to be picky in terms of which car they choose to travel in. My advice for travelling on the tube is have something to read rather than trying to make conversation with strangers.

It's the same throughout the country. I suppose on Uist if you catch the bus, the other passenger might be the only person you see all day! One exception seems to be those buses you get between plane and gate; with the giddy anticipation of a holiday, and maybe a few beers, plenty to talk about there!

 

[RichmondCommu]

It's the same throughout the country. I suppose on Uist if you catch the bus, the other passenger might be the only person you see all day! One exception seems to be those buses you get between plane and gate; with the giddy anticipation of a holiday, and maybe a few beers, plenty to talk about there!

Being lonely is soul destroying and I wouldn't wish it upon anybody. However there will be family and neighbours who are aware that a person is suffering from being lonely and in my opinion they should be giving that poor soul some company as opposed to one stranger talking to another stranger.

If I ever see anyone who is in distress / is upset or injured / has got themselves lost I will do all I can to help them including very occasionally giving people money to help get them home. However if I'm commuting to and from work my head is full of my own thoughts and I value the time that I have to myself.

 

[kevconnor]

I once travelled solo for a few stops from my hotel to a party dressed as a St Trinian girl with the shortest skirt imaginable (er, with very strong trunks underneath I hasten to add) during a Friday rush-hour and...yes, nobody noticed as their heads were deeply buried in their papers. I could have been nude.....

A number of years ago a group of us travelled from Manchester to London to go and see Wicked in West End, a friend decided to dress up as a witch, we were staying in Holborn and the show was on at London Victoria Apollo, a reasonable journey via the Victoria and the Piccadilly line at rush hour and not one person dared even acknowledge my friend existed by looking at him, it was quite funny to see him sat next to fully suited and booted city types probably wishing they'd got on a later tube.

 

[RichmondCommu]

A number of years ago a group of us travelled from Manchester to London to go and see Wicked in West End, a friend decided to dress up as a witch, we were staying in Holborn and the show was on at London Victoria Apollo, a reasonable journey via the Victoria and the Piccadilly line at rush hour and not one person dared even acknowledge my friend existed by looking at him, it was quite funny to see him sat next to fully suited and booted city types probably wishing they'd got on a later tube.

People seeking attention may not always get the attention that they desire.

Just out of interest how would you define a "city type"?

 

[kevconnor]

Wearing a suit that probably cost more than I was earning at the time.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Wearing a suit that probably cost more than I was earning at the time.

Not everyone who works for investment banks earns huge sums of money. And a sharp looking suit doesn't have to cost a fortune! If you've had a long day at work (and a lot of people who work for banks will have been at their desks before 07.00) you really couldn't care less about anything other than going home.

 

[bussnapperwm]

No. Silence on the tube is a British institution which must be observed. Getting rid of it would....it would be the thin end of the wedge, the end of civilisation as we know it.

Things like this don't happen just because people are very keen on them! Neville Chamberlain was very keen on peace but he didn't get any!

 

[PeterC]

If you want to chat on public transport just catch the bus back to my village on market day. It is a mobile pensioners' social club.

 

[AlterEgo]

No. Silence on the tube is a British institution which must be observed. Getting rid of it would....it would be the thin end of the wedge, the end of civilisation as we know it.

Things like this don't happen just because people are very keen on them! Neville Chamberlain was very keen on peace but he didn't get any!

Hear hear! (Or hear nothing, actually whatever!)

It’s just the British way to be respectfully silent and be concerned about one’s own space. That doesn’t make us a selfish people. I really value it.

Try taking a few domestic flights in the USA. There’s nothing that makes my heart sink like your stranger seatmate boarding and immediately rambling on about any old crap as soon as they sit down. Try that for four hours between Chicago and San Francisco.

 

[Howardh]

Hear hear! (Or hear nothing, actually whatever!)

It’s just the British way to be respectfully silent and be concerned about one’s own space. That doesn’t make us a selfish people. I really value it.

Try taking a few domestic flights in the USA. There’s nothing that makes my heart sink like your stranger seatmate boarding and immediately rambling on about any old crap as soon as they sit down. Try that for four hours between Chicago and San Francisco.

That is what earphones were invented for!!

 

[Calthrop]

Hear hear! (Or hear nothing, actually whatever!)

It’s just the British way to be respectfully silent and be concerned about one’s own space. That doesn’t make us a selfish people. I really value it.

Try taking a few domestic flights in the USA. There’s nothing that makes my heart sink like your stranger seatmate boarding and immediately rambling on about any old crap as soon as they sit down. Try that for four hours between Chicago and San Francisco.

I gather that Italy -- a nation of hyper-sociable, highly chatty extroverts -- much resembles the US as described above, in this particular. (Nobody, I feel, is objectively right / good or wrong / bad here -- just the different ways that people, and cultures, are. In person, I'm a fairly reserved, not very sociable type, and have the feeling that living in Italy would drive me mad.)

I've read in people's World War 2 memoirs, that escaping from a POW camp in Italy was very difficult -- not the actual getting out, but what came after. The usual procedure was to get on a train and head towards Switzerland. The trouble was, that all one's fellow-passengers were eager to tell one all about their own doings and life-histories, and expected one to reciprocate in kind -- "unmasking" usually ensued speedily. Not a matter of spy-mania -- just the locals being Italian in standard fashion. In this respect, escaping in Germany was easier: Germans, when allowed to be themselves, tend to be more like us, in minding their own business and leaving the other bod alone to mind his.

 

[185143]

I was on the tube once and there were a load of Geordies chatting/laughing away to each other. Felt kinda wierd witnessing it...

Also once I was on a GTR Southern train that called at Balham-I asked an RPI onboard for advice on getting back to Euston (as it was rush hour-and I knew Victoria would be rammed). He suggested bailing at Balham-and the guy across the aisle piped up and said he was going the same way. We barely stopped talking until we arrived at Euston!

 

[ASharpe]

No. Silence on the tube is a British institution which must be observed.

Couldn't agree more and really hope that phone signals never make it down there too.

Saying that, I often end up conversing with other passengers on my commute to and from Leeds.

 

[AndrewE]

[QUOTESaying that, I often end up conversing with other passengers on my commute to and from Leeds.[/QUOTE]
One of the pleasure of getting on a bus in Liverpool (or Manchester or other northern conurbations, maybe in Brum too) is that people often start conversations straight away.
Remind me of a joke that I might try to post in another thread... we'll see if the puritan/stuffed shirt police get asked to take it down too!

 

[sk688]

That would go down well on the tube

Remember the " Tube Chat " badges ?
I see this going the same way

 

[Ianno87]

I was on the tube once and there were a load of Geordies chatting/laughing away to each other. Felt kinda wierd witnessing it...

Also once I was on a GTR Southern train that called at Balham-I asked an RPI onboard for advice on getting back to Euston (as it was rush hour-and I knew Victoria would be rammed). He suggested bailing at Balham-and the guy across the aisle piped up and said he was going the same way. We barely stopped talking until we arrived at Euston!

If I do overhear fellow passengers unsure about where they are going ("no, this part of the train is not going to Birmingham New Street/King's Kynn") I do often interject, and people are universally welcoming and thankful for the help. What comes around, goes around.

I do however wish we weren't so afraid as a society of some light chit chat/banter with random strangers. Although I do appreciate "head space" on my daily commute, and do draw the line at the sort that yabber on endlessly at you without recognising that you might just appreciate some quiet time.

(Personal highlight of the latter was some Mackem lad on a Pacer out of Newcastle telling me the intricate details of his strategy should there be a mass Zombie attack. Really. I wouldn't have minded so much had I not also been trying to look out the window whilst we were doing the 'rare' King Edward Bridge North-to-East curve at the time)

 

[185143]

If I do overhear fellow passengers unsure about where they are going ("no, this part of the train is not going to Birmingham New Street/King's Kynn") I do often interject, and people are universally welcoming and thankful for the help. What comes around, goes around.

I do however wish we weren't so afraid as a society of some light chit chat/banter with random strangers. Although I do appreciate "head space" on my daily commute, and do draw the line at the sort that yabber on endlessly at you without recognising that you might just appreciate some quiet time.

(Personal highlight of the latter was some Mackem lad on a Pacer out of Newcastle telling me the intricate details of his strategy should there be a mass Zombie attack. Really. I wouldn't have minded so much had I not also been trying to look out the window whilst we were doing the 'rare' King Edward Bridge North-to-East curve at the time)

Indeed. Another time when it's a problem is like on Sunday night. I got off the rail rep at Hunts Cross, and asked the driver where the 89 went from now (as they're using the normal stops for the rail reps). A bloke who'd just alighted off the bus pointed me the right way-we were both after the 89 but in different directions. We stood chatting for a bit and nearly missed our buses!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Do they still teach kids "don't talk to strangers"?

If so, I think I've found this idea's USP...

EDIT: I mean that there'll be no annoying brats in there.

 

[AndrewE]

I think there must be, given the diligence in wiping anything faintly adult or risque...

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I don't get how it's even possible to have a conversation on the tube (certainly not in the tunnelled bits). They're not after all exactly the quietest of trains...