To wake or not to wake

[pdq]

On the 0746 Dewsbury to Manchester. Full and standing as usual, and there are two sets of double seats taken up by people sleeping like babies. If you were going a fair distance and wanted to sit down, would you wake them?

 

[najaB]

On the 0746 Dewsbury to Manchester. Full and standing as usual, and there are two sets of double seats taken up by gentlemen sleeping. If you were going a fair distance and wanted to sit down, would you wake them?

I would try to wake, without touching them.

 

[AlterEgo]

I'd wake them up.

 

[yorksrob]

I often ask people to shove their bag out the way, but I'm not sure I'd wake someone. Maybe if I was at Euston and contemplating a full and standing journey to Glasgow for example.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd ask the guard to do so, who would probably use the classic "rap on the window with gripping irons" trick. On a DOO train I'd do it in a way that could be considered coicidental, such as "accidentally" banging luggage into the seat, apologising then asking if I may sit there (assuming there were not other available seats).

 

[Bletchleyite]

I often ask people to shove their bag out the way, but I'm not sure I'd wake someone. Maybe if I was at Euston and contemplating a full and standing journey to Glasgow for example.

I would if there were no other seats. If there were other seats I'd take one of those.

 

[Merseysider]

Nah, I wouldn't wake them; I know what it's like to be so exhausted you can barely stay awake. It's a horrible feeling.

I also know what it's like to be so drunk you'll sleep anywhere, again, I wouldn't wake them unless it's the end of the line.

 

[Segedunum]

I've been on a fairly empty VTEC service (An 0555 service from Newcastle to King's Cross that was diverted via Hartlepool) and slept horribly the previous night so found an unreserved pair at the very back of Coach B on the HST (it was lightly loaded and lightly reserved overall) and I fell asleep but was woken up by a rude woman at York who apparently had to absolutely sit next to me despite there being a load of seats free and unreserved around her.

She sat down, broke out a copy of a broadsheet French newspaper, told me my music was too loud (I checked and it wasn't leaking out of my headphones) and nearly whacked me in the face with said newspaper.

I spent the next two hours trying not to plot a revenge.

However, I wouldn't bother waking them unless it's a long journey and the train is completely full. A polite tap would probably do rather than whacking them awake

 

[DarloRich]

it is the people with house sized suitcases jammed into a seat that really annoy me. We have all fallen asleep on a train. I am sure after a heavy refreshment session many of us have slumped into a seat

 

[Bletchleyite]

Nah, I wouldn't wake them; I know what it's like to be so exhausted you can barely stay awake. It's a horrible feeling.

I do as well, how do they know a standing passenger doesn't feel like that? If they're tired enough they can and will sleep in one seat each slumped over the table.

 

[Bletchleyite]

it is the people with house sized suitcases jammed into a seat that really annoy me. We have all fallen asleep on a train. I am sure after a heavy refreshment session many of us have slumped into a seat

Years ago I kipped across the width of the coach (body and backside on one pair of seats, legs on the other side of the aisle - I'm pretty tall) on a German D-Zug overnighter (anything goes on those, no reservations required, do what you like as long as you have something approximating to a valid ticket) in an Austrian open coach. I was woken by a jolt and a bang as the guard tripped over my legs and went flying down the coach...

Particularly good are quiet flights on aircraft with 3-4-3 or 2-5-2 layout. The world's first flat-beds in Economy Class

As for suitcases, stick them in the overhead (on trains that have sensibly sized overheads like the Desiro pictured). If you can't, there'll almost always be another passenger who can assist.

 

[Segedunum]

What you've described above is my absolute fear and why I end up a bit scrunched across a pair of seats (I'm 6ft 3), just because I don't want to trip some poor sod over.


Sent from my LG-K350 using Tapatalk

 

[ExRes]

As far as I'm concerned the answer to the original question is a resounding no, you do not touch someone who, for all you know, could be high on drugs or booze and have a knife in his pocket

 

[Bletchleyite]

As far as I'm concerned the answer to the original question is a resounding no, you do not touch someone who, for all you know, could be high on drugs or booze and have a knife in his pocket

You don't have to touch someone to wake them up. Rapping on the window with something hard e.g. a key is the usual method staff will use.

FWIW, looking at the clothing etc, my "quick" judgement is that they will be the laid-back hippy-ish studenty sort who will just fitfully mumble sorry, squash themselves into one seat and go back to sleep.

 

[DarloRich]

Particularly good are quiet flights on aircraft with 3-4-3 or 2-5-2 layout. The world's first flat-beds in Economy Class

I came back form Malta on a stupid o'clock flight with about 7 people on - lovely sleep on an entire row of seats,

 

[Senex]

She sat down, broke out a copy of a broadsheet French newspaper, told me my music was too loud (I checked and it wasn't leaking out of my headphones) and nearly whacked me in the face with said newspaper.

Just out of curiosity. How do you check that music is not leaking out of your own headphones?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just out of curiosity. How do you check that music is not leaking out of your own headphones?

Take them off and see if you can still hear the music. If you can't, they are not leaking. (Of course you're more likely to hear it then than when they are in someone's ear, so it's a more than exhaustive test).

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Nah, I wouldn't wake them; I know what it's like to be so exhausted you can barely stay awake. It's a horrible feeling.

I also know what it's like to be so drunk you'll sleep anywhere, again, I wouldn't wake them unless it's the end of the line.

Note to self: If you want a double seat, pretend to be asleep!

 

[Segedunum]

Take them off and see if you can still hear the music. If you can't, they are not leaking. (Of course you're more likely to hear it then than when they are in someone's ear, so it's a more than exhaustive test).

That's exactly what I did.

 

[DarloRich]

To wake, or not to wake, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
the heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
that Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,
for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come.........

 

[theblackwatch]

This reminds me of an incident I had a couple of years ago early one morning in Germany. I got off an overnight train and onto a pretty empty local service, put my bag on the seat next to me and promptly fell asleep leaning on my bag. I woke up about 30 minutes later to find that I was now on a full and standing service!

 

[meridian2]

Note to self: If you want a double seat, pretend to be asleep!

Viv Stanshall said it best. In the days of train compartments he reckoned the way to get one to yourself was not to look grumpy and turn away, but to stand at the window smiling manically and beckon passers by in with a bony finger.

 

[takno]

Just out of curiosity. How do you check that music is not leaking out of your own headphones?

Just check whether your headphones are apple branded. If they are it probably is.

 

[Senex]

Take them off and see if you can still hear the music. If you can't, they are not leaking. (Of course you're more likely to hear it then than when they are in someone's ear, so it's a more than exhaustive test).

By that test most of the people I seem to end up sharing railway space with seem to be leaking very badly indeed -- you can often hear the leaking sound from two or three bays away.

 

[najaB]

By that test most of the people I seem to end up sharing railway space with seem to be leaking very badly indeed -- you can often hear the leaking sound from two or three bays away.

Most of the earphones that come with phones/MP3 players are *very* poor quality and so if the music is loud enough to drown out the outside world, it's normally audible to everyone in the near vicinity. The best thing you can do is get either a decent pair of over-ear headphones or at least earphones with foam/rubber tips that form a proper seal for your ear canal.

The plus is you'll get decent bass rather than the normal weak tinny sound.

 

[yorksrob]

Most of the earphones that come with phones/MP3 players are *very* poor quality and so if the music is loud enough to drown out the outside world, it's normally audible to everyone in the near vicinity. The best thing you can do is get either a decent pair of over-ear headphones or at least earphones with foam/rubber tips that form a proper seal for your ear canal.

The plus is you'll get decent bass rather than the normal weak tinny sound.

With modern mp3 players and headphones and current regulations, I find it impossible to find one that "drowns out" anything. A flea circus would generate more noise.

 

[najaB]

With modern mp3 players and headphones and current regulations, I find it impossible to find one that "drowns out" anything. A flea circus would generate more noise.

As above, you need ones that have foam/rubber tips. They do a half decent job as earplugs and so don't need to output much sound energy at all.

 

[Antman]

As far as I'm concerned the answer to the original question is a resounding no, you do not touch someone who, for all you know, could be high on drugs or booze and have a knife in his pocket

But chances are that they wouldn't be, in fact you might be doing them a favour and save them missing their stop?

However I probably wouldn't try and wake them unless I was going to have to stand for a long time.

 

[yorksrob]

As above, you need ones that have foam/rubber tips. They do a half decent job as earplugs and so don't need to output much sound energy at all.

Yeah, the old JVC Marshmallow ones used to be superb for that and reasonably priced, however I haven't seen them on sale for a few years.

 

[najaB]

Yeah, the old JVC Marshmallow ones used to be superb for that and reasonably priced, however I haven't seen them on sale for a few years.

The modern-day equivalent would be something like these: http://www.argos.co.uk/product/2591957