How a packed train turned into an emotional wreck

I always thought I was a tolerant sort of person but, as I get older, I feel my patience is rapidly running out.

In fact, if the current trend continues it won’t be long before I’m one of these old dears who are happy to say exactly what they think and damn the consequences.

It certainly took me all my time to restrain myself on a recent train journey to see some family friends who moved south a few years ago.

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Wanting to spend as much of the day as possible with them, I was up with the lark to catch the red-eye express to London.

The train was surprisingly quiet as I got on at Edinburgh having decided to drive through and park at the station (even though, at £21 for the day, it was hardly the cheap option).

However, as we progressed on our journey the carriage started to fill up and I was soon squashed in my seat, trying to find a comfortable position from which to read my book.

I needn’t have bothered as within a few stops it became abundantly clear that I wasn’t going to get any peace.

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The first interuption came when a rather upset looking man boarded and, in answer to a polite “How are you?” question from his female companion, proceeded to spend the next half on the verge of tears detailing every step he had taken in a bid to save his failing marriage.

Of course I had every sympathy for the poor soul but quite why he chose a busy train to reveal his innermost feelings quite frankly escapes me.

And the same applies to the two young ladies who joined shortly afterwards.

Modesty prevents me from going into too much detail about their conversation but let’s just say they weren’t adverse to letting the whole train know about their latest exploits. I’m no prude but I didn’t know where to look and ended up burying my face in my book even though I didn’t actually get much reading done.

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And quite what the newly single man opposite made of it all I can’t imagine.

My day out with my friends was rather tame by comparison but we did spend an enjoyable few hours catching up and sharing memories.

All too soon, however, it was time to head home and thankfully a much less adventurous journey.

It gave me plenty of time to get into my book but I seemed to spend most of my time wondering if I had amassed enough juicy material to write my own!

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