Train of thought

Occasionally, I have to catch the train to university, either due to my car being unreliable or wanting to have a drink while I'm there. Hence, I have to catch the train. I don't mind catching the train, if I have my iPod with me then I usually enjoy the train ride, but as always, there's some things that rile me up.


Trains are quite expensive as it is. I paid £5.50 for a return, which I thought was slightly pricey, but got along with my day. The next day, I took the exact same train and was charged £2.20 more, because I was traveling at a 'peak time'. Seems a bit stupid that they can charge more just because of the time of the day, and I can assure you that the train was no busier than it was the previous day.


On top of this, I'm scared into buying the tickets by the warning signs saying that it is 'illegal to get on a train without a ticket'. Yet, nobody ever checks your ticket! On every other form of transport, your ticket is checked before you get on board, but on a train you are trusted with getting a ticket and hoping that someone comes and checks your ticket, otherwise you've just paid for a ticket that you could have not paid for. I mean, imagine if a plane operated in the same way as a train, and only checked your tickets while you were 10,000 feet up in the air?


Then there's the selfish people who sit on a table seat when there's only one of them. There is nothing special about a table seat, yet everybody rushes to them. Those seats are designed for those people who want to socialize with the people across from them, or those who have work to do. Yet, you ALWAYS see one old woman who runs down the train to get the table seat, and she's all alone reading knitting weekly, pondering over which thread to use this week in her quest to make a tea-cosy. I often race these old women to the table seats, just because I can, and they won't sit down next to me, the big scary teenager who is stereotypically going to stab them. 

Finally, this might only be with me, but there always seems to be that one crazy person on a train. You know the type, the one who's dressed as Santa or someone constantly banging their head against the window. They always seem to sit next to me. I don't know if I'm some sort of magnet to these people, or they see me as one of them, but it worries me. On no other forms of transport do you get such nutters as you do on a train. 


My next moan: Excess of emoticons