The Commuter

Spending as much time commuting as I do I’ve noticed a few distinct types of commuter who each does something that I simply don’t understand.

The Aisle Sitter
The Aisle Sitter must have a fear of window seats. Maybe it’s the thought of watching all those trees not zip past the window as we crawl along again at a walking pace that they find so scary, for what else can be the explanation for sitting in the aisle seat of a two seat row when the window seat is empty? Maybe they have some kind of bizzare sexual fettish where they like people to constantly ask them “is that seat taken?” Hell people seem to get themselves off on a lot less these days! Now I know what you are thinking “oh they are just travelling a couple of stops and don’t want to have to squeeze past someone to get off”. Whilst I can certainly understand our English reserve that prevents us from actually speaking to a fellow passenger and the dilema that presents us when we wish to alight a train and someone is sat next to us, I’m sure I’ve seen some people go past their stop in order to avoid verbal contact. No, the Aisle Sitters I speak off are invariably on the train to the last but one stop. Perhaps they feel that their travelcard has actually bought them that chair and there’s no way they are going to let anyone else sit in it?

The Bag Carrier
The Bag Carrier is closely related to the Aisle Sitter both of whom I can only assume are the love children of some ghastly liason between two cousins. The Bag Carrier seems to use their bag as some kind of security blanket refusing to put it up in the luggage rack or under their own seat. Instead they insist on either putting it on the empty seat next to them possibly in the vain attempt to stop anyone sitting next to them (sorry but we all caught onto that ruse several years ago), putting it under the table so that the other three poor sods sat next to them have nowhere to put their feet or put their bag actually on the table so that nobody else can even so much as put a drink down. As further proof of the genetic link between the Bag Carrier and Aisle Sitter you often find that they are one in the same person. This invariably means that when the poor sod who did manage to squeeze past them to the window seat wants to get off, they unwittingly end up dragging the Bag Carriers luggage off the table as they try to get out from behind the table. This in turn leads to a sudden lunge at the bag from the Bag Carrier in fear that all their worldly possesions are going to “crash” all of 2ft to the floor who then ends up knocking over a precariously placed drink that was perched on the only free 5mm of table space that was left.

The Clacker
The Clacker is a laptop user but not just any laptop user. Most laptop users are quite considerate but the Clacker is in a league of their own. The Clacker can be easily identified as:

They will always be sat at a table
They often have lots of paperwork spread out on the table
They always want to have the entire table to themselves.
Their laptops always seem to be an IBM Thinkpad

However the easiest way to identify The Clacker is by the way they type. Normal laptop users can type without making a sound but The Clacker thinks that their fellow commuters are impressed by laptops and so wants to make sure that everyone knows they have one. They do this by thumping each key down to make the distinct clacking sound. Furthermore they seem to get incredibly excited by this sound as their typing just gets faster and faster and the clacking gets louder and louder until they reach fever pitch and then press the Enter key with the same flourish that a drummer would smash the cymbol after a particulary long drum solo. However whilst a drummer would then bask in the applause from a greatful audience The Clacker then glances at his screen, leans closer to the screen, realises the number of spelling mistakes and then takes the next ten minutes slowly trying to correct them as silently as possible so as not to draw attention to themselves. This is because The Clacker cannot touch type and use, at best, two fingers on each hand to stab at the keys and cannot take their eyes off their fingers for a second to read what rubbish they are writting. In short The Clacker is an inept fool.

The Reader
Everyone has encountered the reader for they can be found on any method of public transport no matter how short the journey is. The Reader isn’t someone as you might expect who buries their head in their book or magazine. No. The Reader is only interested in reading other peoples newspapers, magazines etc. However their favourite reading material is other peoples laptops, PDA’s, iPhones & portable games systems.

I’m sure there must be many other types of commuter, if you know of any do let me know. I’m just not sure that I want to encounter them!

Blogpress

I update this blog entirely using my iPhone on my daily commute to work and up until today I did this using the WordPress iPhone application. The WordPress application is actually pretty good and as it’s free it’s s no brainer to at least give it a try but the main thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that you can’t position any images you add to your blog and that they only can appear at the end. Therefore today I bought Blogpress from the App Store which I am using to write this very blog.

The Sound of Music in Berlin

Despite the fact that I really can’t stand the musical The Sound of Music, I have to admit that this is very, very good!

Ouch x 93

A few months ago my knee started to hurt and it quickly got to the stage where walking on it was very uncomfortable and going up and down stairs was agony. I made an appointment with my GP who referred me to the hospital and two days ago I had my appointment for an assessment.

The consultant I saw looked at an x-ray of my knee and asked where it hurt and then said that he was pretty sure what it was but wanted to do a couple of test just to make sure. With that he got me to lay on the couch and he took my foot and lower leg and started to rotate it around. “Ahhh!!!” I shouted as a really sharp pain ran down the side of the knee. “Yep, as I thought” the consultant said, “you’ve got a torn cartilage”.

Noisettes

Last night I downloaded the new Noisettes album Wild Young Hearts and have just finished listening to it on my iPhone.

I have to say that this band and this album have a great sound and instantly you feel as though you are transported to some ‘trendy bar’ in Soho on a summers evening when you listen to it. The album just has a ‘feel good’ sound to it that makes it almost impossible to not like. The only problem with the album is probably something that could be said about most artists in this genre and that is that it’s more background music than foreground in that it will sound great in the background at a bar, a party, over dinner or even just working on the computer but I can’t imagine ever actually sitting down to listen to it like I do with other artists and genres. That said at £5.99 from iTunes it’s an absolute bargin and well worth buying!

So This is Blogging!

If you know me already you’ll know I’ve been running my photography website Peakoverload.com for several years but as I spend an awful lot of time commuting to North London from West Sussex (roughly 5hrs a day) I don’t get as much time to take photos as I would like and instead get an awful lot of time to think about all the things I’d rather be doing with my time.

That really is the purpose behind this blog I suppose, if I can’t indulge all my interests enough physically then I’ll just have to write about them. Thanks to the WordPress App for the iPhone I shall be able to keep this blog up to date quite easily and I have to say that the iPhone is truly incredible. I absolutely love the iPhone and it has made such a huge difference not only to my daily commute but to everyday life what with being able to watch films, listen to music, send e-mails, surf the web, play games and of course use the phone. Thank you Apple, you saved my sanity!!