I don’t know why I can’t just tell people on the metro or the bus to turn their music down. It’s so loud sometimes that I can’t believe I don’t see blood running down the sides of their faces from burst eardrums.
When I look around me, I see other annoyed faces glaring in the offender’s direction, we even exchange acknowledging looks but nobody says anything. Only once recently have I witnessed a lady doing everybody the favour. She had earphones in her own ears as she approached the noise polluter and he seemed surprised when she told him the problem, but quickly turned the dial on his ipod anti-clockwise without resistance. If only I were that brave.
This morning, a man sitting in the seat perpendicular to mine on the metro flung his newspaper onto the empty seat next to me as if it were a trash can. I shot a dirty look at him and he looked right back like he’d done nothing wrong. I sort of thought maybe he’d pick it up before he left the train but knew better and so rehearsed telling him he’d forgotten his paper over and over in my head. But his generally unfriendly face melted away any determination I could muster.
To make matters worse, the woman sitting next to him threw her paper on the seat when he got up. I couldn’t believe it. My blood was boiling but my courage wasn’t rising with it. And so the two got off the train scot-free while I sat next to their junk.
What next? A blog post was forming in my nerdy head as I fumed all the way to the next station. Then I realized, unfortunately, that the chain of events I allowed not to resolve earlier, meant that the social responsibility was now dumped squarely on my shoulders. Sigh.
So, as I arrived at my stop, I gathered up their papers with my own and exited the train.
Could it be a case of recycling? letting anyone on the train to read the papers. I’ve seen that on London tubes and trains as well. My friend just picked it up and read them.
yeah, actually, they did that on the bus in reston, and i actually liked it cos i think people know that others will read it after them.
awesome picture!
oh i mean i liked it cos i would read it if it was left on the seat i wanted to take.
That’s a very generous thought, but everyone who gets on the Metro in the morning has easy access to a paper on the way in and by the evening, papers are strewn all over the floor or stuffed in the crevices beside the seats. Plus, the way the paper was tossed onto the seats, left folded on the last page that was read, it was pretty obvious there was no thought put into it. There are also big recycling bins on your way out of the metro. OH and I’ve also heard the train conductor announce for passengers to take with them all personal belongings INCLUDING newspapers! no excuses!
yeah baby… sorry but i agree with your commenters. I LOVE leftover newspapers on the trains because sometimes they leave dirty pleasures like THE SUN or the DAILY SPORT and i get to read these horrible guilty papers without suffering the indignity of paying for them! Or sometimes i would forget my book but then i’ll always have ready reading materials.
Recycling rocks!
(then again… as a writer i’m sure you prefer we all buy our own copies, right? )
love
ching
no it’s the FREE newspapers that are left everywhere!! nobody’s going to leave you the washington post!
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