My Train Journeys

Monday afternoon, when I got on to my train heading back to Birmingham, the carriage was quite full. I was standing next to a seat with a bag on it, but the lady who was sitting on the seat next to it looked like she didn't want to pick the bag up. She was spread across two seats and there was I standing there trying to find a seat. Why would you even do that?  What kind of a person you have to be to do that? She had the headphones on and was watching something on a tablet. I said to her, 'is anyone sitting here'. I'm sure she heard that but first pretended she couldn't hear me and said, "sorry", so I pointed at her bag and said, "is that yours?“. It looked and felt like she didn't want to answer that in an attempt to make me walk away and find a seat somewhere else. But because she behaved like that, I ensured she picked her bag and I sat in that seat. I could tell she wasn't pleased. She could have been a bit humanitarian (a person

'17.03 Avanti West Coast service to Birmingham New Street will be leaving from platform 4'. Due to the trains being delayed earlier yesterday there was a lot of people waiting at the concourse at Euston trains station who were constantly looking at the electronic boards on the top. It was like a marathon had started when that announcement happened. Everyone started walking really fast towards the platform and some eager ones started running just in case there was a prize for someone who gets on the train first. Being the 23rd of December I didn't think it would be this busy but turns out they're all going to the Midlands for Christmas. And they were all in some sort of rush. When someone brushed past me while running towards the train I almost felt like saying (in ferdi's voice) , " you can't see meee!!! Why you running fast, the train will still be there for the next 10 - 12 minutes, don't go anywhere". Having this thought in my head made me

'Excuse me, how do I know if one of these have an outlet... I mean the electric socket' a man sitting in my train back to Birmingham on Wednesday evening asked the lady sitting opposite me. He said excuse me with a bit of loud voice which got everyone's (including me) attention immediately. They way it sounded, It almost felt like he was going to say something confrontational but it wasn't. Sometimes we make assumptions 'without knowing the full story' or even just by looking at someone. The lady said, 'Errrm by looking' (lol) then she tapped on the table  in front of her and said, 'it's normally on the seats with the tables like this'. I think the man who asked the question was from America (I assumed from his accent). Not only do they talk differently in America, they phrase questions differently too. But this British lady shot him down straight away by answering his question the way it was phrased (she could be a comedian or may b

If you don't have anyone to hold hands and walk with, put your hands in your pockets and walk alone. (Anonymous - translated from a post in urdu on Facebook). I don't know if this should make someone happy or sad but I think it's quite profound. I'm guessing the young lad sitting opposite me (wearing a burgundy jumper over his grey shirt, black framed glasses and his work pass around his neck with a lanyard) doesn't like walking alone and he wants to hold this youngish lady's hand (who was sitting next to him) while he's walking (or even when he's sitting in the train). I say this because he constantly kept turning his head from time to time and kept looking at her. He looked sad when she got off the seat to get off and it felt like he almost wanted to say, 'don't go anywhere' to her.  I've realised how calm the tubes, dlr and Euston-Station can be later in the day after I travelled around two hours later than my normal

If you don't find these blogs funny enough, try reading them in a different accent (in your head if you're in public). For example indian, African or even Arab. Arab accent is the easiest just pretend all the p's are b's and randomly stress on certain words. Or if you wanna learn Indian accent just stress on pronouncing the t's and d's and use j's instead of z's. I proof read my blogs in George Khan's (Om Puri) so called Pakistani accent from East is East the movie. If I started reading loud in that accent in the train people would think I'm nuts. I'm not sure if this ever happens to anyone else but whenever I am into something (phone, car or laptop), I start noticing that thing a lot more around me. For examples, whenever I get a different car, I start noticing more cars like that on the road. Since I have had a bit of interest in growing a moustache, I've been noticing a lot of people with different types of moustaches around

Yesterday morning, I was picked up by a gentleman in his late 50's. I greeted him with salam (Muslim greeting) because I had seen his name on the app when I ordered the taxi. I think uncle (the gentleman) must have thought, "I can shout at this young asian man", when I asked him to take a left as he was almost ignoring the sat nav and was going to go straight. He said with a telling off tone "brother, if you need to go that side of the train station, you should have put temple street". I was baffled with that tone but that made me laugh too (because I thought uncle needs to relax). I explained there was also a new street on this side and that was what I'd booked the job for using that post code. It then almost turned into an argument and the man started saying, "brother I've been driving taxi for 15 years, I know". I politely responded please follow the sat nav and my point was proven after a minute when it said, "turn right onto n

The man sitting opposite me on Thursday morning's train, opened his laptop as soon as he sat down. He had the laptop opened in front of him, closed his eyes for a good few minutes and had his head resting back on the seat. He then opened his eyes and kept staring hard at the laptop screen. It was like he was frowning at it, so much so that he had a crease between his eye brows. Was he trying to control the laptop with his mind? I didn't see him type anything on it and he then closed it after about an hour. What was the purpose of that? If I could control my laptop like that and make it do things without touching it that will literally change everything for me. I'd write this just by staring at my phone..   I feel like I'm doing this with my mind anyway because I'm using the swipe feature. I think that should count as controlling with the mind.  Can anyone control things with their mind? There was a movie called Lucy which was about a similar concept. Go

Some people demand attention. There's just something about them which makes them look distinctive. Like this young version of Lord Nazir (Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed is a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom) on my train back to Birmingham yesterday who chose to sit right opposite me (I felt privileged). He was dressed up in a navy suit, with white shirt and a navy tie with white dots. If this was 1998 when Lord Nazir was appointed and he was younger, I'm sure no one would stop this guy from entering the house of Lords. Anyone would've thought he's Lord Nazir because he had very similar styled facial hair and features plus he was dressed up for sure. He must have been hungry because he smashed a packet of crisp in under a minute while breathing heavily. He looked like he had a blocked nose and his shirt was a bit tight for him. Or was he breathing fast in smaller breaths to ensure that he doesn't pop open the shirts buttons which was a bit tight