Dear Mum,
The person who coined the phrase ‘manners cost nothing’ was rather narrow-minded. They can cost you a great deal.
I stayed at Kate’s last night and we caught the tube together in the morning. As the carriage slowed before our chosen spot on the platform, a well dressed man strode toward our position but nearer the platform edge, making it abundantly clear it was critical that he boarded the tube first.
Indeed, the train arrived, the doors opened and our pushy platform pal had boarded.
No excuses – this was rude. It’s not that two girls were, according to tradition, entitled to go first. It’s not even that we’re English and we queue.
It simply denies courtesy, which is the ambassador of one’s morality. He could’ve been a charity worker who homes rescue dog and knits for the homeless. This was still rude.
As you well know, she may be by sister but I coax the Kate’s motherly intuition from its place of rest. She ushered me into a seat before anyone claimed it. She was battered about the carriage, by bags and shoulders alike.
When the seat beside me came available Kate prepared to make a move but, from the other side of the glass that divided the seats from the doorway, a bottom swept around the corner and threw itself upon the seat.
It soon arose and the rumba of rumps continued as the bottom’s girlfriend artfully curled her body around the glass and occupied the seat. Clearly this was well rehearsed.
Kate and I rolled our eyes, Kate having to hold my shoulders to balance her sea legs. I couldn’t help but giggle as we cosily mirrored the train’s turbulence and felt mutual bemusement.
“It’s not the end of the world,” he told his girlfriend before asking if we were upset about the seat situation. Kate was dazzling. “Don’t worry about it,” she replied and flashed a charming smile, retaining all dignity. His girlfriend was blushing.
I got off at the next stop and made my way through the barriers. When replacing my Oyster in my bag I elbowed a hooded youth. We both immediately turned to one another shrieked, “I’m so sorry!”
The irony. It was my elbow that struck the individual and thus caused the collision, yet here was a polite individual aware of what had occurred and wanting to correct it in some way.
It was both forgettable and alluring. It made my morning. X x x
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