Yesterday was Day 1 of resolution: Pay more attention to 'surroundings'. Henceforth I hoped to not walk around in my zombielike trance looking either preoccupied/ not interested/ or simply looking 'through' everything (yes, phrase used by a week old colleague)....and unfortunately so true. No more walking with eyes looking on goings on inside the head as opposed to outside it. So anyway, the idea was to pay more attention to the world 'out there'.
The day getting off to a dodgy start should have given an inkling of things to happen, but at 5.00am I was too sleepy to notice. Getting up at half past four with just about a hour and a half of sleep inside me is never a good thing, especially so for a morning hater like myself. Consoling myself with the thought that I could sleep on the train, I got up, got dressed and was out just as the taxi pulled up. About half way to the station I realised that I in fact did not have my passport with me, and there I was going to get the passport sorted out. T y p i c a l. Taxi did an about turn and by the time I found the damn thing and the taxi rushed back to the station, the train had barely 5 minutes to go.
Safely landing in my compartment and subsequently in my seat, I was looking forward to a quiet five and a half hour journey and perhaps catching up on my sleep. (Oh by the way, have figured out how to read those old newspapers neatly piling up in a corner of the room, - take them on train journeys! Yes, I went through three days worth on my way back...) The seat next to me was occupied by a youngish-senior lady whose husband sat across the aisle and belched loudly every now and then. My turning in the general direction of the couple with a disgusted look every time it happened, didn't have any effect and after the first few times she even looked amused, so I stopped doing that and did my usual 'fuming silently' bit.
The compartment was only about half-full and everyone was in the back half, with the front of the compartment completely empty. A cute guy 'very French looking' sat in the seat in front of the seat in front of me and smiled back when I smiled at him while searching for my seat. Hmm...everything was okay with my world at 6.00am when, not so quietly, around nine (wannabe?) models trooped in. Complete with flowing tresses, 5'10"+ heights and miniscule waists, the ladies literally brought the compartment to a sit-still. A sudden pin-drop silence snugly and not so comfortabley enveloped the half-full compartment, and most gawked while pretending not to, while others gawked without pretence. For God's sake, (cheesy you might think, but I can't resist it->) out of all the compartments in all the bloody trains, they had to walk into mine! F!
Everyone looked while the girls sorted themselves out, stored their luggage and located their seats, all the while chattering away, fully aware of the impact they had had. Each time one of the girls walked down the aisle everyone looked at her in an almost shy manner. To be honest, besides being incredibly thin and tall, some were really quite pretty. Made a mental note to rush for the door as soon as the train stopped at the final destination and stand either waaaaay in front or waaaay behind 'the nine', - There was NO WAY I was going to be seen next to them!
A long sigh later I turned towards the window and looked at not the poetically rolling fields but at a stained blue curtain, something I had to do most of the way as the bloody rings were stuck.
Almost five and a half hours later it was amusing to see most of the half-full compartment rush for the door while the ladies were still sleepily waking up from their slumber. Is it that some of us had the same thot hanh hanh hanh??!
So much for paying attention to the surroundings. I think I shall go back inside my head.
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