Look at me!

I was in the Tube a couple of days ago and a woman walked in talking loudly on her mobile--as you do because the world and her mother want to hear all about your oh-so-exciting exploits. She was talking to a friend about someone she'd recently met and proceeded to explain why she felt that this relationship felt right. Ho, hum. I try not to let people's (shouted) mobile conversations affect me because, really, they happen so often that if I don't calm down, I'll wind up with a damn ulcer. I digress... She talked, and talked..., for about 10 minutes, (well, until the train was about to enter a tunnel) before saying bye and turning to her book. By that time the rest of the people in the carriage knew where this man had gone on holiday, how handsome he was, how mature, etc. etc. I forget, before she rang off she did add, "See you tonight." ............ What?

Yesterday, again on the tube, a relatively handsome man (with friend) entered the train. I surreptitiously tried to check for any rings on his hand, before trying to check him out, and quickly decided that the flashy thing on his finger couldn't possibly count as a testament to any kind of serious relationship in his life. Anyway, towards the end, our journey was delayed and I found myself standing less than 5" away from him. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that he'd put on one of those large earphones and every so often bursts of some old song, i.e. from the 90's, could be heard coming through. He talked and laughed with his friend and once in a while did a little dance move between myself and the other man. Call me presumptious, but if we were in primary school, I get the feeling that he would have tried to yank my hair (and I would have debated screaming my head off just to get someone else in trouble for once, ;OP).

Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't mind his behaviour (too much), but as the seconds ticked by (oh so slowly) the thought did occur to me that between the woman of the previous day and him, I'd witnessed at least 2 blatant forms of attention-seeking. No one needs to talk half as loudly as many people do when using their mobiles. Be it in the bus, train or tube, in most cases the conversations aren't worth the irritation of having to sit next to an annoying gasbag (or maybe I'm just unlucky). I had this conversation with my cousin, and he said he doesn't mind people being loud because he likes listening to their conversations (he's also a teenager). I tried taking a leaf out of his book and sorry to say, I couldn't understand why people can't make all their little inane comments in the privacy of their own homes (or outside the enclosed space a.k.a. public transportation)--No one has to prove that life is not made up of constant sexy, mind-boggling adventures. I already know this!! Sometimes it's a pleasure when someone speaks in a language I don't understand. At least I can fantasise that s/he is discussing the (positive) rise of female African writers on the international scene; or maybe poetically describing the feeling s/he gets when being kissed by the person on the other end of the phone..... I'm a sucker for a pair of well-shaped, full lips... Sorry.

Anyway, back to the quite-handsome-man (earphones and all): I did manage to "share" a nice 30 second bus ride with him sitting behind me, but the feeling was seriously tempered by the fact that I knew I'd missed my connecting bus and had to walk home. Stupid night buses!!