Monday, November 24, 2008

Interesting People on Trains


There are many interesting people that ride the train. Everyday I encounter people acting weird or doing strange things. Today I sat near a 50 something woman who treated the train as her personal bathroom.

She first washed her hands with some wet naps and then she began furiously picking her nose with a paper towel. I guess she wanted to get every spec of nose crap out of the nose hole. She also drank her coke and then applied makeup and then lipstick. She then proceeded to wash her pits with her wet naps.

She made a phone call and talked really loud in a language I could not understand. It sounded eastern european but couldn't get a handle on the specific country. She looked at her mirror and brushed her hair. She opened up a bag full of food and ate snacks and drank her coke some more. She kept looking into her mirror to see if there were any more boogers in her nose.

She stood up suddenly and then fixed her pants. I guess her crotch was bothering her. She looks like the kind of person that cannot sit still for even a second.

Oh, I forgot to mention that she did this while sitting next to a stranger. The man was horrified that she was doing all of this next to him. He was probably wondering why he had to be stuck next to this woman. There were many many empty seats available on the train but she sat next to him.

She sat at her seat for about 10 seconds until she started rummaging through her bag again. This time she pulled out her magazine. I couldn't quite make out the entire title but it looked like "Artist's ______". She would read for about 10 seconds and then look in her bag. She read again and then stopped to fix her hair. This went on the entire time.

She wasn't the only weird person.

A 50 something man sitting near me had his jacket over his face the entire time. He looked like Dracula with his cape covering his face. I have no idea why he was doing this but he did it the entire time he was on the train. I could only see his eyes and they were nervously scanning the train for something. Strange to say the least.

* Sent via BlackBerry *

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. City life is surreal. But isn't it worth it to absorb all the local color.

I'm thinking the Dracula guy is a germphobe who is forced to use public transportation. Or maybe he was snorting his medicine in hs self-made, private "enclosure." So why are you all up in his bizness. NARC!

Trains/subways are also temporary shelters for the homeless/artists and the mentally ill. Thus you get a whole assortment of characters as well as various cleansing rituals. It's scary and fascinating all at the same time.

I'm fine with all the eccentricity as long as I'm sitting far away and they don't talk to me. I don't want the spectacle in my face. You don't see me sitting at the very front of the movie theatre.