On the train

Maybe you've got me at the wrong end of the month...but gee I can be a grumpy commuter. I'll own it. I'll wear it. I'll try and do something about it...and by that I mean I will try and remember to always have my tunes and my ear buds available at all times when using public transport. This morning I unfortunately left my music at home. It's pretty easy to do as I no longer have an iPhone so my phone and my music is no longer connected. I have to remember to bring the old iPhone which has iTunes still faithfully playing. I have to remember to bring my tunes so as to block out conversations I really don't want to hear.

I guess you could tell me, "Well, just don't listen!" I tried! Oh my LORD how I tried! I got out my book The Life of Pi (which I am loving by the way, so I am normally fully immersed!) but I could not block out this conversation today. I wasn't listening, but I could hear it.

Please remind me when I get past the age of sixty that it's a good thing to talk about interesting and positive things with a friend when on public transport. These conversations are normally ones that can be absorbed into the atmosphere and create a calming buzz for your fellow commuters.

This morning I was sitting right next to a couple of ladies in their sixties...maybe. Right from the time they got on (which I think was the next station after mine) until the time they got off (at the end of the line) they talked about things that I really didn't want to hear. As I said above, I really tried not to even hear them. There's a vast difference between listening and hearing I discovered today. I could hear these ladies but I wasn't listening in on their conversations....but the fact that I could hear them was bad enough.

They talked about a gamut of things but the bit I found most disturbing was the open conversation about the recent tragedy of MH17.

Yes, we all know people died and died tragically. It hurts. It really does. There are realities about the deaths of the people on board that we all know...deep down we all know that the victims didn't just come to rest on the earth, undisturbed and perfect....but we don't openly talk about it...because...well...it's just all too much.

But these women...one of them in particular...went too far in graphically describing the manner in which bodies were found...and collected.

And it was at this point that I uttered an audible, "Please! Do we have to?"

I don't know....maybe I am too sensitive but I hate hearing such tragedies talked about in a gossipy, impersonal manner. I hate hearing death spoken about in such a dispassionate way, with no respect or honor...These were people's loved ones, not items of news to be discussed so openly and graphically.

I should have opened my mouth and said as such.