With family living in Edinburgh and many of my friends living up and down the country, I am a committed train traveller. Actually, I’m not just a train traveller; I am a committed ‘Quiet Coach’ user.
The reason why I love travelling by train so much is because I love reading and I never seem to find the time to read unless I am on the train or on holiday. I drive to work every day and can’t seem to find the time to read once I get home. The Quiet Coach on trains is the perfect place to read in peace and quiet as you zoom through Britain. The only problem with the Quiet Coach is people who do not seem to understand its rules.
For anyone who doesn’t know what the rules of the Quiet Coach are, I will tell you and prepare yourself for some revolutionary rules… the Quiet Coach’s number one and only rule is BE QUIET!
Is talking to your friend very loudly on a mobile phone a quiet activity? No. Is watching a film on an iPad with speakers blaring so we can all hear the dialogue but not see the screen a quiet activity? No. Is listening to Florence + The Machine’s song ‘Spectrum’ incredibly loudly on repeat for two hours so that everyone can hear every word of the song and practically knows it off by heart by the end of the journey a quiet activity? No!
I don’t want to sound like a miserable person with angry tendencies (even though I am) but seriously people, just be quiet in the Quiet Coach. It’s all we ask.
Sadly, by nature, us quiet lot don’t like confrontation and don’t want to annoy everyone else in the coach by starting an argument with a rule breaker, so we tend to leave them to it and sit there stewing while they carry on breaking the rules. We are pacifists, we are lovers not fighters, all we want to do is read our book, do our work or have a sleep in peace. So next time you are in the Quiet Coach, just do one thing for me, please, just be quiet. Or just sit somewhere else for goodness sake; there are other coaches on the train where you can do whatever you like!