Minnie
I get the same train each day to and from work. I don’t know about you, but I tend to sit in the same carriage and (if I’m lucky) the same seat every day. Commuters are creatures of habit. It seems we all have our favourite spots (mine’s the two-seater at the back where I can read my metro in peace), and consequently I tend to see the same commuters sitting around me each day. Basically - I know the people who get on my train.
Or at least I thought I did.
It was while I was on my lunch hour during one ordinary Monday that this firm notion was swept away from under my feet.
I was walking out of the supermarket by my workplace when a tall and skinny guy approached me and said hello.
Now, I tend to be overly friendly to strangers because I hate the thought of being rude to people (and to be honest, I love a good chat). I’m the person who says hello to neighbours who don’t recognise me (yes David at number 3, I’m talking about you). I chat to people behind the till, people on the bus (who are probably nuts if they are talking to you), people in changing rooms - you get the idea.
So I reply ‘Hiya’, very enthusiastically, as if this person is my latest BFF. He then tells me that he’s been meaning to speak to me for a while because we get on the same train.
At this comment I can only try and hide my disbelief because I am certain that I have never seen this person before in my life. But I don’t want to be rude so we start chatting.
He asks me where I live (a fair conversational question if you're talking about getting on the same train) and I tell him.
Then he says, ‘So which way do you walk to work?’
There’s really only one way to walk to work from the station, but I tell him anyway to keep up the small talk.
‘Oh right’ he says, pausing for thought ‘because after we get off the train you just seem to disappear.’
I’m not really sure how to respond to this, so I say ‘Oh...really?’
‘Yeah, yeah... did you walk that way this morning?’
I confirm that yes, I did.
‘Oh, I didn’t see you this morning.’
Right now the word STALKER is starting to flash inside my head in red neon light.
‘I actually popped to the shops this morning, but you sound like you’ve been following my movements pretty closely’. I reply with a smile, trying to make light of the fact that he’s basically admitted that he’s been watching my route to work every day for an unspecified amount of time.
‘Oh, no, no....’ he quickly backtracks, ‘I’m not like... y’know... stalking you or anything,’ he says laughing awkwardly. ‘So... what are you up to tonight, do you fancy going for a drink?’
Er...
We all say silly things when we’re nervous – as I imagine approaching a girl that you fancy, out of the blue, might make you feel – and I appreciate that it takes courage to ask out a stranger and open yourself up to the (potentially high) possibility of rejection. But while I appreciated all of those things I couldn’t get rid of the slightly uneasy feeling his line of questioning had given me.
We didn’t go for a drink. And I’ve since discovered that changing your habits in your daily commute isn’t so bad after all.
