It seems like it’s about time I start using this blog properly. Ranting, if you will. Something about this (Sunday) evening has inspired me to start at last - probably the simple fact of having to face commuter-land in the morning.
It’s hard to tell what is most frustrating and/or least appealing about the 9 to 5 gang. I travel into town on the DART and usually this would take 15 minutes but in the mornings it’s more like 25. That I can deal with. And the fact that new DARTS are supposedly air-conditioned would make it that much more tolerable, if said air-conditioning had in fact been turned on. But no matter. After 10 years of DART commuting to school and college I’m well used to the feeling of ’sardinium’ as I like to call it, that special sensation of having your nose stuck in someone else’s armpit for the duration of your journey. In fairness to the powers that be, sardinium is much less of an issue now that they’ve added carriages etc, the Ronnie Drew ads evidently speak the truth.
My latest peeve with these people is their blatant lack of interest in humanity. The sense that no matter what goes on around them they will neither blink an eyelid nor react in any other according way. I realised this when I went through a fun phase of collapsing on the DART a few times (gotta love that kidney problem…). The first time it happened, I couldn’t believe the total lack of reaction. I mean, I’m not saying I felt a little faint but then it was alright. I mean I literally fell over. Luckily at that point I had been panicking enough that I moved towards a recently vacated seat and fell into it. But for god’s sake, the people beside me and opposite me looked straight at me, realised I was the colour of.. .well, a very unwell person… and said and did nothing. I stumbled off the DART, and swayed down the platform in a fairly precarious manner, eventually slumping onto a bench. And..? Nothing!
The second time it happened I was prepared. Nobody would react, nobody would notice, nothing would be done to ensure I didn’t injure myself while falling over. The obliviousness was profound. Now, I knew I was going to be okay eventually, but here’s my issue - what if I wasn’t okay? What if there was something seriously wrong, and those people were just standing there. I’ve read the Metro and the Evening Herald AM (another rant, another day) and I know for a fact that there is never anything that enthralling in there. It’s quite disturbing realising that such a large group of people could act in such a detached and inhumane way. Nobody makes eye-contact. Nobody smiles. Everyone just… goes…
The third time was the big surprise. I collapsed on the platform and ended up sitting on the ground, relatively unable to get up again. Hundreds of people walked past and over me and said and did nothing. Then, miraculously, a woman around my age ran over, asked me if i was okay, said she’d be back in a minute and returned moments later with a newly purchased ice cold bottle of water for yours truly. She handed it to me, and then asked if there was anyone I wanted her to call for me, and whether I worked very far away or would be able to make it there by myself. I assured her I would be okay now that I had water, thanked her a few hundred times, and advised her to get to work in case a shitty boss punished her for any lateness induced by her act of kindness. As she walked away my main thought, beyond overwhelming gratitude, was how upsetting it was that I was totally shocked by this simple act of kindness. That this has become unexpected behaviour is a fairly pathetic indictment of the world we are living in.
So what fun do I face tomorrow? I’m hoping not to collapse, but my latest annoyance is what happens once you’re off the dart and through the station. The way I see it, everyone who gets into town at 8:40am is aiming to be at work at 9am. All going the same direction. All at the same pace. What I don’t understand? Why that pace is so damned slow! I can fully appreciate the lack of enthusiasm for arriving at the workplace, but let’s face it, once you’re that near you might as well keep going - and for God’s sake don’t get in the way of everyone else trying to do the same thing. Maybe there should be a slow-lane and a fast-lane, like they have in swimming pools in the evenings? At the very least those who can’t be bothered moving their legs a little faster should move to one side and let other through instead of simply dawdling for twenty minutes.
It’s all part of the same problem. So many people, in such a small place, all bloody miserable with their lot and desperately trying to avoid thinking about it. How do so many people end up dreading Monday mornings? And would it end war and hunger if people didn’t hate themselves for what they were doing? There’s only so much bitterness and resentment one geographical region can take before everyone becomes Michael Douglas in Falling Down. A-tischoo, A-tischoo, we all fall down…
