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Today was "car-free day" in Finland. Public transport tickets were being sold at a discount, and people were being encouraged to give it a try and leave the car at home for a change. Not that it mattered to me, since I take the train to work anyway. It's only tangentially related to the suck.
Now, let it be known that Finns are generally pretty good about personal space. (Except the drunks, of course, but they have a reason for it.) There's even an etiquette about how to choose a seat on the train, which more-or-less minimises the number of strangers who need to sit beside or opposite each other. (GraveKeeper take note.)
The same cannot be said for certain classes of immigrant species. Today's suck came from an unusual variety of this type - not the usual Somalis, Roma or Slavs that make up the bulk of the ethnic minorities around here. I couldn't actually identify where they were from, and it doesn't matter. They were, however, exceptionally rude.
The train was due to depart at 19:28. This is a relatively busy time of day, as people have left work, done some shopping, and are now heading home. And, as previously mentioned, it was "Autoton päivä". So the train had two units coupled together - the busiest ones at the height of rush-hour get three - and there were not many seats available by the time I got to it.
The lack of seats was partly accounted for by a large synthesizer keyboard which was propped up against two of them. The couple responsible for this monstrosity also had some song playing - loudly - from a mobile phone. They were blthely ignoring any and all annoyed looks and other hints to turn it down or - preferably - off.
At this point I thought of Lupo, who would certainly have come up with some amusing way to make them pay attention to local customs.
Six minutes later, the train pulled away from Pasila, I acquired an extra couple of relatively attractive seat-mates... and the song entered it's third repetition. I still hadn't even identified what language the lyrics were in, which makes it a relatively obscure one.
Four minutes and two stations further on, the phone music was finally switched off. Then they started to rearrange their seating, and the keyboard... oh no, they're not going to do what I think they are, are they?
They did. They started playing the keyboard. On the crowded train. After thoroughly annoying everyone in hearing range with a repetitive song from a tinny phone speaker.
I got up in disgust and rode the final two stops in the vestibule, where I could at least put a door between me and the racket.
Now, let it be known that Finns are generally pretty good about personal space. (Except the drunks, of course, but they have a reason for it.) There's even an etiquette about how to choose a seat on the train, which more-or-less minimises the number of strangers who need to sit beside or opposite each other. (GraveKeeper take note.)
The same cannot be said for certain classes of immigrant species. Today's suck came from an unusual variety of this type - not the usual Somalis, Roma or Slavs that make up the bulk of the ethnic minorities around here. I couldn't actually identify where they were from, and it doesn't matter. They were, however, exceptionally rude.
The train was due to depart at 19:28. This is a relatively busy time of day, as people have left work, done some shopping, and are now heading home. And, as previously mentioned, it was "Autoton päivä". So the train had two units coupled together - the busiest ones at the height of rush-hour get three - and there were not many seats available by the time I got to it.
The lack of seats was partly accounted for by a large synthesizer keyboard which was propped up against two of them. The couple responsible for this monstrosity also had some song playing - loudly - from a mobile phone. They were blthely ignoring any and all annoyed looks and other hints to turn it down or - preferably - off.
At this point I thought of Lupo, who would certainly have come up with some amusing way to make them pay attention to local customs.
Six minutes later, the train pulled away from Pasila, I acquired an extra couple of relatively attractive seat-mates... and the song entered it's third repetition. I still hadn't even identified what language the lyrics were in, which makes it a relatively obscure one.
Four minutes and two stations further on, the phone music was finally switched off. Then they started to rearrange their seating, and the keyboard... oh no, they're not going to do what I think they are, are they?
They did. They started playing the keyboard. On the crowded train. After thoroughly annoying everyone in hearing range with a repetitive song from a tinny phone speaker.
I got up in disgust and rode the final two stops in the vestibule, where I could at least put a door between me and the racket.
I admit it's an acquired taste, but it could be worse...
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