Visited London yesterday, late afternoon departure as the trip wasn’t planned. This resulted in getting the train back fairly late in the evening- the train being full of people who had a few drinks. I always find it difficult not to laugh when people are making jokes in public- in this case some pretty rude jokes and some pretty pathetic ones from a couple of middle-aged men trying to chat up a group of middle-aged women (personally I wouldn’t have bothered if I were them).

Here’s an example of the carnage Cambridge people leave on a train:

Why nobody from the train company (First Capital Connect) had bothered to clean the train surprises me. Interesting inventory though: bottle of peach schnapps, bottle of vodka, beer (Fosters and Carlsberg). More interesting though was a set of diet pills ! – clearly someone doesn’t understand the calorific value of alcohol !

What I find interesting here is the social responsibility contrast between Europe and Asia here. I just would never expect to see something like that on a train in Asia where people are far more considerate and responsible. As an example, when I was in Japan a friend (who smokes) brought out their own personal ashtray in a public place – I was totally surprised. However, it made total sense once I thought about it.