I got the last remaining seat on the bus this morning. I shared it with another woman. I say share loosely. She had four fifths, I had the rest. Anybody wanting to get off had to push past me as I dangle dover the aisle. Every time the bus jolted I nearly fell off the seat. So, in the interests of my own safety, I sat more and more on top of her. She didn't like that and wriggled a bit. I ignored her wriggling, so she said, "Will you stop doing that?" I pointed out to her that a bus seat is designed for two people, not a bag, a space and two people. She said "You could have said." I said, "Application of a bit of common sense in the first place would have helped, you silly cow."
A man in front stood up to get off and really aggressively said, "You can sit here, all on your own."
I was annoyed at him: he didn't know what was going on and had no business interfering. I was annoyed at myself. There must be a better way to handle this sort of situation. I don't think I'm unreasonable wanting more than one-fifth of a bus seat. She was being disingeneous saying "You could have said." Rightly or wrongly, I tend to think that if people won't apply the common sense/common decency approach they are hardly likely to respond to "I'm terribly sorry to trouble you but if you don't mind it would be awfully decent of you to budge over a smidgen, please."
I sort of got revenge later. The bus - which was almost totally full - was terminating in Brixton, so everybody was getting off. Cow next to me really wanted to get off. So much so that she stood up. I didn't see the point of standing up when there's about thirty people already shuffling down the aisle. She really wanted to get off. She might have been late, who knows. But she couldn't get off without squeezing past me and my bag. I just carried on sitting there until the back of the shuffle passed my seat. I suppose she could have said "Excuse me."
Or "Sorry." It's just a little bugbear of mine the number of people who say "sorry" when they mean "Excuse me". Not a big bugbear, just a minor irritation with no consequences.
Or normally no consequences. A few years back, I was standing on a bus that was packed absolutely way beyond how packed it should be. And tackling the Brixton Hill chicane at speed. Sardines, elbows in faces, knees in groins, bags in stomachs, heels on toes. Some bloke behind me said "Sorry." And again. I realised he was speaking to me. I shrugged benignly - not his fault. So again, he said "Sorry." The woman next to me looked at me perplexed. Again he said sorry. In the end I said, "There really is no need to apologise - we're all in this together." "No," he said, "I want to get off the bus." At which point the woman next to me and I created a gap to let him through. When he was off, she said, "I thought he was apologising for standing on your foot."
