Having recovered from last weekend's journeys on overground trains and the London Underground, and a bout of flu which of course kept me from travelling anywhere - in accordance with my own etiquette rules of staying well away from public transport when sick - I was finally able to put my experiment into action.
Today I became ‘fidget girl’ – you know the one, the woman who sits behind you with an oversized bag and spends the entire journey searching for something deeper and deeper into the bag but never produces anything of note? Well this morning, I was she.
I took my largest tote bag into work in preparation and crammed it with all sorts of things from makeup and a hairbrush to a few books, notepads, spare top and other junk besides the essentials that I usually just carried in a small handbag.
I chose my seat carefully when embarking at London Bridge
I wedged in between them with large tote bag on lap and, as soon as the tube started moving I started delving and rummaging.
To tell you the truth, I felt a bit stupid pretending to look meaninglessly for random items so I focused on finding a pen first, and then when that got boring, I tried to find my keys. While doing so I definitely managed to bump the girl next to me a few times and the man on the other side. I said sorry to each the first time then decided that wasn’t really in character so continued and tried to act oblivious.
The girl on my left was clearly getting the hump and huffed and puffed a few times before looking at me with her head slightly tilted in that obvious kind of ‘are you finished’ kind of way (similar to what I imagine I look like when the situations are reversed). The man on my right shuffled as far away as possible in his seat from my offending elbows and then moved seats as soon as another came empty on his right side. I continued the act with the next person to take the seat and he showed many of the same signs.
So, experiment one complete. Fidget girl has proven that Londoners other than I find her very annoying. Hurrah.
Next stop: mobile phone irritant. Mwa ha ha ha.
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