Gotta lotta baggage

Today was the comfort test for my new pair of rather saucy ankle boots with a heel height that made me seriously contemplate their practicality. In the end I decided to throw caution to the wind and just buy a pair of shoes because I liked them, for once. My feet survived the various cobbled and hilly trips between buildings and stations. They held up pretty well pounding up and down stairs and concrete halls all afternoon while I gathered specimens for my labs tomorrow. However, they began to cry for mercy this evening after traversing the cobbles again to find my platform had been changed to the other end of the station and I had to sprint to make it.

The train is hot and rammed. There are no seats and the vestibules are stuffed with people standing. It's nearly an hour before the next major station where I might be able to slip into a vacated seat before the influx of new people get on. Unable to bear the thought of swaying back and forth on tender toes until then, I have created my own seat in the luggage rack (flatcap and backpack in photo for scale). It's not wide enough for my laptop, or even my shoulders unless I angle them, but my butt is in here and that makes my feet very happy indeed.

Freakin' me out, man

The guy across the table from me is behaving very oddly. No, not the one all in black with biker beard and tattoos -the guy dressed in a decent suit and well-groomed. Why? He doesn't appear to have just made a court appearance or anything. He just keeps audibly sighing in a frustrated manner, shaking his head and bouncing his legs up and down. At first, I thought he was angry at neighboring loud conversation guy, but that stopped. He keeps nodding off and then waking up very agitated.

Now he's blasting "Insane in the Membrane" while seemingly asleep to the point where his head is lolling and his jaw is making involuntary motions, but all the while his leg is still bouncing. I'm kind of waiting for him to just jump up and go postal.

Train travel can be seriously frustrating, but this guy looks unhinged.

Traveling douchebag

After 30 minutes, this lovely character has managed to systematically violate almost every statute of the train traveller's etiquette:

Feet on the seat: check. (shot me a dirty look when I said, "Excuse me" so I could sit down)

Blockading empty seat with luggage: check. (made no effort to remove it even when the train was packed to standing. Why nobody asked her to move it is beyond me.When the train departed, she waited a few minutes and then put her suitcase up above to guarantee her own space).

Loud mobile phone conversation: Check! (on the "jewel"-encrusted mobile - as if that doesn't qualify one for douche status on it's own).

Foot space hogging: check. (Kick me one more time, I dare you.)

Table space commandeering: check. (and then is feigning sleep so nobody disturbs her to ask her to move).

I think the only things left are bodily functions/grooming or bad smells. Judging by her accent we are probably bound for the same place, so there are another 90 minutes left for her to try.