h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I haven't been on a train in the UK in years, and then I never had the silence problem.... I had no end of squaddies waiting to chat me up (16 year old school girl). *sighs for the good ol' days* So, the Bristol-Sheffield train (depending on the time, with a change at Birmingham New Street) was pretty noisy.

German trains, however, are a different story. The conversation is equally non-existant, but I add spice to this by - gasp - opening the window! Even when it is 35 degrees inside, the window will be firmly closed with a smart snap by someone in the carriage amid general muttering about it causing a deadly draft which would kill off the population of Germany (all 80 million of them) instantaneously.

Nice article, btw.

Thanks

I admit the article is flawed as it's taken almost entirely from my experience on trains (in my case from Portsmouth to Sheffield). I admit I tend not to strike up conversations (with women, at least) on journeys precisely because the stereotype of 20something males is that all we want to do is chat them up. Sorry - that's really badly written! Hope it makes sense.

nb., I do the window thing too I hate stuffy buses.

Funny you should mention that... most of my experience of trains in the UK is gained from the Bristol to Sheffield run (did I mention that) And back again. Of course, the main reason most people wouldn't have dreamed of talking to me on the Sheffield-Bristol train is that most of them had seen me as the screaming hysterical banshee girl who was being forced back to boarding school on a Sunday evening.