TheMaddeningToTheMadYou are on the archive wiki. The new wiki is here. I hate mouth noises. You know, the sounds of gummy, tonguey flesh interacting with spittle and saliva. It's not attractive on any level, in fact it's deply repulsive. There are times as humans that we have to make those noises, but we should never encourage them or broadcast them. This morning due to a train failure shutting down half the Northern Line (mearly the beginning of Transport for London's woes today, but more later) I was forced to catch a bus to Brixton. I gradually became aware that the 'bloke' next to me after a mobile phone conversation had gone on to chewing gum with his mouth wide open. It was nauseating and also infuriating on the 'red-flag to a bull kind of level'. I probably should have said something to the effect of "Excuse me, but didn't your mother ever tell you to chew with your mouth closed?", but considering that the bus was crammed to the gills and no-one was in the best of moods I just held my tongue and ground my teeth whilst deeply regretting leaving my MP3? player at home charging. Even worse though was that when finally a few people got off and I managed to move away from Mr. Slurp-Squelch, I turned round to discover across the bus at least another two people with lazy jaws and open mouths, looking like cows chewing cud with much the same action and a bovine-esque expression on their faces. Ugh! And of course the big news is that there has been, apparently, a terrorist strike on London. I almost wish it had occured on Monday or Tuesday since it's proven just how unfit this city is to host and event like the Olympics when it's transport system is just a major weak point. Maybe it's the Parisians getting revenge. However, flippancy aside, it is truly frighteniing how at mercy we are to the public transport system. This city is crippled at the moment and the only people celebrating are the taxi drivers. Also I've got to say that if this entire mornings chaos has been orchestrated then I'm somewhat impressed with the attackers planning. First some trains broke down, crippling sections of the line that they blocked. Next they set of bombs (or there were power surges...according to TFL) in some of the major junction stations. Finally, they set of explosions on the busses which were crammed to break point with people fleeing the tubes. Definitely cunning involved. There has been some suggestion that it's as a result of the UK hosting the G8 summit - I suppose we'll know before too long. Either way, fortunately for me life today goes on much the same, and after a round of emailing I'm relieved to say it seems everyone I love in London is unscathed. My greatest concern is how I'm going to get home... Comment: Trainsport (by FirstFallen? on 2005-07-07 13:14:48)When we had the recent train strikes, Cape Town was also pretty crippled. Not only were thousands of people stuck with no transport all week, this meant that buses and taxis were overloaded and traffic was waaay up. I can only imagine what it did to productivity as many people arrived late and went home early, or just didn't come in at all. As regards the cud-chewing: I know some people who not only chew with their mouths open, but make LOUD smacking noises. It's really gross when you're sitting accross from them. If I were their SO, I'd smack them upside the head and say "Shut yer pie hole!". Comment: Everyday (by Bast? on 2005-07-07 13:48:57)...I have to listen to my colleague, who sits about 1 m away from me. He is a heavy breather, a knuckle cracker and sometimes a snorer. Yes, he has actually put his head down on the desk at times and gone to sleep. Oh, and he mumbles to himself, when he's reading stuff over. aaaaargh. Glad to hear you're ok |