dolorosa_12: (champagne)
a million times a trillion more ([personal profile] dolorosa_12) wrote2025-03-15 06:26 pm

Overheard on the train

I went into Cambridge after lunch today in order to get my hair cut, and witnessed quite possibly two of the peakest of Peak Saturday Train Experience™ ever. Bear in mind that this all happened within a roughly fifteen-minute period.

1. A group of tipsy young women, wandering around my carriage in confusion, carrying a bottle of sparkling rosé and plastic cups, trying to find their friends (so the whole group could break open the wine), who were allegedly on the same train. The confusion arose because a) this was the final carriage and b) the women had supposedly already walked the entire length of the train.

2. A group of young men who got on at Waterbeach, cracked open cans of lager, and attempted to drink their entire cans before arriving at Cambridge station (five minutes from Waterbeach). While this was going on, they talked with great earnestness and detail about a) what they were going to buy to preload before arriving at the pub (they finally settled on buying rum and Coke) and b) which pub they were going to go to (they finally settled on one of the roughest pubs in Cambridge, about which they also reminisced with great fondness about an altercation with the police they had had previously at the same pub).

None of this was in any way obnoxious, and I found it almost endearing. I hope both groups went on to have enjoyable Saturdays.

(The final alcohol-related event in the trifecta was the group of women — two middle-aged friends, and the young adult daughter of one of them — who showed up at the hairdresser to get their hair dyed and cut around 4pm with a bottle of prosecco that they'd bought at the nearby petrol station. As I was finishing up, they poured glasses for themselves, and my hairdresser — clearly this was going to be their Saturday evening out.)
eglantiere: (Default)

[personal profile] eglantiere 2025-03-15 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Adorable glimpses of humanity.
pauraque: bird flying (Default)

[personal profile] pauraque 2025-03-15 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Is there no rule against drinking openly on the train? Or is it just not enforced?
tellshannon815: (jack spn)

[personal profile] tellshannon815 2025-03-16 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Isn't it all TFL - just thinking about all that fuss a few years ago with Diane Abbott and her can, wasn't that on the Overground?
tellshannon815: (clark)

[personal profile] tellshannon815 2025-03-16 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
I once saw a bachelor/stag party getting quite drunk on a train to the point where a woman in the carriage was getting quite angry about it, reported both to the conductor and to the transport police when she got off at Carlisle, but as far as I can remember not a lot happened. Someone from the transport police did get on at Lancaster, was greeted with "Oh, sod off, son!" by the best man, he took all their details but then got off the train after that and they carried on to wherever they were changing anyway. So yeah, there's not a lot that ever gets done about it anyway.
lokifan: black Converse against a black background (Default)

[personal profile] lokifan 2025-03-15 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
lollll. yep, very Train on Saturday. I like that kind of thing too as long as the young men aren't wearing tons of Axe. (Or Millwall fans.)
trepkos: (Default)

[personal profile] trepkos 2025-03-15 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Glad it was peaceable!
corvidology: Lower Slaughter ([EMO] HOME)

[personal profile] corvidology 2025-03-15 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
This post is making me weirdly nostalgic!
chestnut_pod: A close-up photograph of my auburn hair in a French braid (Default)

[personal profile] chestnut_pod 2025-03-16 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Well, if you're going to bring a bottle of prosecco into the salon, definitely sh(hair) with your haircutter! That seems like manners!
author_by_night: (Default)

[personal profile] author_by_night 2025-03-16 09:14 am (UTC)(link)
Sounds interesting to witness!
rmc28: Rachel in hockey gear on the frozen fen at Upware, near Cambridge (Default)

[personal profile] rmc28 2025-03-16 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)

When I make my semi-regular visits to my friend in Bury St Edmunds, usually on a Saturday, chances are high of getting a group of elegantly dressed young women with sparkling wine and disposable cups sharing the train in at least one direction.

adore: (kuma by the shore)

[personal profile] adore 2025-03-17 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
British people's love for alcohol amuses me :D
lirazel: A view of Mulder and Scully from behind walking across a field ([tv] the field where i died)

[personal profile] lirazel 2025-03-17 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, drinking culture in the UK is very interesting to me from a sociological perspective!