New York, New York
I’ve been reading a book called “Watching the English” for the past few days, and it’s been interesting to discover that Australians, in general, are little different to the English in many ways….for example….Australian understand the concept of the invisible queue, how to be invisible on public transit, what to do with those annoying mobile phone users on trains……
We noted some interesting behaviours in the past few weeks while sampling trains in 5 countries……England, Scotland, France, Switzerland and the USA…in Paris, generally accepted behaviour is to throw yourself bodily into the train car that stops in front of you and hope that the mass of people you have thrown yourself into recoils for long enough that the doors will manage to close behind you. This takes a bit of getting used to by people who are more used to politely waiting for a space in the carriage door to open up….London is not much different in the crowding of the trains, but is very different in the way you approach a crowded carriage….you apologise, edge forward, apologise some more, shuffle a little (but not too noticeably), apologise again, turn sideways and melt into the crowd…we won’t discuss trying to get out if you find yourself on the wrong side of the carriage……
In the USA I am sitting on the floor in Penn Station, New York watching particularly well behaved crowds moving form the concourse downstairs to the train platform via single escalators. There is no pushing or showing, no pardons or excuse me’s…just a placid group waiting for a person sized space at the top of the elevator to open up for them. The crowds ebb and flow depending on which train is the next to leave..you have 5-15 minutes to get down to the train and find your ‘home’ for the trip…along with hundreds of other people…
