Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Get back to where you once belonged



I know I'm harping on this. I've blogged about it before. More than once. But I just can't stand the space invaders on the train. Especially in the seats. Standing it's more of a free-for-all. There are a limited number of places to hold on to, and somebody standing too close to grab a bar is better than them falling on top of you. But the seats? The contour of the seats indicate a clear definition of spacial boundaries. Mine. Yours. Maybe it gets back to territory wars in the back seat of the station wagon when I was a kid - "See this line on the seat? It's the line of death. Cross it and die." The backseat is like all land wars. The most bitter battles are fought over the smallest amount of territory. I could have childhood PTSD, and people crossing over on to my side of the train seat give me flashbacks. "In coming! We're being attacked! Return fire! Medic! Medic!"


Yesterday, this guy was sitting next to me, and no matter what I did, he ended up not just in my space, but pressed against me. Lightly, I'll admit. But still. Here's the thing - it's freaking hot outside. I've just hauled ass from my office, in the heat, to make it to the train and stood, in the heat, waiting for the train. Now, all I want to do is let the moderately cool air of the train circulate around me. He's disrupting my air flow. I am already warm and moist. Another warm and moist body helpful. At least not in this situation. I move. He moves. I move back behind his arm, he settles back in the chair. I lean against the wall, he sprawls out like the train bench seat is a freaking LaZBoy. Why do I never have a can of pepper spray when I really need it? I should have been born a hedgehog. Hedgehogs don't have these problems.

6 comments:

Desiree' said...

I can't stand people that get up in my space. I don't ride the train (we don't really have one here...except for cargo), but I have the same problem in the line at the supermarket. People get right up on you in line. And so you edge up a little, and they do too. It drives me crazy. I have not yet told someone to back off, but I am sure that I will crack one of these days.

FirePhrase said...

I kinda envy those really hard, gangsta thug looking people. They never have to worry about anybody getting up in their grill. Maybe I should start wearing my pants half-way down my butt and a doo rag. [okay, I couldn't even type that with a straight face. what a picture.]

Vickie P said...

That's why I always sit on the aisle. There will be NO crowding me. I would rather stand up than experience stranger body heat - no matter what the outdoor temp is - EWWWW...

FirePhrase said...

On the stranger's body heat front. . . Okay, this is weird, but add it to the list of things that make me nuts (along with crooked pictures on the wall and open cabinet doors). I can't stand it when I sit down, and I can still feel somebody else's body heat on the chair. Ooks me out big time. Don't ask me why.

FirePhrase said...

And by the way, aren't hedgehogs just the cutest?

WashingtonGardener said...

I'm calling a Pervert Alert on this one - I HATE these certain males who make the world WAY uncomfortable for the rest of us. There is no way in Hades that you cannot know when your flesh is "accidentally" touching someone else.

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