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Quiet carriages? Like chocolate teapots?

Posted in Mobile on May 4, 2008 at 8:07 pm

Ok, so I commute on a train line that has recently introduced so-called ‘quiet carriages’ where you’re meant to refrain from using mobile phones, walkmans or creating unnecessary noise.
A good idea in theory. Unfortunately nobody (except seemingly myself and a few other considerate people) takes a blind bit of notice and freely uses such carriages to have a conversation for the entire journey on their mobiles, or blast out the latest crap from the Top 10 as loud as possible. Sleep is never an option in such carriages. Neither is reading a book. Neither is simply just being able to quietly enjoy the journey.
An elderly lady sitting by me on one of these carriages recently remarked that the posters and carriage door signs suggesting the zone was a quiet one was most likely the result of umpteen marketing meetings and brainstorm sessions at much expense to the company, no doubt recouped via ticketing costs. What a massive waste of money. And then some.
I go back to my earlier point regarding the mobile phone ghettoblaster-esque youth who inflicted his musical taste - or lack of it - on me last month. If rules are to work, they need to be enforced, otherwise people simply sh*t all over them, sticking two fingers up at the company and other human beings as they do so.
If you try traveling without a train ticket, you get fined. If you assault someone, you get arrested and potentially put in prison. Isn’t blatantly sitting in a quiet zone and being as noisy as you can be assaulting my hearing and peace and quiet? We go on about human rights… what about my right to some peace and quiet? I don’t want to travel in a library-like train where people are afraid to breathe or cough, but I do expect people to be a bit more courteous to others.
As the elderly woman remarked, in her day you didn’t need rules or signs as they had something called manners. Welcome to 2008. A sad state of affairs.

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Comments

Comment by Dan Jones - May 13, 2008 on 10:48 am

These “quiet” carriages with some of their silly rules do annoy me. My train has one too, and the rules state no computers, mobile phones, walkmans etc. So, technically I can’t use my Shure earphones (which emit NO external sound, and place me in a coccoon of silence anyhow) within this carriage. They do try to enforce it on the train, which means I sometimes get told to turn my mp3 off (despite it making no sound at all) - the ticket inspectors with their “enforcement” seem to have a issue with having powers!

As the old lady said, if people had manners it wouldn’t be necessary at all for enforcement or the quiet coach. My suggestion is a good pair of Shure, or other inner-ear sound-isolating earphones. They do such a good job the conductor often has to poke me so I can show my ticket when I’m in the other carriages. Actually makes the journey home bearable even when drunken louts/mobile phone playing teens/babys are involved - which otherwise would leave me getting home stressed/annoyed.

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