Encounter of The Wierdo Kind

Don’t talk to Strangers

Have you ever wondered why is it that people don’t talk to each other on the tube? I don’t mean that it’s silent when you get on it, but that stranger would rarely get in a conversation beyond the greeting or a nod. Despite all being at close proximity to one another as we embark in that journey from A to B, we all lock ourselves up in our little bubble. We switch on the Mp3 player, open up the book, pull out the papers and start reading or doing everything we can to let the person next to us know that we are in our personal space. We wear our “Do Not Disturb” Tag. Sometime we just stare at the adverts as if we where really really interested in Mr Cool’s Air-conditioning solution for offices. All because we don’t want to make eye contact with the strangely dressed dude with the purple hair sitting in front of us…(rings any bells?)

One day my friend and I were in a tube station and talked about the subject and we were both wondering what is it that causes us to act in such ways. For me coming from a place where everyone will talk to you as if you where their next door neighbour, the question was how did I get sucked into this so effortlessly?

One of the answers I came up with was that in Rome one does as the Romans do. This was part of the process of integrity in London’s culture… But then at that moment another reason almost immediately popped into my mind. “Don’t talk to strangers on the streets”. I believe that is a universal warning any mother would give their child when they leave the safety of the house.

So I told her – Well you know, most people that talk on the tubes are drunks or weirdoes. She replied that it may have been true but that we should still give people a chance. After all neither of us fitted in that category (at least not yet) and neither of us would mind having some one saying hi or how are you for a change and have a little chit chat.

Our tube came and as we got on she sat opposite of me and decided to start a conversation with a middle aged man who was sitting next to her.   He was reasonably well presented and looked like someone who was going to enjoy the summery weather just like the two of us. As she asked him what he had planed for that afternoon? I don’t remember the exact words that he used, but the answer had was the last thing I would expect to hear in a million years from that guy.

He answered with the calmly and basically told her that he was going to an orgy, keeping the same smile on his face as if it was just the most normal thing to do… I was not sure if I had heard him correctly as I was on the opposite side. With all the noised caused by the moving carriage I thought I misheard him, but the look in her face confirmed my suspicions.

At this time of the day? (It must have been around  2 pm or something). I was thought Okay… he must be joking right…? I’m sure anytime now he will burst out laughing… To my great surprise he carried on saying – Yeah, going to meet with a few friends have a few drink and some fun after, do you wanna join us?

Now I’m thinking The HELL!!! The guy is asking us to go to an ORGY!! Surprisingly enough my friend didn’t seem as shocked as me by that reply and carried on talking to him about it, even though she clearly wasn’t going to take him on that offer. A few stop later the guy got off thanks goodness and she rejoined me on my side of the carriage and I say to her “You see!!!”

This is why you don’t talk to strangers on the tube. The guy was a freaking Maniac!! I mean what kind of guy tells you that he is going to an Orgy when you ask him what he is up to? To this day I don’t know if he was serious or just winding us up to see how we would react but one thing is for sure he made us experience first hand what it’s like to make an encounter of the “Weirdo Kind”

So with these words I would like to remind you all out there that YOU SHOULD NOT TALK TO STRANGERS!! Especially all you young girls out there cos they may look normal, but you never know when you will make an encounter of the Weirdo Kind.

Having said so I would keep encouraging you to go out and spread the love. To share a smile or a greeting and reach out to the lost souls in the cold heart of the city. Because you never know who’s day/night you may have changed. Just do it with Lots of sensibility and using that rare thing that hey call common sense. You can make your journey to any destination so much more interesting by interacting with your environment.

Until next time God Bless you all.