Oops I think I may have posted this before , but here I am again sitting by someone who has first eaten very smelly cold meat and is now onto loudly crunching crisps . Think there is such a thing as being phobic about eating noises!!
I often have something to eat and drink when I get on a train or during the journey. I Had a wonderful trip a couple of years ago. I was on my own travelling back from London and sitting in a seat it’s a table. I had a soft(no crunching) unsmelly sandwich and a can of drink. I couldn’t get the can open so the man opposite sort that out. He couldn’t get his straw to pierce his drink so the man next to him gave him his plastic cup. The man, who was now drinking straight from his bottle, couldn’t open his pack of sandwich’s! By the time we got to Cambridge we were best friends!
We've just done two four-five-hour train journeys that included lunchtime. Would you rather we had fainted in the heat and perhaps caused the train to stop?
Simply that you said you wouldn't have friends who get offended, and then said that you found something offensive. Nothing to do with your comments on train journey. I'm highly offended at being told I'm "chipping in" a phrase I rarely hear but I think I'll survive?
I'm judgemental on any number of subjects based on what I have personally experienced* and what I have read, on this and any other subject. Hands up anyone who has never ever made a judgement on what they have read on any forum, in any medium on any subject... ...no hands? ? I wonder why. I've no idea why annep1 is chipping in unless she has first hand knowledge that my account, as first published and filmed by professionals, are lies. I stand by my original post and did (unless you conveniently missed it) apologise to GNHQ and gave my source/explanation. I also repeated the apology on here to whoever took offence. Why certain of you choose to make a meal out of a peanut I've no idea but facts are facts and I only deal in things which can be proved. Any more comments in the vein so far directed at me will be construed as bullying. I apologised, I explained my source. That's it. No more.
That poses a bit of a dilemma GabriellaG -if the views you expressed were not necessarily your own, what was your motive in articulating them? To refer to the Indian travellers in India as jabbering and take issue with homeless families squatting and s******g on the tracks suggested a value judgement (remember the trouble Cameron got into referring to “swarms of migrants” ?) Then your all too apparent disapproval the distinctly questionable hygiene of anyone serving or offering food suggests a personal opinion. Finally I find it hard to believe that any travel writer or indeed seasoned traveller in the sub-continent would endorse I can't imagine any sane person wanting to travel that way
So why bleat now that you are being unfairly discriminated against? If you don’t mean something, it’s easy, don't say it
Unless of course it was meant as a smart-aleck soundbite, the sort Katie Hopkins specialises in.
In my original post, I was reiterating the description written in books and seen and described in programmes on some railways in India. Never having been there I took the words of professional travel writers and programme makers as truth, after all, one cannot fake certain aspects of documentaries, indeed, some have been made by people who themselves are from India. Had you taken time to look at the articles I mentioned, you would read for yourselves that I was stating facts put out in the public arena by people who have lived in and/or visited those areas. I've no idea why you are castigating me as they were not originally my views. Have you used trains in that country, in those areas. If not...then you have no business in making judgements.
Our local buses now have signs up saying “No hot food or hot drinks”, it’s obviously a safety issue. I often eat snacks on the train if I am going to an event after work and have no time for tea!
GG54 I’m surprised you have circles of friends. You seem to not want people in your ‘circles’ who take offense ... so ... it would seem that you think you can say and do whatever you like with no consequences. .. Hmmm .. I will not waste my time anymore reading your posts, they are predictive and boring: mostly aggressive and insulting.
...and no. You cannot be sure that I 'expected' and 'meant' you to be offended. How would I single you out and for what reason? You do not know me or my thoughts so don't presume or assume anything in relation to my thought processes. I find your presumption offensive.
Iam64 I was staying facts as many millions of people state facts about many countries, their peoples, their habits and their rules amongst other topics. If I was slighting the UK I doubt whether anyne woukd turn a hair ir call me out as being racist. Try looking online at TripSavvy. Your ultimate trip to India. Tips for travel on Indian Railways Trains by Sharell Cook (updated on 05/30/19) which confirms the details of my original post. BBC News India have an online article written by an Indian reporter, Shannti Dinnoo in Dehli on 17th June 2014. Was I misinformed? Are these articles lies? What to believe...?
I wish they'd at least ban hot food on public transport. A bus stop I use regularly is not a million miles from a McDonalds, and the smell of that on the bus is horrible. And it's not at all unusual for such McDonalds eaters to leave their smelly rubbish when they get off.
I didn’t respond to Gabriella’s offensive comments about India, it’s population, it’s railways, hygiene , homelessness and railway stations because I did find it offensive, as I’m sure the poster expected and wanted me to
India has its problems, don’t we all. I love the country, train stations and journeys are exciting, scary and joyous in equal measure.