Attack of the crones

This morning, I forgot my MP3 player (and my Koss "Sparkplugs" that drown out exterior sound so nicely) for the second time in three days. Thankfully the Metro-North ride into the city was fine, quiet enough that I had my usual nap to sustain me throughout the day. The ride home, however, was a different story. Sheesh.

I boarded the train a while before departure, taking a seat across the aisle from a middle-aged woman. Her friend arrived a few minutes later, taking a seat directly opposite, and they proceeded to talk loudly. Then their other friend showed up several minutes later, taking a seat directly opposite from me. I cannot fathom why that hag insisted on that, when there were seats adjacent to her friends. Joining in the conversation meant yelling across the aisle, but maybe she intentionally wanted to disturb everyone else.

After a few minutes, I could no longer stand the banshees. I moved to the other end of the car, looking for an available seat. At five or so minutes before departure, the train had begun to fill up. Rather than go from car to car and risk not finding any seat, I sat next to (well, on one end of a three-seat row) a woman yakking away on a cell phone. Maybe she wouldn't talk for long, I thought, especially because she'd lose her signal once we got going in the long tunnel. When we exited into open air at 98th Street, she did make a few brief calls, as did some girl across the aisle, but not for the whole way. Though I myself have gone strictly cellular, I dislike how cell phones have become people's entertainment on public transportation, when others would like a little quiet.

Yes, it's their right to talk, but that shouldn't abrogate showing simple courtesy to others. By the time I disembarked, two of the three original crones were still going, and as loudly as ever. They were talking about some laundromat, which isn't exactly an indelicate subject, but were I to talk loudly in public, I'd at least choose a more interesting topic.