I’ve always been a chatterbox and this trait comes in very handy when spending 4 hours of my day travelling to and from work . If I am too tired to read or finish the crossword I usually find someone to talk to and yesterday was no exception. This time however, the guy sitting opposite me was doing all the talking and I was trying not to laugh so much that he thought I was being rude but……I just had to.

He is clearly  not used to travelling by train, a point he was at pains to emphasise when he told me about his morning adventure. He had unwittingly sat  in the First Class carriage holding only a Standard Class ticket. He did not know that seats in First Class are blue not red and how he overlooked the “First Class “signs plastered all over the windows, doors and seat covers I will never know. Oblivious to all the other tell-tale signs that he had strayed into First Class (numerous copies of the FT, huge seats (in comparison), no children etc)  he gratefully and unwittingly accepted a cup of coffee when it was offered to him-well who wouldn’t? 

That was his big mistake and it wasn’t long before he was rumbled by the Inspector when she asked to check his ticket. If only he hadn’t accepted that coffee I think he would have got away with a warning and a request to move to his rightful seat in Standard Class but she wasn’t going to let him escape that easily and promptly demanded £45 as payment for an upgrade including refreshments already received.

Oops!   

Cutting a very long (15 minutes worth) story very short, he did get away with it in the end, and that in itself would make a separate tale to tell but you probably wouldn’t believe me if I repeated it.  

His parting shot just before I left my seat….. 

“Those people in First Class are really serious…..it’s much friendlier here!”

 You’ll be heading for the red seats in future then!