Do You Ever Get Strange People Sitting Next To You On Public Transport?
By Janey1966
@Janey1966 (24170)
Carlisle, England
June 30, 2010 6:19pm CST
The OPPOSITE of this happened to my Mum as she was telling me about the time her family had to move from Barnoldswick to Blackpool on the train many years ago. She said the train was packed but her family had one of the carriages to themselves because they were all suffering from impetigo, which is highly contagious!
Whilst at Mum's recently we travelled by bus quite a lot because Dad has got rid of the car due to the cost. Mum travels for free but I have to pay but it's OK, well most of the time. On one bus it got absolutely packed and a lady adjacent to us had no choice but to let this drunken man sit next to her. Well, the poor girl couldn't get away because he just babbled on about nothing in particlar and all she could do was nod her head politely. The pair of them were still on the bus when me and Mum got off and this guy was still babbling away in her ear-'ole lol.
I remember a few years ago catching the No.14 and a woman would come on smelling of fish. I once worked for Blackpool Transport, dealing with complaints. Many people did complain about this woman but, unfortunately (for them at least) she HAD to be allowed onto the buses because the fish smell was due to a medical condition. She had a letter to prove it.
Another traveller would suddenly make a loud hiccup sound (amongst others) as she was quiet to start with. Behaved impeccably for all of 30 seconds. So, to hear her suddenly go "HIC! HIC! HIC!" was disoncerting to say the least. It didn't half make us all jump because she'd go quiet again, then "HIC! HIC! HIC!" would re-surface, not always 30 seconds later, sometimes we could be waiting for a minute at least. The anticipation of the sounds was unbearable but I must admit, I do feel sorry for people with obvious mental health problems that have "slipped through the net" so to speak. They have as much right to travel as anyone else, I must stress that point.
There was another guy who used to walk normally then suddenly turn and walk backwards very fast, usually into shops. I often wondered if he refereed soccer matches when he was younger. When he stood in a queue (usually in the Post Office) he would often stand on one leg. No-one knew what to make of him.
"Care in the Community" has a lot to answer for as there's another guy here in Carlisle (the above are all in Blackpool) who opens the door to his basement flat, book in hand, does a few knee-bending exercises then opens his door to go back in again. His flat is full of newspapers and books piled high plus a load of dead plants. He is well-known to the Security guy at the Jobcentre and often walks in talking jibberish to him. The Security guy has to stand there listening to this man rambling as he is no danger to anyone so there is no way he can be escorted off the premises....and quite right too!
Do you know any strange people that frequent your Town that Social Services seems to have forgotten?
Whilst at Mum's recently we travelled by bus quite a lot because Dad has got rid of the car due to the cost. Mum travels for free but I have to pay but it's OK, well most of the time. On one bus it got absolutely packed and a lady adjacent to us had no choice but to let this drunken man sit next to her. Well, the poor girl couldn't get away because he just babbled on about nothing in particlar and all she could do was nod her head politely. The pair of them were still on the bus when me and Mum got off and this guy was still babbling away in her ear-'ole lol.
I remember a few years ago catching the No.14 and a woman would come on smelling of fish. I once worked for Blackpool Transport, dealing with complaints. Many people did complain about this woman but, unfortunately (for them at least) she HAD to be allowed onto the buses because the fish smell was due to a medical condition. She had a letter to prove it.
Another traveller would suddenly make a loud hiccup sound (amongst others) as she was quiet to start with. Behaved impeccably for all of 30 seconds. So, to hear her suddenly go "HIC! HIC! HIC!" was disoncerting to say the least. It didn't half make us all jump because she'd go quiet again, then "HIC! HIC! HIC!" would re-surface, not always 30 seconds later, sometimes we could be waiting for a minute at least. The anticipation of the sounds was unbearable but I must admit, I do feel sorry for people with obvious mental health problems that have "slipped through the net" so to speak. They have as much right to travel as anyone else, I must stress that point.
There was another guy who used to walk normally then suddenly turn and walk backwards very fast, usually into shops. I often wondered if he refereed soccer matches when he was younger. When he stood in a queue (usually in the Post Office) he would often stand on one leg. No-one knew what to make of him.
"Care in the Community" has a lot to answer for as there's another guy here in Carlisle (the above are all in Blackpool) who opens the door to his basement flat, book in hand, does a few knee-bending exercises then opens his door to go back in again. His flat is full of newspapers and books piled high plus a load of dead plants. He is well-known to the Security guy at the Jobcentre and often walks in talking jibberish to him. The Security guy has to stand there listening to this man rambling as he is no danger to anyone so there is no way he can be escorted off the premises....and quite right too!
Do you know any strange people that frequent your Town that Social Services seems to have forgotten?1 person likes this
10 responses
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
1 Jul 10
Not now, but I barely get out these days and I sure don't take public transportation if I can avoid it, the half mile walk to the nearest bus stop might have something to do with it.
We never traveled by train, heck, when we moved to Texas, dad drove the car down and mom flew with the 2 of us kids
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
1 Jul 10
I wouldn't have thought buses are high on America's agenda...but I could be wrong.
I love the Greyhound ones, they're awesome. Makes our National Express Coaches look a bit tame!
I love the Greyhound ones, they're awesome. Makes our National Express Coaches look a bit tame!2 people like this
@derek_a (10873)
•
1 Jul 10
Your post has just reminded me that when I was 12 I contracted impetigo! That was way back in the 60s. Nobody seemed to know where I had got it. In school we had one of the linen roll towels that everybody used and my Dad said that that is where I must have got it. My school though went up-in-arms about this saying that there was no way I got it there, and a big argument ensued. There was no way I got it at home as my mother was a full-time housewife and very meticulous when it came to cleanliness. We had to wash our hands every time we came indoors!
Anyway, as a kid, I could not see what all the fuss was about re. my impetigo. I got to the doctor and he cured it with stuff I had to paint on. Luckily is was only on my hands and forearms and it never go to my face like it does with some people.
I could well have got it on public transport because I was forever on buses and loved to go on the coastal tram ((i.e. a tram like they have in Blackpool, but has long since been dismantled down here), but whether there were strange people on the transport I don't know. Us kids used to accept everybody as normal I guess but often had to be reminded to "stay away from that strange man or funny bag lady!" We didn't see them as strange, just interesting and we tended to strike up conversations with the strange folk. What is strange is that it all felt so safe in those days. Where I lived in South Wales you hardly ever heard of kids being attacked or going missing, and people's houses were only locked up at night or when the family went away on holiday. I used to go to piano lessons cutting across woodland at night where I was more scared that there may be ghosts than weird folk!
I think that there are more "strange people" around these days, as I listen to the news. But... Maybe these days I am considered the strangest of the strange! _Derek
I think that there are more "strange people" around these days, as I listen to the news. But... Maybe these days I am considered the strangest of the strange! _Derek@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
1 Jul 10
Thanks for that Derek. 
Perhaps "strange" is too strong a word to use. I should've typed "different" as it seems I suddenly have to be politically correct even on here lol.
As for the impetigo. I'm afraid I've suffered it on my face. The sores went right along my top lip and it hurt like hell. I was fortunate in that I could take antibiotics for it but I was so self-conscious I wouldn't go out with "Clive" that called for me one night. "Not going out like this!" I said to him.
He wasn't pleased although I don't know why because he would've caught it I'm sure!
Perhaps "strange" is too strong a word to use. I should've typed "different" as it seems I suddenly have to be politically correct even on here lol.
As for the impetigo. I'm afraid I've suffered it on my face. The sores went right along my top lip and it hurt like hell. I was fortunate in that I could take antibiotics for it but I was so self-conscious I wouldn't go out with "Clive" that called for me one night. "Not going out like this!" I said to him.
He wasn't pleased although I don't know why because he would've caught it I'm sure!1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
20 Jul 10
oh yes.we have a bumper crop-and they all have state issued bus passes.
we have an older woman everyone in town calls "clowny" who wears whiteface makeup everywhere and rides the bus all day.
rumor is she's not really insane,she's just trying to get a disability check.
yes,madness pays here.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
20 Jul 10
She sounds like Queen Elizabeth I, she used to whiten her face with something nasty..can't remember what offhand cos I wasn't around then lol.
Clowny eh? Ask her if she's ever read the Stephen King book "It." 
Clowny eh? Ask her if she's ever read the Stephen King book "It." 
@sulsisels (1685)
• United States
1 Jul 10
Hi Janey Funny post..but not so funny when it's happening to me! I take the bus system almost everyday, or at least every time I go out. We had so trim down to one vehicle due to finances as well and I don't have it during the day. Well, every nut in South Florida takes the bus and I have been exposed to such bizarre things that I could probably write a best seller. Aside from the normal drunks and homeless that are "regulars" if your really lucky you will get to see the guy who screams versus from the bible so loud that I'm sure you can hear him in Miami. In between each verse, he tells individuals lucky enough to be seated near him that they are sinners and damned and "Repent Now" you wicked wicked man (or woman). Then there is the guy who looks very normal and gets on the bus always with a magazine. In the top pocket of his shirt he has one of those pencil plastic pocket liner things for pens full of various colored highlighter pens. He sits, opens to page one and proceeds to highlight each and every word on each and every page, changing colors as he goes as if there actually were some method to this. If you watch him and he happens to see you looking at him, he quickly leans forward and puts his arm around the magazine (like you would do in school as a youngster to keep someone from cheating from your paper) and gives you a look that would kill you if looks could do so. Then there is the woman who gets on with 7 or 8 shopping bags full of trash. She carefully packs and unpacks each broken cup and scrap of paper as if she were preparing it for a trip. When she gets to the last bag, she starts all over again..and lately I've been seeing this woman who carries a cell phone that is broken but puts it to her ear and has long drawn out conversations about how the mafia is following her and poisoning her food and "You better watch out cause they have already killed 34 members of my family and after they get me, they will start with you!" And the last one I will share with you happened just the other day. This woman sat beside me and started to tell me (all homeless, dirty, drunk and nasty) that she had just returned from the White House as Obama often calls on her for advice and she has to fly up there to Washington and straighten things out! She also told me not to take any vitamins because the government is putting things in them that will eventually kill the entire human race and that if I was smart I would start stock piling rice because the end is right around the corner!! She might just be right!!!!!
@sulsisels (1685)
• United States
1 Jul 10
Hi Janey..just blow it off. People are way to serious at times and you wonder if they ever had a sense of humor. Too bad for them if not. I' love to chat,but I'm off to bank to cash my monthly check and pay bills. Of course I'm taking the bus and I wonder what STRANGE people I will come across today. One never knows!! Later.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
1 Jul 10
Have you noticed how "some" people (not you) have taken this discussion way too seriously and seems to think I am not compassionate in any way, shape or form. I'm a bit upset about it actually but at least your post has lightened the mood and thank you so much.
If I were you, I wouldn't go out...ever again. Haha!
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
1 Jul 10
If you read my entire post you will notice that I am not laughing at them at all. I am saying that there are people that are "lost" within the system because they don't get any help...and I am highlighting the things they do in public to let everyone know that, yes, they are strange but I am NOT laughing at them. Far from it.
In fact, my Uncle is a paranoid schizophrenic so I reckon I know more about mental illness than you do.
And, no, I would not laugh at thugs beating up an old lady. What makes you think I'm like that? 
If you were so bothered about this post why react to it? Ignore it and ignore ME if you are that concerned.
If you were so bothered about this post why react to it? Ignore it and ignore ME if you are that concerned.
@alicefer88 (59)
• India
1 Jul 10
strange??? i come accross people who r plain crazy...weird...some of them are so annoying...they talk on top of their voice for the whole world to listen to their convrsation....some of em even listen to loud music which is hideous....!!
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
1 Jul 10
Any examples youc an give me? There may be a few but one will do lol.
@abj163 (1037)
• India
1 Jul 10
yup i have an experience in public transport with strangers.....i was in train with my uncle and aunt ....we were having our reservation...so we got our seats and started our journey...my uncle and aunt were on the back side of mine and i was alone with a man...that man got down on one station and another two persons came to me and sat there....it was a single seat but both of them sat there and said me to adjust...then i said ok because one of them was handicapped by leg.....it was summer in india at that time.... so it was around 42 degree celcius ....it was so hot that i had already closed my window from morning....the time was 3pm so maximum temperature was there.....one of them said me to open the glass window...i refused due to hot air outside the train....after 10 mins he said me again......i refused again and he was scolding me to open the window....i said wtf this is my reservation so its my decision to open window or not....and you are not having reservation of this seat so just get lost......then both of them kept quite until they reached their destination.....i was not opening window because of the hot air due to which i can get sick easily.....so this was my experience this happened before two years when i was 17
happy mylotting
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
1 Jul 10
I do sympathise with you my friend. Pensioners over here can be extremely irritating and me and my Mum resorted to sitting upstairs on a bus because an old guy sitting behind us shut the window that was next to me and Mum, not him. He would shut it; we would open it again. Then I said something and we moved upstairs out of the way. He was still blabbering on about it as we got off the bus. Old g*t lol.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
1 Jul 10
If you give me an example..trust me, you will be paid more. That's how MyLot works if no-one has told you that yet.
