TLJ sounds like the sorta dude who travels first class on trains. No bother then from the riff raff and their weans.

TLJ wrote:
Clare wrote:
Lydia I wasn't suggesting children shouldn't talk or laugh. Not remotely.

The "If adults respect children................" approach typifies the new thinking that has put children in charge today I think.

Exactly how are children "in charge" ?


Clare wrote:

On long distance, fast moving (and now tilting) trains small children fall over all the time and often hurt themselves because the aisle is the "playground". It doesn't help either if one is trying to get through carriages to reach, say, the buffet bar or the toilet, having to climb over children to get there


Well, you're lucky ! Most trains I travel on, you can't get up the aisles because of the amount of luggage strewn around the place.....if children have the room to play, the train can't be that crowded.

By "children are in charge" I simply meant that these days its how it seems to be. I thought the meaning was quite evident.

Luggage is indeed a problem given that so little space is devoted to storing it properly on trains: nevertheless we can add that to the list of things that can make long distance journeys very hard work. "Room to play" isn't on my list of priorities unless it would be in an area designed with health and safety in mind for that specific purpose. Aisles don't meet the criteria.

TLJ wrote:
The Acer Aspire One - weighing in at less than 1kg and costing £229 from Currys and not a penny to Micro$oft.


Enjoy, mate. I haven't a bloody clue what the fuss is about, but what I know about computers you could write on the back of a postage stamp.

Clare wrote:
TLJ wrote:


Exactly how are children "in charge" ?



By "children are in charge" I simply meant that these days its how it seems to be. I thought the meaning was quite evident.


I'm still not with you. Where, and how, are children "in charge" ?

Levenax wrote:

Are you one of those poseurs with an iPhone or a Blackberry by any chance? Or even one of those really silly Bluetooth ear thingies - you know the cheap ones that are the size of a banana, that the big fat guys who wear vests and have lots of tatoos wear whilst shopping in Asda?

Levenax wrote:
TLJ sounds like the sorta dude who travels first class on trains. No bother then from the riff raff and their weans.

I have to hold up my hands and say that you've got me sussed !

I'm easily spotted in first class - sitting there in my vest and holding my ASDA carrier bags whilst shouting down my bluetooth and posting on Scotsgait from my Aspire One.

Say "hello" if you spot me from the pleb class !

TLJ proposed: Say "hello" if you spot me from the pleb class ! I'm not sure about that! If you have one of those thingeys stuck in your lug you might intone, "We are Borg, you will be assimilated" and carry out your threat.

Clare wrote:
LYDIA REID wrote:
I WANNA BE A GEEK in red or maybe pearly white with quiet buttons that won't annoy Claire. I could use it for the kids to play on so they too will stay quiet.

I am not sure about the dongle thing it sounds like a swear word.

Unfair Lydia. I was a child once myself. Difference was there were rules then and screaming like banshees on public transport was not acceptable.

I had wonderful parents tho. Those who now allow their children to use trains as a play area are stupid. We had a woman on our train, yes, she had to be Scottish, who "lost" her wee boy. He was four! He had wandered from the carriage and made his way right to the very end of the train. She had the train turned out looking for him. (And incidentally she was half cut too!) He was found eventually in the first class carriage! I'm sure she was so relieved she went back and had another few drinks to celebrate. The big worry was we'd just stopped at Newcastle and were moving again when she noticed he was missing. She was in the coach at the other end of the train so he had been gone for some time to have made his way all the way back to first class.


I wonder why no adult had questioned why a 4 year old boy was wandering about a train on his own? I know that if he was walking down the aisle then there may have been adults also walking along the aisle so people might have assumed that he was with them but it is hard to believe that this was the case all the time that this boy was missing. I know that adults are worried these days that if they stop a child then it might be misunderstood however there is nothing to stop one adult from keeping an eye on this boy whilst another was going to try and find out with whom this boy was travelling. Are people so selfish these days that they won't even try to look out for a small child?
When my children were young, we used the trains fairly often. My son was one of those children who never stopped asking questions and on journeys between Kilmarnock and Glasgow, he often used to put me on the spot with some of the questions that he used to ask. One such question on the train out of Glasgow Central was what would happen if a train coming in to the Central did not stop. Of course as a small child his voice was loud with excitement and I could see the people in the carriage who had heard this were sitting still as they listened for my reply. I know he would have annoyed you Clare with his loud child's voice but in fact it started many a conversation on a train with fellow travellers.

I can remember one of mine on a train, in a very loud voice, asking if a nun was actually a penguin.

Believe me it was a very innocent question as he was only about three.

I will remember the snigger's forever. Every person within our hearing suddenly had a newspaper to read.

I remember sitting in the waiting area with my friend whilst our daughters were finishing their dancing class. Our sons were about 8 years old and were firm friends. They were telling us about the game they had been playing in the school playground. It was a very complicated game of chasing that they had made up. My son's friend Gary then told us in a loud voice that the game was called 'Virgins'. You can imagine the stunned silence in the room. My friend then said 'and what do you think a virgin is?' to which my son replied 'someone who speaks German'. Like your case Lydia, all the adults in the room found a reason to hide behind something to laugh. I have to say that I thought my friend was very brave to ask them what they thought a virgin was but she said she had faith that they wouldn't know.

We should all write down these occasions Meg I bet there are so many we have forgotten our children are natural comedians.

That was very funny.

I just got a new toy too. After years of a diet of Spanish telly, we´ve now got a 2 metre diameter satellite dish installed on our roof. It´s big enough to communicate with passing UFOs and gets us almost all the British free to air channels. Here in southern Spain we´re right on the edge of the reception area for the satellite signal so we needed a big dish.

The best part is that for the first time in over 20 years I can get Scottish telly! All the Scottish ITV channels and BBC Alba come through sharp and clear, and I can pick up BBC1 and BBC2 Scotland after about 6pm. I´ll be able to watch the Glenrothes byelection result live.

And dear god... Newsnight Scotland is rubbish, isn´t it.

Well, I'm reading about your new toy on my not-so-new toy on the London - Manchester train.

Are you really missing British telly that badly ? (I hardly ever watch it these days)

It´s more for the other half´s benefit. His Spanish isn´t good enough to follow Spanish telly.

Here in Spain there´s a lot of debate about political bias on TV. Sometimes I´ve been pretty shocked by the overt bias on some of the channels here. However this evening I watched the interview with the Labour candidate for Glenrothes on BBC Newsnicht and was truly gobsmacked. "So tell me Mr. Roy, what´s it like being so wonderful?"

At least I don´t have to pay a licence fee to watch this mince.

InfrequentAllele wrote:
It´s more for the other half´s benefit.

Aye, I've heard that one before ! My wife only watches X-Factor because the kids watch it. Strangely, she also watches it when they're not around