Saturday, October 9, 2010

When boredom rears its ugly head.

You end up finding this kind of thing.


and I quote...."

Drunk kicks man for eating in tram

A pensioner has been arrested after literally kicking another tram passenger out of the vehicle for eating.

The 68-year-old got seriously angry when a man, 60, sitting opposite of him in a tram in Graz, Styria, started to snack on a bread roll and a sausage yesterday (Weds). He started to scream at the man and insulted him for leaving breadcrumbs on the floor.

Witnesses said the offended passenger decided to get out of the tram earlier than planned to avoid the situation getting out of control. But when the doors opened, the abusive man kicked him from behind. The 60-year-old suffered broken bones, a concussion and bruises in the fall.

The attacker tried to flee by foot but was caught by policemen a few blocks from the station. A breathalyser check showed he was heavily drunk. The man, who was put into custody, faces grievous bodily harm charges.

Meanwhile, a tram driver in federal capital Vienna faces disciplinary procedures for working while being high on drugs."   (OK,  this is a little closer to home....)

"Public transport agency Wiener Linien said last month the 25-year-old was suspended after a drug test showed he was driving a tram under the influence of illegal substances. It was not revealed what kind of drugs the man had taken."


........../.......


 Are you kidding me?   I do indeed realise that one needs to have a certain amount of scepticism when it comes to the cr*p on the internet,  but I'm pretty sure it's hard to make this kind of thing up.
This,  in a nutshell (with a bit of an emphasis on "nuts")  is one of the somewhat unfortunate side effects of public transit.  Which is why I'd really prefer to either take the car,  or take my life in my hands and head out on the bike.
 Did that today on a couple of occasions by the way,  and I'd just like to point out that,  even though it looks sunny and warm,  it can get a little cool in the shadows with a head wind.  I did see a guy riding a bike wearing gloves.
But please.  It was NOT that cool out.
He either was a very confident kind of guy,  or a total Milquetoast kind of wimp.   But either way,  he looked kind of retarded.
I recall that the kids in the Netherlands would refuse to wear gloves even when riding in subzero temperatures,  because it just simply wasn't cool.
 Of course,  their hands would be cherry red.  But man, they were cool!

It's hard to really categorise this particular event.  Does it fall under "trams",  "public transit",  or better yet,  "eating in public"?

 I see a lot of people eating in public.  I'm just saying.  Apparently I'm not the only one who finds it somewhat disturbing.  I hadn't noticed the crumbs.  Nor have I ever become,  "seriously angry".   Did you notice the wording there?   "Seriously angry"  Really?


 I find eating in public a tad odd.  But hey,  it's not my country.   This is a mantra I tend to repeat over and over again.  That and,  "someday I'll get to go home..."

Haven't had any success clicking my heels....

...hopefully everything will still be in colour when I get there...


 Just yesterday,  as I sat in traffic on the Gürtel  (and I realise this isn't quite "public",  but still....)  I saw this chick in the passenger seat of the car behind me eating corn on the cob.
 I swear to GOD.   1) I'm not lying,  and 2)  I've never seen that before in my life.

Yes,  I've seen people eat corn on the cob.   At our dinner table.  At a corn roast.
 Never in a car.
 What would possess you to eat corn on the cob in the car??   I mean,  chowing down on some sausage on the tram I can sort of handle,  but corn on the cob?  Was that all there was in the fridge?

I'll stop now.  


Hmmmmm.   Viennese culinary delights!

 OK really..  I need to stop.


Now,  speaking of "nuts",  and in the similar vein of public transit,   I do vividly recall heading to the opera one night with a group of guests on the U3,  and we were entertained by a charming fellow who failed to realise that his pants were not properly secured around his waist.   I regret not having the camera at the ready,   not so much to capture the silhouette of his dangling participles,  but moreover the look on my daughter's face when she turned to me to see if I saw what she saw.


Yup.  We exchanged the knowing looks,  and then chose to look elsewhere.


That's all I got for today.


Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.

Oh,  and to all the Canucks out there.   Happy Thanksgiving!






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1 comment:

  1. Just 3months ago we had an on duty bus driver blow 2.8 on breathalyzer. Needless to say he is now unemployed & we are, of course, gonna fight for his job.
    As to the subject of "nuts" the medicated & dangling kind for that matter I have seen more than my fair share during my 23yr sentence. Didn't have to hop the pond for that & yes we're still in colour over here. Although there are some street people who haven't been butterfly netted in awhile that have reached an all-over shade of gray & I do mean all-over!

    2453 days to retirement...I'm just saying!

    ReplyDelete

Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.