Here’s the scenario: I’m travelling back from rural Lincolnshire to London, and am waiting for my connecting train at Peterborough.  A train pulls in at my platform, but it is not my one.  People alight; people board; I continue to wait on the platform.  However, just inside the open door of the halted train, I am conscious of a lone, stationary man.  He is looking in my direction; staring at me, in fact.  It feels rather confrontational; a challenge, almost.  I look away; then, find myself compelled to look back.  He is still staring.

Let me describe him: early-thirties, I would judge; quite well-dressed; clean shaven; quite a big bloke; not heavy-big, more just physically well-built; strong-looking.

I look away again, but I sense his eyes are still on me.  I wonder when his train will move off.  The halt seems unnecessarily prolonged.

But then, there it is, the guard’s whistle; I hear the beeps as the train doors begin to close; see the carriage begin to move.  I glance again to see if the man is still standing there.  He is, only now he is giving me the finger with both hands, as he slowly glides past, until the train picks up speed and he is lost to sight.

I find his unprovoked display of aggression rather baffling.  But, also, strangely, I find it rather empowering.

As I mentioned, he was a big bloke.  A youthful, big bloke in good condition.  If he had experienced any deep feelings of antipathy towards me, he could have merrily beaten me to a pulp and there would have been very little I could have done about it.  But he didn’t.  He waited until he was safely out of the reach of any possible retribution before he revealed his malign intentions.  He had exposed himself as a coward, too scared to confront me man-to-man. 

I don’t know whether he went away feeling he had won some kind of victory, but my only emotions regarding him were ones of pity.  What does he go and do for the rest of his journey?  Calmly sit down next to some innocent stranger and fill in his Times crossword?

As train-flashers go, my encounter was very mild; a gesture rather than any kind of physical exposure, but it is well-documented that this kind of anti-social behaviour often leads to more serious crimes.  I think there is a case here for train-spotters of the world to unite.  All those avid, end-of-platform, photo-takers find any pictures that you might have taken––accidentally or otherwise––of similar incidents of unacceptable train behaviour, and report them to the proper authorities.

See it.  Say it.  Sorted.

© Simon Turner-Tree

Simon Turner-Tree wants to be able to travel in peace.