'train of thought'*

WHEN DID WE ALL STOP TALKING TO EACH OTHER? how ironic. now, now that the globe can be crossed in a day, now that the the nations gather and collide in any one city station. Now that we live out our lives just 10cm of brick away from the family next door. above floor. below. cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other. we hear the bed springs creak yet don't even acknowledge each other in the hall. breathe down each other's necks on the tube and sit thigh to thigh every morning for an hour on the way to work. but do everything in our power not to make eye contact.

contact. never that.

so we're sat in a crowded room with glass walls with our earphones in, transporting us to somewhere else. somewhere other than here. simultaneously living in each others pockets and living on separate planets (where we'll update our status and tweet the day away). blocking out the sound of the stories right at our fingertips. literally. deafened to the rhythms of the heartbeats that surround us, the harmony of real lives being played out at this very moment.

think of what we could give and gain if we only wound down those imaginary windows, unlocked those expressionless doors, and asked a few questions. started a CONVERSATION.

just in this train carriage i could write down 20 new recipes, learn five new languages, discover the secret to healthy hair, pick up some gardening tips, make someone laugh, perhaps make someone cry because it's the first time anybody's listened to them all day. all year. surprise the shy and embrace the forgotten. welcome the wisdom of age and be inspired by the young.

but no.

i'll just continue sitting here writing down my thoughts with my MP3 on, casting only furtive glances at the pretty woman with dreamy eyes sat less than a metre away.

*Literally... my thoughts on a train. unedited.

having said this, in the morning I did actually have a proper "train conversation", and I am not one of those people who 'always gets into conversation', although I'd like to learn to be. Anyways chatted with a lady all the way from Brighton to London and it was really great. put a spring in my step the whole day. :-)