Falling on deaf ears

Having just spent a king’s ransom on navigating my way around London and its hinterland, I now appreciate Budapest Transport Company, or BKK, even more. Always a fan of Budapest’s public transport system, this admiration has grown ten-fold in the aftermath of packed Tubes, standing-room-only trains and stations that seem to haemorrhage people on a regular basis.

nkk2Another much underrated joy of travelling with BKK is that my limited  Hungarian, for the most part, prevents me from understanding the conversations happening between my fellow travellers (if indeed anyone deigns to talk at all). On the more popular tourist routes I might have to suffer through
someone else’s observations on life, but for the most part it’s all rather banal.

Not so in London.

On one train I sat opposite four young ladies of university age who were returning from a weekend in Oxford. One was better looking than the next. Each was carefully made up, nails manicured, hair coiffed. Despite their lady-like appearances which would suggest that certain subjects not be discussed in a public forum, I was treated to a thirty-minute discourse on the benefits of licking a man (yes, licking) versus snogging (kissing) him. Apparently, a lick involves less commitment, and as there are only so many men one can snog on a given night without getting a reputation for oneself, it’s best to lick. I had lots of questions I could have asked but didn’t want to show just how behind the times I am.

On another train, two friends were analysing a third friend’s relationship in her absence. She’d been with her boyfriend for all of six months and was very much in love. So much in love, in fact, that they could fully understand why she hadn’t broken up with him after he’d told her he’d had sex with three other women… on the one night. Well, really, six months is far too soon to expect exclusivity.

On yet another train, two young lads were discussing their weekend and the
party they’d been to. One had started  off drinking double gins and tonic, which at £9 a go were quite expensive, so he’d only had 12. When the second had tried to order a round of 36 shots (at £6 each), the bartender had refused so he’d had to order six lots of six instead. Neither of them remembered getting home. I’d have loved to know what they did for a living.

tube

On the Tube, two recent graduates were comparing college notes. One had studied accounting, the other politics and philosophy. Both had gotten a 2.1 (about 62%) without having attended one lecture in their first year. First-year university is, by all accounts, a waste of academic time. As they went on to discuss their career plans, the future philosophic politician wished he could go back and tell his 15-year-old self not to get his ears and nose pierced. The blessings of hindsight.

Each time I checked to see how other passengers were reacting. And each
time they were all, without exception, plugged into a different world. Suddenly the whole iPod phenomenon started to make sense.

These overheard snippets of conversation are hardly indicative of the declining
morals of the greater London public. In and  of themselves, they’re unlikely to be a barometer of the waning standards of general conversation. And when taken in the grand scheme of things, they did little more than prompt me to offer a silent prayer of thanks that in Budapest I’m spared such inanities. Yes, similar conversations might well take place but I have the advantage of not speaking the language.

First published in the Budapest Times 4 July 2014

Share:

Sign up here to get an email whenever I post something new.

Never miss a post

Give stories, not stuff.

Do you need to find a gift for a traveling loved one? The best gifts are experiences. Stories and memories last far longer than ‘stuff’. Try Tinggly for thousands of great experiences and gift ideas.

More Posts

Staying local at Kányavári sziget

We dream of islands in the sun. Exotic places where we can get away from it all. We spend hundreds if not thousands of whatevers

Bunce Island, Sierra Leone

I’m big on bearing witness to history. The slave market in Zanzibar left a lasting impression and I was expecting something similar at Bunce Island.

Tasso Island, Sierra Leone

Tasso Island is one of the islands that dot the Sierra Leone River Estuary. Home to a relatively new ecotourism project, its beach-side chalets and

Kabala, Sierra Leone

The distance by road from Freetown to Kabala is about 300 km. The drive took more than 5 hours. Some of the road is good,

Freetown, Sierra Leone

About 60% of Sierra Leone’s 10 million or so people are under the age of 25. That’s young. Very young. Only about 2.5% are over

5 responses

  1. There is, of course, also the third type of conversation, exemplified by Kosztolányi’s story of Kornél Esti’s very long talk with the guard on a train – in Bulgarian, a language which Kornél does not speak.

    1. I’ve had those, too. Used to chat for hours with an old man from Texas. Neither of us had a clue what the other was saying, but it was entertaining.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

5 responses

  1. There is, of course, also the third type of conversation, exemplified by Kosztolányi’s story of Kornél Esti’s very long talk with the guard on a train – in Bulgarian, a language which Kornél does not speak.

    1. I’ve had those, too. Used to chat for hours with an old man from Texas. Neither of us had a clue what the other was saying, but it was entertaining.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.