So this is my experience of a tall train journey home.
I was running late from work this evening and hence I arrived at the train station just as my train was about to depart. Now you have to know at this point that the trains are 30 minutes apart from one another, so missing it would mean a 30 minute wait at the station.
As you will see following this my tall train journey home got me thinking, hence the reason for the article.
Tall people should never be late for the train!
So, being so late and not wanting to miss the train, I quickly ran to the platform and hurried to the first carriage, I boarded just as the doors behind me shut!
This is unusual for me as I usually get to the train station in advance of the train. But standing on the train at that point made me think why?
Why do I get to the station 15 minutes before the train departs, well it’s so that I have a choice.
You see looking at the carriage tonight, I worked out there are 6 seats on a carriage out of 54 seats, where a tall person can sit comfortably without having someone sitting opposite them.
If those 6 seats are gone, there are another 2 which are not as good, but where you can sit with your legs in the aisle.
Tall people never get much choice!
So really in order not to have an uncomfortable journey home, there are 8 seats that I can sit on in a carriage with 54 seats on it. That’s not a great percentage.
This particular evening the carriage was almost full!
Scanning the carriage I could see that all the seats that were ideal for a tall person had been taken and there were only two seats left, both of them were the middle seats in rows of 3 with people sitting opposite.So should I take one or stand that was the dilemma and this is a dilemma that only tall people face.
So should I take one or stand that was the dilemma and this is a dilemma that only tall people face.
I have seen shorter people refuse to take a middle seat in a row of 3 as it means that you sit shoulder to shoulder which can make you feel a little squashed, but they could still sit there and not inconvenience everyone sitting in both rows and more importantly the person opposite.
It’s hard to sit opposite someone on public transport if your tall
If I sat there I would have to weave my legs around the person opposite, most probably having to interlock.
You would spend the whole journey trying to stop your knees bumping the people either side and opposite. It would be uncomfortable for them and you and you certainly wouldn’t look anyone near you in the eye, for fear of them being annoyed!
So I decided to stand
So I stood on the train journey home. I pay exactly the same price for my season ticket as everyone else on the train, but I felt uncomfortable at the thought of sitting on one of the two free seats.
I’m not trying to say that anything can be done about it (apart from of course a carriage for only tall people, which has extra legroom seats and a bar!), but it’s just another reason why tall people are different.
I’m sure you tall people out there have plenty of stories like this one! I would love to hear them so feel free to drop them in the comments.
Alternatively, we have an excellent Facebook group called “What’s the weather like up there”, it’s great to share tall stories like this one, or tall humour, jokes, basically anything tall-related. You can join by clicking HERE.
Want to read more tall life tales? Here are a couple of great related articles
Living as a tall person in the 21st century
32 absolute worst parts about being tall