Now I know without much doubt this was some horrible [pointless brandname] attempt at advertising to tie in with their disastrous "lets all sing on the frigging train!" TV spots but I feel the need to explain the reaction of me and my fellow passengers.
We, as morning passengers, were happy, sitting, staring into space, listening to walkmans, reading the paper or books. Suddenly those of us closest hear some music through headphones blaring at a rather ridiculous level. A woman near me turned around to look at the frazzle haired, suited woman with the headphones, turned back at me and rolled her eyes. Eyes back to book.
About two minutes later the song stopped in the middle and started again. Cyndi Lauper, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". I new something was up. This wasn't right. A few frightened looks.
When the vocals kicked he the woman wailed the first word of the song and stopped. Everyone looked horribly shocked, grabbed at their belongings and stared. A few people giggled, but the way you'd giggle if you were evil and saw a kitten being boiled.
The singing continued. Headphone singing. I only know half the words singing. People giggled. Lots of "ha, nice try" looks and back to the books, desperate attempts to ignore.
She got off at Richmond. The whole train sighed in relief. I think secretly everyone expected her to blow up.
I can only assume it was [pointless brandname] advertising. Or possibly advertising for the brand the woman had proudly displayed in huge letters on her clipboard. Or maybe representatives of Cyndi Lauper.
Who knows. Who cares. Shut up so I can read my book.
I might add that on Friday my morning train was an hour late, we sat inbetween stations while they fixed a signal fault. Then the train home was cancelled due to a faulty door and we all piled off at Parliament to await the next (packed full train). Total time wasted by late/cancelled trains... a hour and a half. Thanks [pointless brandname]!