To sit or not to sit

 

Rejoice! There’s a seat on the tube! 

 

 

I don’t want to seem too dramatic, but sometimes when I see a seat on a crowded train, my heart skips a beat. I’ll say more about why I get so excited about seats later. It’s not just because I am a lazy person. Anyway like all adults, I have to remain calm and pretend it’s not a big deal. I would love to have a seat, but here’s the question: should I or should I not? I’m relatively young and in good health. It is only logical to let people who need it more to have the seat. Then again, just like Spock, I am part human.

          (picture credit: https://imgflip.com/i/u2ujl)

What if I take the seat and later on I see someone who needs it and I have to stand up again? Sitting down and standing up right away is so much effort. I’m sure I’m not the only person finding sitting and standing up to be a lot, so yes whether to sit down or not is a big decision. It is even more tiring than just standing and leaning against the side of a train. Also, what if after giving my seat to another person, I have to stand in the most awkward and uncomfortable spot? I really rather not breathe the air exhaled from other human beings or have to be way too close the source of an unpleasant odor. These tiny internal struggles tend to drive me a bit crazy.

The main reason for my being way too excited than I should when I see a seat on a packed train is that my legs are usually pretty sore from all the speed-walking I’ve been doing. Speaking of speed-walking, I started doing this not for exercising or health purposes, but because I’m told that’s what Londoners do. A friend who is born and raised in London shared this piece of information to me. I use the word ‘shared’, but it felt more like ‘lectured’ anyway she said, “You have to walk really fast even when you are not really going anywhere.” Being relatively new to London and a Londoner-wanna-be of course, I am going to listen to her and abide by this golden rule.

 

Let’s return to the seat decision making. Fortunately, most of the time, when I was mapping out my route to the seat and calculating the chances of me having to give up the seat for someone else in my mind, someone would just go ahead and sit down.

 

Problem solved (in a way)

 

 

 

Normally, a new teeny-tiny frustration would develop because I took too long to decide on whether to sit or not to sit. C’est la vie.