Man on train

[Apolloanddaphne]

So I am on a train. Sitting across the aisle is a chap who has obviously come off the rigs and is well oiled.

Conversation so far:
He is paying £250per week in CM and feel this I bare faced cheek form his ex. I mean ' how hard can it be when she is getting so the benefits too'.

His 'lass' won't mind when he arrives home drunk. In fact she will expect it and be glad to see him.

He was drinking little cans gin and tonic but is about to start on the whisky. This is not going to go well.

Thankfully he not being noisy or belligerent. What else is he going to discus do we think? I am only listening in. He isn't talking to me.

Yes it was Aberdeen to Edinburgh.

@LifeSpectator a 12/4 rotation is pretty (very) unusual, might I suggest that perhaps he was elsewhere for the middle four of his 12 "on" weeks....

Yes it was Aberdeen to Edinburgh.

Lucky there was only one! I usually get stuck with a carriage full.

Is that not what OP meant?

Well oiled = drunk (or well on his way to getting there)

It is a pretty tough line of work for these guys whether out on the north sea or north African deserts. Hitting some booze is nothing, and he sounds more amusing rather than anything. A few years ago I was on the first train from Glasgow to London. The carriage had several groups of young soldiers, all going back to barracks from leave. By 7am most were on their third can of Special Brew. They were going back to Iraq. There were no jollies, no noise. Just many soldiers silently drinking and sleeping the journey away. It was pretty sobering to understand why.

I don't think he was hard up at all. He was quite warm and funny. I was talking about snippets of overheard conversation which I found amusing on a slightly boring train journey.

I love these kind of "people watching threads". I could totally relate to it as well as my dad worked on the rigs and he would always come home drunk as a skunk,tired but with huge bars of gorgeous Marlborou chocolate for us 3 kids.The whole family would drink cups of tea and eat the chocolate and he'd fall asleep and we'd get no sense out of him until the morning. Happy days

I’m pregnant atm and totally nauseous with certain smells, including fish. A man got on the commuter train this morning and ate sushi. Disaster.

I’m in equal measures horrified and intrigued by people’s phone conversations. Around my way, it’s almost always 16 year old school girls having incredibly loud conversations about absolutely nothing on the whole journey.

I’ve had this, except I was the one being chatted at. He drank all his cans and drank the trolley dry too. He had a wife and kids waiting for him at the station but this didn’t stop him hopping into the seat next to me and try to snog me, not wanting to take no for an answer, ‘joking’, go on, just one, etc... It was awful.

I find this really depressing. Getting pissed for going home to his girlfriend, and moaning to total strangers about his maintenance payments. Let's not set the bar so low thinking that just because he's not a rowdy drunk, he's a nice guy!

I love these kind of "people watching threads"

I don't, they creep me out.

It's weird to think the person near you on a train/bus/in a cafe/soft play, who has their head buried in their phone could be discussing your every move/word on the internet.

I know it's part of modern life now what with mobile phones but I think it's creepy and invasive.

It's even worse when people secretly video/photograph strangers and it ends up going viral.

He is stupid for giving out details in public, not knowing who is on the train with him. Opens himself up to the possibility of harm.

Not sure what the appropriate response is though.

Would someone please explain "your da sells Avon" - I've been seeing it a fair bit recently but have no clue!

Thumb, just google it.

I did but I'm unable to post a link at the moment.

Basically it's just a funny put-down.

I once had the journey from hell on boat/train from Dublin to London. 16 hours it took due to delays on boat and trains. Got to know 2 men really well. They kept me from having a nervous breakdown. We had great craic.

Ask him if his da sells Avon!

And does his maw punt cooncil?

Yeah, well I'm none the wiser as to where it came from as an insult. I'd already worked out it WAS an insult.

I mean obviously it's from Scotland, just don't know how it came into being as an insult.

I’ll not hear a bad word said about well oiled riggers. I got dramatically dumped at Aberdeen train station why I was 19 and was somewhat upset. Sobbing my heart out black mascara running down my face and sporting a busted nose from falling over drunk but you can imagine how it looked. A group of drunk riggers were ready to raze Aberdeen to the ground for my honour. Once I had told the whole story they gave me beer and explained that I was to young to be worried about him and that I should come and work on the rigs where you can earn a fortune and not need a man.

Should have taken their advise actually.

@AlternativePerspective - I've found myself in a similar situation in a hotel bar.
Bloke started to facetime his girlfriend. After a minute or so I went over and explained I could understand every word. He smiled, thanked me and moved.