Playing the recorder on a train

[Lifeisontheup]

My DH has just texted me. He is on a non-stop 4 hour train journey, a reserved seat in first class and is seated with a family with two young children and is not happy. He could cope with ordinary noise from small children but one has now started playing the recorder.
Is he being unreasonable to want to murder someone? I have advised him to hit the bar whereupon he will fall asleep and his snores will drown out everything.

I'd not be that polite...I'd say 'A recorder? Really???' while pulling the face.

Sorry, that was a very boring answer!
I travel FC on a holiday route regularly so can often be found in the quiet carriage!

I'm a wuss, I would ask the guard to ask them to stop it. That is an unreasonable noise, though is it better or worse than screaming pre schooler?

Another Grade 8 and award-winning recorder player here (soloist & part of an ensemble) ... even I'd want to ram it somewhere!

HINBU. At. All.

Get him to put in a request.

Singing tunelessly would not be a problem for him pissed or not! I think he's just too polite to ask as he does know how difficult it is to keep small children quiet but a recorder FFS?
He's just told me they're having lunch-olives and feta cheese for the parents and bacon for the DC's. I'm looking forward to more updates, great fun without having to endure the noise which is now apparently down to pneumatic drill levels.

That's what iPods and noise cancelling headphones are for - not so much to listen to music/books but to drown out other passengers!

I agree though that bringing a musical instrument onto the train is pretty antisocial, even if played well. Akin to playing music out loud on your phone.

Glad to see some other people are not fans of the dreaded recorder. I'm am reliably informed it can sound lovely if played properly. I don't think I've ever had that experience.

A squeaky tin whistle...no I haven't heard one and hope I never do!

Forgot to add he should complain to the guard.

Ooh, I bet the kids are called something like Jacinta and Otis.

Astonishing! I have taken small children on trains lots of times and I won't let them talk loudly, let alone play a recorder. Hinbu. At all!

Viviennemary, it can if played well, but after being forced encouraged to play by my parents for years, I NEVER want to hear another fucking recorder in my life, good or -screeching on a train-- otherwise!

Bugger screeching on a train

I will ask for more details. I wonder if they're wearing Boden?

Screaming toddler is a proper racket, but is far more tolerable than recorder playing.

the kids are eating bacon? wtf? Cold rashers of bacon?!

And no he is not being unreasonable, though I do wonder if some of the recorder bashers on this thread have had to sit through 1st grade violin! DT2 is learning both and the recorder is so much more preferable than him strangling cats on the violin.

My parents rule was 'if we don't want to hear you, then no one else does either'. They were very much of the 'seen and not heard' school of child care.

Your DH needs to clap very loudly at the end of each tune. It's not the child's fault that the parents are annoying gits. Are they being all encouraging 'twinkle twinkle, is it darling? You're so smart! Will you play that for great granma when we visit her in the hospital? I'm sure it will make her feel so much better...'

Billwoody - why should he move? When people behave badly and disrupt life for others why should the "innocent" party have to change their behaviour to accommodate the people who don't give a fuck about what goes on around them?

Cold bacon? Bleugh! Fingers crossed that they need a nap after eating.

Names have not featured yet it's been Darling all the time. DH has suggested Damien and Beelzebub.

I hear that the secret service has now replaced waterboarding as a means of torture with a group of 6-year-olds playing Row Row Row Your Boat in a round for nine hours without a break, subbing in more 6-year-olds when they get bored (which is never, if I remember my gleeful round-playing correctly).

Tell him to film it secretly on his phone. It's Friday. It could go viral by 3pm.

at Damian and Beelzebub playing Row Row Row Your Boat on You Tube

This is why it's alway a good idea to carry bagpipes with you on the train.

They are not sharing the carriage for the whole of the journey, are they?

Dh is a dinosaur and has a house brick as a phone otherwise I would suggest it. I have suffered the torture that is three DC's learning the recorder. I think there other name is 'teachers revenge'.