to feed my child a sandwich off the tube floor

[JollyGiraffe]

I was on the tube earlier and a family with 2 children (aged around 7-9) were sitting next to me.

Mum got out a bag of sandwiches (ham and cheese) and gave one to the younger child, who was messing around and being silly and dropped the sandwich on the floor.

Oh well, no harm done, mum has a whole bag of sandwiches to replace it with! Or so I thought....

Mum picked up the sandwich, put the 2 halves back together and handed it back to the child who started eating it

I know I'm strict about hygiene, but surely this is disgusting...or totally normal? Who knows what's been on that tube floor...

FYI, the sandwich landed filling side down and was there for about 7 seconds, if that helps you decide.

Quite, Giraffe. Maybe I ought to have used the lighthearted word?

Anyway, I maintain that some lines ARE filthier than others, judging by how black my nose gets when I travel. I do wonder whether it's the deepest lines that are grimiest?

gross

i do it at hom but not if it evenwas filling side down

Oh lama you don't sound like a Londoner if you won't rank the tube lines in all kinds of ways

northrn is the deepest iirc

I’m sure the child will be fine but, speaking as someone born in London and who has been commuting on the tube for pushing 18 years, personally, that sandwich would be dead to me! Bleurgh!

pasty I am the same, I would rather eat something I'd dropped in a field/the forest to something on the street

One tube line is not distinctly less germy than another, Zebra.

Potentially it could be. When I was working in a sexual health clinic I read about a study that had been done into the bacteria on London's busses. As an aside to their findings they mentioned that partway through the study, one London borough had closed almost all of their sexual health clinics, forcing their residents to go to the neighbouring borough for their care. As a result, the levels of (I can't remember which STD - gonorrhea maybe?) on busses running between those two boroughs went up. (And yes, I'm aware you can't catch an STD from a bus. But that doesn't mean the pathogens aren't there.)

Obviously that argument doesn't necessarily apply to entire tube lines. But don't assume all public transport is equally filthy. Some is more filthy than others :)

I live in London, but I'm not London born and bred. I once saw someone grooming their long haired, manky looking dog on the tube, and just tossing the (copious amounts of) hair on the floor. Dog was sitting on a seat.
On the Northern Line

Not with a sandwich (or other sticky food) and not with a child of school age.

However I have let my toddler DC eat nuts she had spilled on the tube floor. Because nuts are less likely to pick up dirt, and she would otherwise have had a massive strop disturbing other passengers.

I have pretty lax hygiene standards compared with most of MN. But I have to say, we never ever get tummy bugs.

Oh Jesus really, Gilligan?

It's a 3 second rule and applies only to chocolate.

Nah chocolate can get a few days depending on the location

That is definitely not something I would do but maybe she couldn't really afford not to?

Gilligans that is fascinating!

One word. Rats.

Grim.

🤢🤢🤢

YNBU.

I'd eat practically anything (which I'm sure explains my slightly expanding waistline) but even I draw the line at that.
DS was most unimpressed the other day when he dropped his snack on the way home. We're semi-rural and he couldn't quite grasp why it wasn't only mud so the 5 second rule was fine. Yes mud with liberal sprinkles of dogshit DS. Yum! But then he's 8, I'd expect an adult to know better.

I'm quite proud that I have apparently taught DS that if he drops food on the floor, he should pick it up as quickly as he can, blow on it furiously and eat it. I wouldn't encourage him to do it on the Tube though - maybe on the Jubilee line.

thelastredwinegum

I’d anyone see the programme the other night about the central line, it’s history, it’s operation etc. They clean the trains once a month with one big vacuum tunnel which sooks all the gunk out. The resultant bags debris were hideous. So, I guess, if it was the day after, arguably that would be better than if it were the day before. 🤢

How do you know so much about what these people's plans were?!

Sparky, because they were talking about it!

Maybe they'd been given the tickets. You have NO idea about anyone's life from one moment on a train.

I think you'd be better of worrying about something that actually matters to you.

originalfoogirl yes! Thats the one i mentioned! The vaccume tunnel and the guy put his hand in the bin at the end until the other guy mentioned it was human skin cells

I think I may have found my limit on low standards. I will always eat the day past the use by chicken, yogurt 2 weeks past its date as long as it looks OK, 2 years out of date tinned or jar food, prawns left out overnight, or kebab that the cat has licked, you get the picture, but even I wouldn't eat damp ham or cheese that had touched a tube train floor.

Thank you OP. I have finally got to say 'no I wouldn't eat that' .