One night I was on a train when a loud, boorish, overbearing, fat, middle-aged man (no, it wasn’t Prince Andrew because he was sweating!) got on and sat at the table in the opposite aisle to me. He was one of those annoying men who was full of himself: he loved the sound of his own voice and was trying to get my attention by saying to the man sitting opposite to him “Oh, look at her over there. You can tell she’s desperate to join in our conversation rather than reading that book!” (“Book” and “look” rhymed with “spook“ - so he wasn’t from the area.) I ignored him (I was trying to revise for an exam) but throughout the journey he carried on trying to attract my attention failing miserably at every attempt. He thought he was funny and charming. I thought he was an irritating cunt.
I heard him telling the man (very loudly) in the seat opposite that he needed to get off at a particular station but wasn’t sure about the connections. The man said he should get off at the next station to get the connecting train. The train stopped and the annoying twat picked up his suitcases and tried, one last time before he left the train, to get my attention. I ignored him. The train remained in the station for about five minutes. Just before it set off again the annoying twat barged into the carriage struggling with his suitcases. He was out of breath, red faced and sweating even more because he’d been running around the station on a wild goose chase, looking for a connection which he didn’t actually need. His destination was the next stop on the train he’d caught in the first place so he should’ve just stayed put!
When the train arrived at his destination his face was like thunder when I put my book away, stood up, and walked to the door. He got up and stood behind me. He didn’t say a word. I got into my taxi and smiled at him. He hadn’t ordered one and that station is in the middle of nowhere in a rural area where taxis are hard to come by.
It’s the small victories! 