To tell you about my awkward train encounter 5 mins ago?

[SundayCherry]

On a very long train up to Scotland. 4 hour journey, I’m 40 mins in and all seats are taken- everyone in their ticketed seat. I’m sat there with my book and a coffee when the lady sat next to me took off her shoes (bare feet). Well I feel mean but the smell is horrendous. A real sweaty cheesy feet smell that’s so strong. I dealt with it for about half an hour but it’s so difficult and distracting.

So I decided to buck up the courage (im not very confrontational) and ask the lady if she would kindly mind putting her shoes back on and as she speaks another language she basically said she couldn’t understand me despite me pointing at the shoes- she now has her eyes shut trying to sleep (shoes still off and against the seat of the chair in front)

I really can’t bear to put up with the smell for another 3 hours but there’s no seats to move to! There’s also lots of stops and I want to get comfy and not have to move seat about ten times when people come from other stops.

What should I do?

Her journey is over I assume.

Could she have been amusing herself by telling a big smelly porkie on here ?

After the fiasco at the weekend, who knows. 😐

I saw similar n a long haul flight recently, luckily was not next to me but across the ailse. A lady took off her shoes (barefoot) and lay across the seats, actually putting her head on the shoulder of a stranger. The stranger got really upset and called the cabin crew. The no shoes lady said she didn't speak English and refused to sit up and put her shoes on. The crew moved the lady that complained, which I thought was pretty bad since the no shoes lady was rewarded with a whole row of seats to lie on.

Is her reservation for full journey?

I'd be tempted to 'phone' someone and have a conversation about the stinky feet!
I mean, she doesn't speak English so she won't be offended, will she 😆

I like the suggestion of waking her up. Showing her a picture of shoes and feet on your phone might be a good idea as well!

This reminds me of that time where my grandmother had given me some (speciality) cheese to bring back to my mother.

it was properly packaged etc. but whenever I would move my back there was... well, a goat-y, cheese-y whiff. When somebody sat next to me I felt so embarassed that I called my best friend and loudly talked to her about the "smelly cheese" my nonna had given me.😂

I was a teen, btw. And absolutely mortified.

The worse thing is she keeps rubbing the seat in front with her feet! Resting them on them!

This woman is worse than a murderer

Do you always take it literally when people make a hyperbolic comment for obvious comic effect? Or is taking jokes seriously something you're just trialling on this thread?

Get out your phone and find a translation app.
Wake lady - ask her politely what country she is from
Get English to [her language] on the app
Type in 'put your shoes on immediately - your feet fucking stink'
Show your phone to the lady

Vomit all over her then chuck her shoes out of the window😅

It's a long-distance train, trust me it will have a guard.

The only trains that don't are suburban ones in the South East, and those in Strathclyde (and the latter will have a ticket examiner)

So put your shoes back on, Blurred Edges !!!!!!!!!🧀👃👠

Get some napkins and put them ver her feet. She understood what you were trying to say but chose to ignore you I think. You could point to her feet and hold you nose, that would be universal in any language.

What an interesting story.

I'm starting to think next time i get the train i need to take spray Dettol with me! 😲

Hello all, haven’t disappeared but had to run to make my next train transfer (day isn’t over yet unfortunately)

In the end the train guard did come and ask the lady to put her shoes back on (by gentle prodding her and pointing at her shoes) which I had done hours earlier and been ignored at and the lady did but only half in! So literally the toes were in but not the rest of the foot! And the guard just accepted it as them back on!!

I cannot tell you how glad I am to be off that train but even now it’s still lingering for me in my nostrils! It was like a real sweaty cheese smell beyond unbearable also thanks for the stories of your own sweaty encounters I appreciated the solidarity!

There are times I thank God, the universe or whoever for giving me a brain tumour that wiped out my sense of smell completely. Picking up dog poo, cleaning out the cat litter tray, dirty nappies and situations like this are now no problem 😂
(Said tumour has been mostly removed and was benign, by the way. Now I'm recovered I can start to see losing my sense of smell has unexpected benefits)

I had covid nearly 3 years ago and it still hasn´t come back. I get whiffs of certain scents (e.g. citrus) but that´s mostly it.

I do agree about it being useful when it comes to emptying the compost or doing other kinds of smelly tasks. But I am still really saddened by it occasionally. I wish I had it back. So many lovely smells I want to smell. (and my sense of taste isn´t 100% either).

Not the point of the thread but your comment made me chuckle a little, seeing as this was exactly what I told DP a few weeks ago!😂

It would have been interesting to say to the guard "That dirt mare's feet stink to high heaven" and see if she still couldn't understand English.

She knows exactly what you said.

This is what I would do. I would grimace, call out what’s that horrible smell?? Stand up and gesticulate wildly and say it’s so horrible, what is it? I’ll go get someone in charge and see if they can help us!!!

Run out of the carriage and find a person who works there and entreat them, show them the smell and hopefully they will find you another seat or admonish the awful stinky feet woman.

Oh I see you’ve escaped now. Good! I am sensitive to smells, that would drive me bonkers.

😂😂😂

The problem is, that can smell so much worse. I commute twice a day on the bus, and people are always spraying this stuff around ( Impulse, or worse, Lynx), sometimes after farting. You get off the bus stinking of the spray for the rest of the day, I hate it.

And I think this where being an American comes in handy. At some point after being polite with no results there would a a blunt “Lady your feet smell like rotten cheese please for the love of god put your shoes on and book a doctors appointment. That smell can’t be healthy”.

Throw the shoes out the window!!!!!!