I was on a train going home from work 6 months ago, and the people at my table were actually...

[SpeedyGonzalez]

...talking!!! Can you believe it? Heavens above, is this still My England? They didn't even know each other at the start of the journey; they had the temerity to strike up a conversation as strangers. I was mortally offended by this social insolence and said sternly to them (eyebrow raised, peering over my glasses): "I shouldn't have to remind you all that we are all English. We do not, I repeat, NOT relate."

Naturally they took my admonishment on the chin and bowed to my greater etiquettial wisdom.

Gasp! It's just as well I can't hear your brash Northern tones on MN, Verity; I'd have to ram my smelling salts up my nose to keep me upright.

Why do people play their ipods so loud? Don't they realise that they will actually go deaf? And, more to the point, to that bloke's snottiness. You should've tripped him up on his way out.

OP-the strangers weren´t English, were they?

Surely they were from another country where this strange behaviour is acceptable?

Recently on a flight & was chatted to for the whole journey, but she was American & perhaps didn´t realise what a faux pas she was committing.

And if it wasn´t for the fact that it was such an interesting conversation I would not have joined in would have stopped her.

Good grief!

No idea what happened there!