British Days: Public Transportation In London

One of London's many quirks is its public transportation system--it has a mentality of its own. When somebody takes the bus or tube in London he or she becomes a voyeur. Londoners have a habit of talking about their personal lives when they use public transportation. On any given day of the week you can overhear anything that is going on in the lives of the people of London. Somebody might be having problems taking care of an elder member of the family. Somebody might talk about how to resolve a situation with a potential lover. Two people might even make out in front of you on the tube, revealing the physical intimacy between them. Observing all of this was like weaving in and out of other people's personal lives, although I didn't know anything about those people.

And as can be expected from someone who constantly observes these things I overheard some hilarious things. I remember one time I overheard a conversation between a man and a woman about opera. The topic of conversation was about a male singer, and the terminology they used could've been interpreted as having sexual connotations. "Did he float your boat,"the man asked the woman. She was a little skeptical of the singer's abilities but she replied that her boat did in fact float. But this wasn't the most outragous thing I've heard while using public transportation in London. One time when I was on my way back to my homestay on the bus a young woman made her way to the back of the bus where I was sitting. She looked like she was in her late-20s or early-30s. She was dressed in a nice outfit, and looked like she was going to have a night out with some friends or go on a date. She pulled out her cell phone and started to talk to someone on it. She told the other person on the other line she didn't want to be lonely in life and mentioned the perfect relationship and the perfect somebody. Then she proceeded to beg--and I do mean literally plead--the other person to have a drink with her. She wanted to go out on a date, and it was obvious she was desperate. My housemates reported even more outragous stuff. One told me how he overheard three women talk about how much time it had been since they had had sex. Whenever I overhear these conversations on the tube or the bus it reveals something about somebody's personal life. I always wondered who were these people who were so open about their lives in public? What walk of life do they come from, and how did they get where they're at now in life? What sort of problems have these people encountered, overcome or even succumbed to?