New rules may only add to the strain when you take the train

There’s an old notion about adversity being the mother of opportunity – providing a chance to force through regulations that, in any other circumstances, might quickly bite the dust.

And that might go some way to explaining the diktat from the Welsh Government to its country’s bus and train users last week.

On foot of that, from now on, there is to be no more running for the bus or train; no more singing on them either if you make it on; no more eating, drinking, talking on the mobile or reading newspapers – unless you do it in complete monastic silence.

Some of it makes sense of course in the current climate, but more of it just tackles age-old irritations.

It’s true that nobody likes a loudmouth three rows up who is giving a running commentary down the phone – either about their journey (“we’re passing through some ghost town in Hicksville now”) or on their adventures last weekend.

We’ve all sat there, forced to endure the backstory to an event that didn’t last half as long as the analysis, when we’re just trying to mind our own business or read a book or the paper.

When you were still allowed to read the paper.

Equally, we’ve all been stuck beside someone with a particular penchant for Pringles or for extra-strong cheese and onion, where the smell is only surpassed by the cracking of the crisps themselves – invariably through a wide-open gob.

We’ve all tried to move to another carriage when a hen party jumps on board and attempts to regale one and all with off-key version of Sweet Caroline and the tribulations of Living Next Door to Alice.

So, thumbs up to our Celtic cousins for using Covid to tackle some of the great problems of our time.

But the reality is that most people on a bus or train immediately slap on the headphones or earbuds, and listen to music or watch a movie – bothering nobody until they reach their destination.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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