I'm relaying this tale simply because it leads into my next posting so please bear with me.

Four weeks ago I was on a train from Kent to London on my way home for the weekend. I had just finished my first can of cider (it's a 4 can journey in total) when a surly youngster sat down opposite me. Actually I am only assuming he was surly because he was about 15 years old and chose to sit with his feet on the adjacent seat. First impressions eh?

I wasn't really taking much notice of him in fact; I was listening to my mp3 player and he to his. I didn't even take much notice when he started to chew his earpieces, presumably having assumed that they were buggered beyond repair and if they were of any use at all it was as some experiment into taste and tactility of synthetic compounds.

It was only when he got up to get off that something clicked with me. He'd left the chewed up ex-headphones on the table, presumably for some random person to deal with. Instinctively, I removed my own headphones and I heard myself saying "there's a bin over there".

"Yeah I know" he said.

"Do you want to put that in it then?" I asked with as much self confidence and authority as I could muster.

It took him just a second to respond. He reached into the front right pocket of his jeans and pulled out a penknife......

Well actually, I made up the last sentence. In fact he said nothing, picked up the deceased headphones and left. I'd done my civic duty and hadn't got stabbed.

Have you any idea just how exilerating that was for me?