Unity In Diversity

Personnel: Tom
Location: Bakerloo Line, London Underground. Again.
Type of Recliner:  None
Reason for Lounge: Travel
Relative Comfort Rating: 1/5

Herewith lies an inspirational true story where the world ignores race and creed to support our fellow man.

The location was, once again, the Bakerloo line of the London Underground, which seems of late to be a place of much revelation to yours truly. After a few stops a young Asian man manages to drop his hot chocolate, covering much of his trousers and the surrounding floor. Most people on the train ignore this, in true Londoner fashion. He starts fumbling around for some tissues. He has one which he uses to dab the excess off his trousers and the worst off the floor. He is clearly embarrassed and damp and the small grubby tissue does little to relieve either of these woes.

I did have a quick pat down of my own pockets to see if there was anything i could offer and did actually find a small lump of tissue that felt like it had been left in said pocket through the last wash, so i decided it’s probably best not to present them as an offering. I continue to be a Londoner, but to my joy, a small splendidly chavy soul sat a few spaces away from the man withdraws a tissue from his tracky-bottoms and presents it to our Asian friend.

My heart skips a beat.

The tissue does little more than cermet the sociopolitical relationship between the two characters but to my surprise, shortly after, a Burka clad lady opposite delves into the recesses of her many shopping bags and produces a pack of ‘Johnson Baby Wipes’ [other brands are available] and proffers them to our protagonist.

I could have cried.

The moment was fleeting and this ‘in memoriam’ does nothing but turn it into a cliche, i’m sure, but at the time it was cute and so, i write.

The moral is, of course; always carry baby wipes.