A crowded underground train.
On a hot day in London.
Stopping at a station, more people get on.
She is heavily pregnant, I guess eight months gone.
Standing up, I offer her my seat.
She shakes her head, then looks away without a word.
I sit back down, wondering why I bothered.
Incomprehensible. Honestly, this word i had to look up on the translator. 😉
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Glad to hear the translator worked. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Perfect. But I only use it when I really don’t know what to do next. 😉
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She was probably totally absorbed in her own drama and too distracted to take much if any notice of you, much less be polite.
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Whatever her reasons, I still remember her 40 years later.
Best wishes, Pete.
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My memory is also coming back from such moments long ago. Strange phenomenon.
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My guess is that heavily pregnant women get an adrenaline rush turning down gentleman offers while standing on a crowded underground train on a hot day in London. When they turn away, they giggle quietly because they’ve made a fool out of the gentleman.
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Perhaps they were part of a feminist club in the early 1980s? Travelling around with cushions up their dresses, making fools of those men who had an outdated sense of good manners. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Your short thoughts is becoming very popular….kudos my friend chuq
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They get more views than my serial story, chuq. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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all you can do is what’s in your control, and you reached out to share a bit of kindness. there is no controlling what someone else does, let it go, and know you are a good person.
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Thanks, Beth. Forty year-old memories, popping into my mind. No idea why. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Hmm. Now I’m curious why she refused. Regardless, she should have at least said thank you.
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If she had done that, I wouldn’t be wondering why, 40 years later.
Best wishes, Pete.
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9 months pregnant, even though I was told I was at 8 months by experts, I insisted on ‘walking’ the halls instead of hiding under infrastructure from the wild tornadoes of the night of June 6, 1990, in Colorado. My back hurt, I had charley horses in legs if I ‘crouched to take cover’ – I NEEDED to walk and was going to do so and didn’t ask anyone else to risk themselves – – although, a younger bus boy on the ‘crew’ said, “You want to walk, fine – I want to walk with you, so why can’t what I want be fine too?” – and we did – we walked the halls – – The nurse in hospital where I delivered the baby next day, said, “Um, you’ve been in labor for awhile” and to me? I just WANTED to WALK! and my back hurt – – :). Be open to the possibility she was tired, needed inherently, to stand, etc., and just didn’t have it within her to be kind or gracious to gentleman who was trying his best to be the knight in shining armor – sometimes? The Knight in Shining Armor is the one who says, “okey dokey then – I believe you” – :). On the other hand – maybe she wasn’t raised right – either – or believed you to be ‘discriminating’ against her by being you – who knows? surely not I – but I tell you – out of all the males/females/friends/bosses that night? Do you know who I remember best and fondly? The guy that called me on my own double-standards! LOL cuz I, in pregnancy, pain, discomfort and raging hormones, thought nothing of demanding what I HAD to DO or perish – but tried, out of ‘attempting to care for others’ do him out of his getting to do what HE wanted to do – just then – 🙂
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Thanks, TanrahJo. 40 years later, I still have no real idea why she acted that way. But I have never forgotten it.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Any possibility she was just, you know… fat?!
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No, I was already an EMT at the time, and I hope that I knew the difference. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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She had her reasons
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I’m sure she did. But there was no reason for bad manners. At least I didn’t think so at the time.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Fair enough….
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I have just remembered I went on the tube to Queen Charlottes for my anti-natal appointments with all my pregnancies ( always got a seat okay ) and actually went on the Piccadilly Line and District Line to go and have my daughter…
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It was on the District Line, going home to Wimbledon. She might well have come from Queen Charlotte’s. (Can’t tell you how many hundreds of times I have been to that hospital, Janet.)
Best wishes, Pete.
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One wonders why she shook her head in refusal. Warmest regards, Theo
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40 years later, I am obviously still wondering, Theo.
Best wishes, Pete.
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She could have at least said ‘It’s okay thanks’ – perhaps she had been sitting all day and wanted to stand! Now you can get badges to tell everyone you are pregnant in the early stages when you can feel just as tired and probably sick!
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I don’t know why, Janet, but 40 years later, her attitude still annoys me.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I loved the poem. Like they say no good dead goes unpunished.
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More a 40 year old memory than a poem, Molly. But I have never forgotten the moment when she shook her head and looked away.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I would have taken the seat when I was 8 months pregnant!
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Glad to hear that, Stevie. She stayed on for six more stops on the District Line too. This happened 40 years ago, and I only thought about it again today. At the time, I was quite miffed that she didn’t say anything.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I remember crushing my hand in a train door back in the 1970s. I still think of that now with a shudder.
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Those ‘slam-shut’ doors, as they were called? Dangerous indeed.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes. Awful. I hate riding on trains to this day – especially tube trains.
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That would be a strange reaction by a pregnant woman. I would have taken the seat. When we were on the underground, various people gave up their seats for my mom. They were very considerate.
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Back then, I always offered my seat to elderly people, male or female, also to women carrying babies, or anyone who was pregnant or disabled. She was one of the very few who declined, and even 40 years later, I remember it.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Which means, you never got to sit. I was always ended up standing on the Metro! 😁
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I suspect she declined your offer because it might have taken more effort to sit, then get up again when her stop was reached, Pete 😎
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That’s very possible, Chris. But she could have just said ‘No, I’m fine thanks’, or something similar. It must have got to me, as this was 40 years ago, on the District Line. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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You were kind and thoughtful, Pete. She may have had her reasons for wanting to stand but a kind and thoughtful reply was in order. Keep bothering.
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She could have said something, if only ‘no thank you’. She stood in front of me for the next six stations before she got off, making me feel very awkward. Mind you, it was 40 years ago, and I did keep bothering. These days, people offer ME a seat! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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She definitely should have acknowledged your kindness. I was always happy when someone offered me a seat on the bus! 😊
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It was a nice gesture. I have seen many pregnant ladies standing in Delhi Metro. They would have been glad for the offer. I offered everytime. Most people didn’t. Maybe she was having a moment where she didn’t want to feel weak, that she had to prove to herself that she can deal with this on her own…you never know. I’m glad you didn’t stop being the gentleman.
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Thanks, Shaily. I don’t know why those old memories pop into my head. But they do. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Because you are a gentleman.
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It is actually quite embarrassing when that offer is refused. Enough for me to still remember it some 40 years later. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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we remember what we need to – I believe – – sometimes, for me? a memory comes forth, just like this one and I wonder, “Why is this still bothering me??” – – sigh – usually, it is to be found both deep within me AND a more current event that ‘reminded’ me of the past thing – bothered me then, bothers me now – and bothers me bad enough – what the heck? WHY? It’s not like I’m married or related to or have to work daily with this person – – why do I care???” – the stuff I assess and dig up isn’t always pleasant, but usually, if assesed/addressed or acknowledged/let go of’ I end up not having to do as many ‘repeats’ of the angst – – LOL – – I am hedonistic in the fashion of “well, heck, don’t want to do that little exercise in self-examination thingee again or often” – LOL
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It is always unsettling when someone rebuffs our gestures of kindness. You should still be proud of your effort.
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