The Baillie Bugle

Grumble, grumble, grumble 2...

That last one was a bit political, and politics have been getting everywhere they're not supposed to be recently (like sand when you're at the beach) so that's enough of that.

This grumble is about people in general.
And one in particular.

OK - last week a young lad was travelling on the Victoria Line (London) and realised that he had left his mobile phone on a seat on the platform he'd boarded from. Being young, and full of beans he pulled the alarm cord, hoping that the driver could help him retrieve it before some bugger ran off with it and sold it on the high street for the price of a bag of smack.

It took half an hour for normal service to be restored to the line, and an estimated 200,000 people suffered disruption to their journey home as a result.

OK - I'm not complaining about the boy. Youth's folly and all that.
What happened in the wake was interesting though. Among the furious passengers to break their silence to the press were the following:
A young shop worker called Daisy who said 'People who disrupt the system should face a heavy fine'
Yup - I can buy that one...
Also, a 34 year old engineer from Manchester called Stewart, who said (although I'm sure it was more of a shout) 'It is selfish, stupid and downright dangerous behaviour'. Again, so far so good - tensions running high and all that. He continues: 'If I could find the culprit, I would look at the possibility of taking out a private prosecution'.

Let's put this in perspective.
The line was back to normal in thirty minutes. At worst this train must have been back on the move in fifteen.
What on Earth does this Mancunian engineer think he would have done with those fifteen minutes that would warrant bothering our already overloaded courts with? How much does he think his fifteen minutes are worth?
Does he think he's missed out on his promised Warholian fame, and want to sue for lost millions?

Can you imagine if each of the 200,000 sued the poor lad?
He'd be in almost as much debt as if he were to go to University from a working class family.

Grumble over.