i realise this post is way old (am flicking through your archives after reading your essay in dooce's book) but i live in london and everyone is like that here. city guys are the worst, sitting in their suits with their legs spread wide (to leave room for their massive balls, i guess?) but i have seen maybe two people ever offer anyone a seat. i regularly travel with my 91 year old grandmother, noone moves. i saw a blind man get on the tube the other day and have to loudly ask in order to shame people into getting up and giving him a seat. and i find myself becoming angry and aggressive and selfish when i spend too much time on public transport at rush hour. cities can make people ugly.
I gave my seat up to an 8th month pregnant lady on a bus in Montreal once who said ppl were pretty much jerks about not even looking at her. I was shocked because it seemed like such a no-brainer, although people would give up seats to me when I was on crutches. I understand zoning out on the bus but she'd gotten all the way to back of the bus where everybody was noticeably ignoring her plight.
Commenting by HaloScan
