Why did no one tell them to stop?
RECENTLY, my friend and I were returning to South Shields from Newcastle on the Metro, when several schoolchildren boarded at Chichester.
Once they boarded, they lit up their cigarettes. They blew smoke in our direction, and said: "Look, we're smoking on the Metro."
One of the boys started acting like a chimp and swung himself about on the hand rails. Through this entire performance, he was laughing out loud.
None of the other passengers made a comment. All of them sat quietly until we finally arrived at South Shields.
When the train stopped and doors opened, the girls who were smoking left the train saying to those waiting on the platform: "We're smoking on the train and you can't do a thing."
Some of those on the platform were very surprised, but not half as much as the passengers on the Metro while they were doing all this.
At one point, the girls came right behind where I was sitting and opened the window to flick the ashes off their cigarette.
The people who had been sitting in the two seats behind us vacated them and moved up to the other end of the carriage.
They made this move as soon as the children got on with their cigarettes and started their antics.
Unfortunately, I continued sitting where I was, thinking they would be putting the cigarettes out and it would be OK.
They didn't though. They continued from the time they boarded the Metro until they got off.
Is this the way schools and parents bring up children today, where adults are too concerned to say anything and would rather move away to a safer location than to even speak to the pupils about their behaviour?
What guidelines should one follow in this situation, when on public transport?
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
