Really great day following our friend's daughter in the London Marathon (she was running and we were by tube, overground & DLR).
Huge respect to every runner, every volunteer, the City of London and its workers, the rail companies and anyone else who contributed, for an amazing effort today - great atmosphere, great day for London, great day for the UK and, greatest of all, the hugely successful charity effort.
As a child who was brought up being shown the importance of good manners and how to behave, only three negative observations today:
1) Holding the door open for the person(s) behind you in a public place - some bloke stormed through an exit door at one of the tube stations and it slammed into a young child behind him. Enough said?
2) People sneezing and coughing in crowded areas without covering their mouth - a horrible habit, clearly on the increase.
3) On the tube back to Mile End, I was standing in the crowded carriage with my Mrs but just down the way was a female Marathon runner standing with the foil blanket around her looking totally knackered (surprise, surprise!). Two blokes sitting down by her and neither offered her their seat - beggars belief!
Anyway, minor rant aside, a very special day and proud to be British!
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Most of the manners and courtesy thing was school driven so it's a real shame if they no longer push it.
It happened to my wife when we lived in Stockport and that was 27 years ago.
My wife was heavily pregnant, we were leaving a very busy M & S when some f*ckwit bloke didn't hold the heavy exit door for her and it slammed into her. We'd got separated so I couldn't get there in time.
I let him know my feelings but he just gave me a blank look - and this was before the influx of Europeans and refugees so he was likely British and understood me.
Time to start a campaign to bring back manners!
I won't bother as it's a futile exercise.
I stopped getting on tubes with my Mrs after a proper loonie started acting up on our way home from finding out that ivf had at that point been successful (it wasn't in the end but we were blessed not long after so all good) and this fella started being quite intimidating and acting very aggressive to all on the carriage, you go into fight or flight mode, but I was very conscious that, I had a limited space or option to deal with this crank and we were between stops, fortunately for me a builder also had the same thoughts and let's say that this crank was dealt with and removed at the next station by the two of us, at this point unless travelling alone the under ground network is not somewhere I feel safe for my family, it is just as easy and not that much more expensive to drive in and find a parking location
The Tories will give it back in a rebate, the libs will offer free tuition to help re educate and ukip will take any their polystyrene cup and their accordion
So thanks to anyone out there. I imagine your hands and voices hurt as much as my legs do this morning.
I agree with what you say, Seth but we must never give up and such things can be changed at core level - if there is a will to do so.
Our friend's daughter said the same - the public spurred her on big time and glad we were there as spectators because the atmosphere was special and no TV channel could possibly get the full benefit of that atmosphere across to the viewers.
Well done to you and you should (and sure you are) be very proud - enjoy the memories and what you have achieved.
I agree about perseverance but I also think parents ought not to think the inculcation of good manners and behaviour is down to the schools.
Schools can do so much but without parental support their influence is inevitably limited.
I do have to say, as one taught to hold doors open for women and those older and or less able, that in my experience an increasing number of people walk through as if I am Claude Rains without the bandages.
The words please and thank you no longer seem to exist.
If anyone walks through and fails to thank me, I say thank you to them in a sarcastic manner, so that most know they should have thanked me. Of course there are many that are so ignorant that they don't understand that I am being sarcastic.
Why should a child who is probably more tired after a day walking around London than a healthy adult give up there seat for said healthy adult? W
Why should they have to sit on their parents lap? Their parent will have paid for their space on the train so is just as due a seat as the next person. Maybe the Parent could stand next to the seat upon which the child sits?
If it were a teen or a healthy adult taking up a seat it's fair enough they should stand and offer their place to a small child, elderly, pregnant or infirm.
(No fatties I'm not saying you get to keep a seat either over those listed somehow I count you as a healthy adult... a food baby doesn't make you pregnant.)
My principal point is that the main people responsible for teaching children good manners are their parents, not teachers.
I am fortunate enough to work in and visit a lot of schools. Please do not think that schools do not teach or encourage manners. In many places we insist on it and if you were to visit you would hear many examples of 'thank you,' 'please' and 'you're welcome.'
The same standards of many children are not expected at home and some parents display little manners themselves. Rest assured it is a high priority in schools to not just educate young people but make them rounded, well mannered and positive members of society. Of course this doesn't mean all of them show it or remember it once they are in groups of friends or out and about in public.
It is always interesting to take a trip on public transport with a group of teenagers and see just who is better behaved. Nine times out of ten it is the 14 and 15 year olds; those who constantly get a bad press, who are better citizens.
Out of interest what were the approximate ages of those who offended you on Sunday. School age or adults?
I seriously and ashamedly had this strange vision that modern schools were now places of laissez-faire management and softly, softly discipline - where political correctness had overpowered the system.
I'm not suggesting a return to the discipline of the 70's - a blend of the cane, the slipper, Saturday morning detentions and, at worst, the wooden blackboard wiper being hurled across the room by the angered Maths master and, fortunately, missing the head of the target by millimetres!
Our own kids are polite, courteous, considerate to others and always say please or thank you. We brought them up using the adage, "Treat others as you would expect to be treated yourself."
I must try the same myself sometime
Incidentally, I'm in my 50's now and a seat become available on the tube yesterday (my wife was already seated at this point) and I instinctively offered the seat to a young lady who was standing nearby - she declined but appreciated the gesture.
Before I had chance to claim the seat for myself, a lad of about 19 had nipped in and taken it - snooze, you lose, I guess!
The approximate age of the offenders:
Door slam on kid behind - mid-twenties male.
Sneezing and coughing without hand over mouth - most people of most ages.
Seat on train not offered to female Marathon runner - late teens/early twenties- males.
- With a young child
- Elderly
- Wearing a "Baby on Board" badge. Don't want a slap of a plump lady if she thinks I'm only offering her the seat cause she's Pregnant not that she has a muffin top instead.