The Quiet Car

People are not quiet. Septa seems to have ignored this incontrovertible fact when it implemented the "quiet car" program.

This morning I forgot my I-pod. Normally, I get on the train, plug my ears, and contentedly sit and knit in my own little universe. Today, I had to settle in and knit without the accompaniment of Bruce, or Pink Floyd, or knitting podcasts.

I didn't think it would be bad. I was on the quiet car, after all. But as I sat, enjoying the lack of cell phones and earplug bleed, I realized how noisy people are.

There was the man who sniffed every few seconds. Allergies, maybe? The woman who was ticking away on her I-pod or I-phone. Perhaps she doesn't realize you can turn off those damn clicks? The man with the pen. Click open; click shut; click open; click shut; . . . A very noisy coat, a crinkly bag, a tapping shoe, cough, tap, rustle, sniffle, sneeze . . .

And my knitting needles, clicking away, contentedly ignoring the rest.

So much for the quiet car.