Tuesday 5 December 2006

The Day a Stranger Asked Me Out (on the train)

I read a little piece on the Internet that reminded me of a rather startling train encounter I once had.

One man has written to some variety of Agony Aunt, in the form of Auntie Yahoo in this case.

He writes:
What can you say to a girl on a train?
im in london and every day i get the tube to work or wherever..but i always seem to see pretty girls on the train..they look at me i look at them, but never know what to say..then i or she gets off and i never see her again!! what can i say with out looking stupid, or freaking her out?


I don’t truly think about this sort of thing on the train. I mean, I simply fall asleep, or sit there and read. Or think. Predominantly, I think. About things in my life. From time to time, I observe a handsome man here or there. But mostly not.

But this summer, I was taking the train into London and a strange thing happened. As I disembarked at Waterloo station, a man in a suit let me pass before him when queuing to get off the train. He then walked beside me as we all strolled/marched (*delete as applicable depending on whether you are late or not) down the platform towards the barrier. The bottleneck began and we had to slow down to a more leisurely pace as the mass of people got denser.

He turned to me and said,

“This is going to sound a bit strange, but can I have your number please?”

I was verging on the dense here. I think I knew what he might be getting at, but didn’t dare assume that would be the case. So I asked,

“Why?”

The poor guy. He most likely hadn’t realised he had selected someone who would insist on him spelling out his every objective. He looked a little flustered.

“Oh, well, because I think you are really attractive and I’d like to go for a drink.”

Wow! That doesn’t happen?! So, I said,

“No, sorry, you can’t have my number.”

I think I tried to smile to alleviate the blow. I mean, I do have a boyfriend after all.

“No worries.”
Said he. And we parted company.

Easy.

I wondered to myself, ‘he is extremely courageous to ask outright for my number.’ I felt some sort of admiration for him kick in. I would never have the nerve (and neither the inclination to be honest) to do something like that.

And then, the other side of the coin presented itself to me.

‘Hang on,’ I thought, ‘if he asked me out and has taken the rejection so effortlessly, how many times does he do that? Every day does he pick out some unsuspecting female in the hope that, by asking many, one just might be audacious enough and, most importantly, single, and say yes? In fact, I’m not special at all. He does that everyday!”

It did give me a slight spring in my stride it has to be said. Coupled with the fact that I was on my way back to London having being offered a new job. Well, that made for a good day.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I talk to men on trains but only when drunk... As a rule I believe that talking and trains are a terrible combination...

But, that said, men are easier to talk to than women. I never asked anyone out on a train - nor vice versa. I borrowed a man's mobile once and now we are friends and sometimes go for walks in the park together.

Does this make me weird?! :)

Girl on A Train said...

I agree. Talking on trains is potentially dangerous. One bad choice and you are stuck with them for the rest of the journey.

Easier when drunk and you can feign falling asleep or something!

Anonymous said...

True Talking and Trains do not go together. Mind you I feel for you considering I actually work for a train company!!!
TheTicketCollector.co.uk

The Desert Tess said...

I found that talking to men on trains was a tad risky. Once I responded and began a conversation (at the start of the journey), I find it really hard to end it without being rude. And it is made more difficult when talking is a sign of encouragement when you are not actually interested.

Being friendly on trains is a dangerous game. Headphones and a book is less social but much easier.

Girl on A Train said...

Talking on the trains is not so good. Talking on the tube is slightly strange as you have to shout over the noise of the tube. At least the journey isn't going to be too long though!

Anonymous said...

Sad as it may seem one of my ex Boss'es was a complete womaniser who used the same tactic. To him, asking a woman if she wanted a drink, or asking for their number was about as scary as asking someone what time it was. He explained it to me as 'a numbers game' and that if you asked enough people one would say yes. To my knowledge it only worked once, and she was horriby, horribly drunk.

Anonymous said...

Model Commuter,

"if you asked enough people one would say yes. To my knowledge it only worked once, and she was horriby, horribly drunk."

Q.E.D.