Conversations with Strangers: The Man on the Train

11Sep
by Cherryl

Just a few quick snippets from another conversation with a stranger…..  ☕️

The man on the train

The man on the seat next to me was determined to have a conversation, despite my headphones, he made me take them off four times during the journey, FOUR times 😆 🎧 apologising profusely each time and then proceeding to talk at length. 😊

He’s a rare one!

I’ll call him Chris.

Dad

He seemed like a lovely dad, Chris spoke about the many ways he’d been supporting his adult daughter, who had split from her seemingly manipulative “all talk no action” husband, who’d caused his daughter a great deal of trauma. Divorce was pending – Chris never thought much of his son-in-law from day one, and was proved right. 😔

Chris had stepped in and bought his daughter and son-in-law’s home from them, as they were struggling with the mortgage. Daughter and dad also wanted to avoid the son-in-law getting half the value of the house sale, when they finally divorced. 🏡

Chris had had quite an emotional day at a family event, he said what a miserable day it had been the day before and then compared it to today (at the time) and how lovely the sunshine was – which was true. The sun was glowing and the sunset building up was hard to ignore (and hard to take a decent picture of while the train was moving at top speed).

Talk turned to family, and that weird set up of only meeting certain relatives at family events and then – them not really being in your life at any other time and how making an effort is a two way street. It can’t just be you that always reaches out and they never bother.

Chris told me his wife had fully recovered from a very serious illness, thankfully. 🙏

Travel has always been Chris’s bag – he’d done 48 countries by age 48 and now wanted to do more to far exceed the number of his years. Chris had travelled alone and with his wife, he said his wife didn’t mind when he went off on adventures by himself.

Argentina was one of the next on his bucket list.

A free year of travel was also enjoyed by his daughter, courtesy of The Bank of Dad 😉

Hats off to all the great dads out there ✨💫

End Note

So, the man on the train turned out to be a proud and protective father in need of global adventures – and I’d say ‘oblivious’ to the unspoken and unfortunate norms of isolated self absorption when travelling on public transport…especially from big cities. I love this.

I hope there are more people like Chris around, who will dare to interrupt multiple times, and make you turn off your music, put down your book, pause that Netflix series and just have a good old fashioned human to human chat.

I’m not as daring as Chris – if you’re engrossed in something I’ll probably be the last person to interrupt unless it’s absolutely necessary 🙃

Images: Source

25 thoughts on “Conversations with Strangers: The Man on the Train”

  1. maristravels

    I love people talking to me on trains these days. Earlier, before I suffered from macular degeneration I used to hate it when people insisted on talking when I was trying to read! Now, I can’t read for long, or not at all some days, so a chatterer is just a perfect travelling companion. I suppose I should qualify that though, the quality of the conversation has some bearing on the enjoyment.

    Reply

  6. Ellie Thompson

    What a lovely post and an even lovelier story, Cherryl. I’m afraid I’m one of those people who strikes up a conversation with a stranger at a bus stop, although I would probably have respected that if you wore headphones, you didn’t want to be disturbed; least of all, by my chatter! When I travel by train, it saddens me to see everyone in a world of their own, heads down, and mostly tap tap tapping on their phones or having a loud phone conversation. Not that I’m guilt-free – I’ve been known to be glued to my phone on journeys, too, but wouldn’t hesitate to stop to have a good conversation with someone else if that person felt the same. Chris sounds like a charming man and a wonderful father, and I think it’s great that he travels so much. Good for you for engaging in conversation with him. You probably made his day. Sounds like he might have made yours, too. X 🦢💗😊

    Reply

  11. Patti Moore Wilson, wednesdayschild2

    I have always loved talks with strangers on a train. There is something about knowing you’ll likely never see one another again that frees you both to talk about anything and everything. I dream of taking the train across country one day and just writing about all the anonymous conversations I know I’ll have along the way. I loved this post! So glad you took off your headphones 🙏💕💕💕

    Reply

  13. Sheila Landry Designs

    What a lovely story! Not growing up with a father, I feel the girl is very fortunate. There are often times I see families (flawed as they may feel or be) and look at them with what some may refer to as envy, but what I prefer to think of as admiration. I sometimes wonder if they realize how blessed they are to have each other. Even to be able to not agree with a member of the family and know that you are still loved and cared for. It is something that many take for granted, I feel.

    I tend to be a ‘talker’ on a one-to-one basis. Not so much in groups. I like to hear about individuals and enjoy stories of their lives and families. We all have stories to tell. Once I was driving my daughter and friend from Chicago to here in Nova Scotia for a holiday and my daughter commented to me, “You talk to EVERYONE mom!” (she was about 17 then) I guess she was right. I tend to ask questions and share with others when in a new place.

    Your photo is beautiful. I really loved the post. Have a great week ahead. 🙂

    Reply

    1. Cherryl

      Like you I do wonder, well I think a lot of people probably do take their blessings for granted a lot of the time (unwittingly), especially if it’s always been like that and they’ve never experienced the lack of. This man’s daughter is extremely blessed to have such a devoted dad – and one in a position to offer that much financial support.💫

      Lol your daughter…’EVERYONE’ (not a bad thing though – you never know what interesting people you might get talking to).

      Have a great week ahead too 🔆

      Reply

Leave a Reply