Jon WorthI’m at Landry station in the French alps. And today is the last bit of research for… errr… #CrossChannelRail 😀
I’m off to Albertville then Moûtiers*
* - Moûtiers Salins Les Thermes Brides Les Bains Plomblière St Marcel
Today’s #CrossChannelRail tickets booked with @12train (as it’s much better than SNCF Connect)
But sorry @jeanbaptistemarie I fear I broke your look-to-book ratio as I couldn’t work out how I was supposed to do this trip (today and Friday)
At Moûtiers a load of people with huge suitcases board
And it’s an old high floor Corail train with narrow vestibules
Everyone just stands there while bags clog everything up, until I lent a hand to help people shift bags
I find French passengers weird with this. In Germany I reckon more people are ready to help fellow passengers
And it helps! There’s a better chance of departing on time!
Violet
Oliver Blanthorn@jon I feel like France has something of a bystander culture in general
I see the same behaviour around people trying to get heavy bags/prams up and down staircases
Occasionally people try to tell me off for helping tourists with their tickets at the ticket barriers
Yes, the world is shit and badly governed, but you can make the little 10 metre radius around yourself a little bit better with the tiniest modicum of effort
meduz'@bovine3dom @jon South Belgium (Wallonia) and Brussels are similar for this, but with nuances:
- old ladies are generally very grateful when I propose to help with their bags/luggages (in the train or the street)
- other ladies (including tourists and travelers) probably think I'm trying to rob or rape them; some old ladies too, but rarely : the fact I'm a man and/or not white is certainly an aggraving factor
- men generally say no, but it's mostly women who are struggling with luggages
- old ladies are generally very grateful when I propose to help with their bags/luggages (in the train or the street)
- other ladies (including tourists and travelers) probably think I'm trying to rob or rape them; some old ladies too, but rarely : the fact I'm a man and/or not white is certainly an aggraving factor
- men generally say no, but it's mostly women who are struggling with luggages
@meduz @bovine3dom this is so sad 😢
And while I’m an able bodied white guy I need a hand too sometimes (as the folding bike is large). It is seldom offered!
Tom Tom@jon @meduz @bovine3dom I was quite surprised when I went to Paris with a baby in a buggy to always find someone spontaneously offering their help to get thru the zillion stairs of the metro.
I was all the more surprised that my own previous experience was that Parisians would rather walk over you than around you.
My 80+ mum also always find people helping with her luggage.
I guess when you look really helpless people will help but otherwise you can die on the pavement. None will move.