Last week, I was on the tube on the way to a pretty important evening meeting.
I was due to give a presentation to the steering committee of a Londonwide assocation, possibly changing the direction of the assocation. My head was full of bumph and details and how to handle the various personalities on the committee and their conflicts with each other.
Got on the tube, sat down. Couple of stations later, the train gets pretty full. Evening rush hour, people are tired.
A Muslim woman gets on and stands right in front of me. Her stomach happens to be on my eye-level. I carry on my pondering, while at the same time idly staring at her tummy a few inches from my eyes.
Maybe my mouth is a bit slack. I'm lost in thought for several stations. Part of my mind is idly contemplating the rather eye-catchingly nice
pattern of the fabric on her belly.
Another group of brain cells notice that there's something
odd about her tummy. A few more station stops pass.
Hmm, maybe she's rather fat. There's something kinda
bumpy about it. I can't avoid noticing as it's right there in front of my eyes. I try to work out this
strangeness, while at the same time thinking about my presentation.
Another stop passes. The older woman next to me glares at me rather disturbingly and gets up.
What have I done??
She offers her seat to the muslim woman.
My mind snaps back to reality -
OMG
- I just spent the last 10 stops staring at this
obviously heavily pregnant woman's belly while apparently refusing to give her my seat!
I'm so embarassed!
I panic and duck into the crowd, hiding at the other end of the carriage, knowing people are glaring at my rudeness. And me with my posh suit on too... I must seem like some rich tosser yoof...
So I'd like to apologise to that poor lady, if she happens to be reading MR at the moment.
When my partner was pregnant and we were on the tube, I got really steamed up over selfish b'stards who wouldn't give her their seat, and now I've gone and done the exact same thing. Smacks myself.