February 17, 2005
The Snorer from Hell
I've written about anti-social habits on trains before.
As I write this, the entire population of the train carriage that I'm travelling on cannot help but be distracted by a persistent, unbelievably enormous, loud snoring sound, repeating - as snores tend to do - ad infinitum. Every now and again I am tempted to think it has stopped but it is always a false cessation; when the racket resumes it invariably sounds even more tortuous.
As I said, it is UNBELIEVABLY LOUD!!!
Thankfully the train has just emerged from the Woy Woy tunnel and in a few minutes I'll be alighting at Gosford station.
I thought people talking on mobile phones were annoying. Unforgivable too. Unlike the snorer in my midst, at least they can choose to be considerate. So part of me is almost prepared to forgive the snorer.
However, despite the fact that snorers tend to be blissfully unaware of the embarrassing noise they are making, I'm finding it hard to excuse this bloke. Did I mention how loud he is?
Then again, I guess I should consider that I often have a snooze on the train. Mmm... I wonder if I ever embarrass myself noisily in my slumber?
Posted to Personal by Keith PittyI've asked people to talk more quietly before. It was an early train and two young blokes were waking up the half-a-carriage that was asleep.
What really gets to me, though, is the supersonic sneezer. Some are so loud that they hurt my eardrums.
Posted by: Alan Green at February 18, 2005 10:29 AMThat sort of intrusive noise is really a major pollution problem in any public environment and really adds to the stress of commuting.
Barbara Pachter defines a "cell phone jerk" as "a cell phone jerk is somebody who is totally oblivious to how their use of their cell phone is affecting others. There often people who are screaming into their cell phones"
She's written a book of horror stories called "The Jerk with the Cell Phone: A Survival Guide for the Rest of Us" (with Susan Magee, author site http://www.jerkwiththecellphone.com/).
BTW when it becomes too intrusive she recommends exactly the approach that Alan took with the two young blokes.
However this doesn't help dealing with another group of inconsiderate/scary users - drivers of 4WD vehicles talking on mobile phones (without handsfree)!
Also not sure what you can do with those who are fast asleep - (though with such a loud snore you'd think he might have got some feedback when staying in hotels or from his partner/family - and hence try to avoid inflicting it on others).
Very loud snoring is strongly associated with sleep disorders (the feature story on Sunday this am was on exactly this problem) so it is something you'd hope he had get checked out.
It also makes me think of our need for the healing properties of silence!
Robert
Posted by: Robert Urquhart at February 20, 2005 2:15 PM