Rude London

We're always talking about the "youth of today" and how they have no respect. But, do you know what ? The adults need a few lessons in politeness too.

Here's my point...yesterday I was waiting patiently to get on the tube, laden down with some rather heavy bags, when a man came from nowhere and barged right in front of me to make doubly sure he bagged the only free seat in the carriage. There was no one else waiting yet he practically trod on my toes and nearly made me drop my bag in the process. Clearly chivalry IS dead.

(Maybe I should point out here that I don't expect that just because I'm a woman you boys should be tripping over yourselves to offer me a place to rest my weary limbs. Not at all, I can queue, and I can stand with the best of them. But was it entirely necessary to be quite so obnoxious about it?)

Last week I got on a packed tube to see a little old lady, probably in her late 70s, clinging on to a pole for dear life as the train sped into central London. By the looks of her she'd been standing there a while, yet none of the other passengers (all of whom were perfectly capable of standing) had offered her a seat. She stayed standing there for at least another 10 minutes, before we got to her stop and she got off.

And then there was the mum struggling to get her buggy and child down two flights of stairs. Before I got to her five people, all of them well over the age of 18, walked straight past, pretending not to have noticed.

Just a few random examples, believe me I could offer up many more, but I think you get my gist.

London living clearly makes us all (or at least a lot of us) a little bit rude....and I do count myself in that. According to a friend who came up to stay recently, I've developed a tendency to quite savagely cut up slow walking, distracted tourists and shoppers on Oxford Street.

Yes London's busy, yes London's non-stop and yes there are a lot of us living here all dashing to get somewhere, all the time. But maybe if we were all a little less bolshy and a little more nice about it London would be the amazing place we all know it can be and not the frustrating nightmare it sometimes seems to be, particularly at rush hour.

So how about some group hugs on the underground ? how about joyful skipping around the west end ? and I dare you to flash everyone you walk past with a big toothy smile !

Ok, maybe not. All of that, or indeed any of that is likely to get you arrested, But how about a little consideration of your or rather OUR fellow Londoners occasionally ? If it catches on you may just emerge from the tube with a smile rather than that grimace.