Lady with a Lapdog (with apologies to Anton Chekhov)

For many of you, the routine of the cramped commute to and from work will be a familiar experience. Now and again, if you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself seated, whilst those less fortunate cram into the aisles and steady themselves as best they can. Considering the tightly packed and often uncomfortably warm conditions on such services, passengers generally treat their fellows with respect and consideration, although on occasion tempers can flair when those of a tetchy disposition give vent to their dissatisfaction. Thus it was one night last week that the following incident took place on a train about to embark upon its regular journey, linking a number of our northern towns.

The service was busy, and all seats were taken. Some faces were familiar, others not so, and most people had settled down into their early evening routine of texting, surfing the net, listening to music, and amongst other things, staring vacantly into space. A number of people were even engaged in that now seemingly quaintly old-fashioned but agreeable pastime of reading a book in its physical form. For a change, nobody within earshot was speaking at volume into their mobile phone about familial minutiae, their health ailments or pretending to broker an important work deal. All in all, it was a quiet evening, or so it seemed until a voice exploded against the shuffling, sneezing, page-rustling backdrop. I turned my head. Dozens of pairs of ears pricked up.

“Do you mind?!”

“I’m sorry?”

“Get your dog away from me!”

“He’s alright.”

“Get it away from me!”

“He doesn’t bite.”

“Get it away from me! Get it away! It’s dirty!”

I saw an angry face framed in black, eyes glowering with disgust, glaring towards a woman in late middle age, clutching a small and perfectly harmless dog; evidently, her much-loved pet, but regarded by the indignant black-cloaked figure with as much affection as a witchfinder would have possessed for a solitary old woman’s ‘familiar’. The dog had not touched the scowling woman in black, and neither had it breathed upon her. Its mere proximity was sufficient to prompt the outpourings of an intolerant religious zealot; a scriptural literalist revelling in her power to impose her bigoted opinions without fear of challenge because of her ‘minority’ status. What an ugly scene this was.

The lady with the lapdog, clearly upset, moved away, carrying her pet back into a more crowded part of the train, whilst the woman in black sat and scowled. She scowls still, for she is a regular on this service, and her character and cast of mind appear not to be of a sunny disposition. It is owing to this shameful behaviour that her picture, taken moments after the outburst described, has been posted below. The attitudes displayed by the woman in black and the aggressively assertive manner in which they were expressed, are at one with those found in a video entitled ‘Muslim Patrol’ created by some of her co-religionists in London, which portrays a group of intimidating vigilantes seeking to impose Islamic law one Saturday night. It seems that Anjem Choudary’s group was behind this, for one of the voices on the video very closely resembles his. Youtube removed this video, declaring that it had sought to ‘harass, bully or threaten’. However, it can still be viewed on The Daily Mail website here. 

"Get it away from me!" Islamist bigotry on the evening commute.

 

A Wharfedale Oddity: 'Tents will be shifted'

Given that there isn't a great deal in the news that would currently raise a smile, I thought that readers might appreciate this snap that I took the other year whilst out for a stroll in the Yorkshire Dales. The sign affixed to the tree is perhaps the oddest that I have stumbled upon, situated as it is in a place where few campers, presumably, would wish to pitch their tents unless they happened to be adept at aqua camping (although come to think of it, the potential pitch displayed in the picture is little wetter than many campsites must have been during the 'summer' that we recently endured). Given the proclivity of many people to engage in extreme pastimes these days, there could indeed be such a thing as aqua camping, but I have not yet seen it mentioned elsewhere.

The phraseology employed in the sign seems to capture perfectly the grumpiness of the local Yorkshire farmer, aggrieved at tourists pitching camp at the water's edge without making a suitable donation to his purse. 'Tents will be shifted' it gruffly states, but what of their occupants? Would they be bound for an involuntary dunking? "Aye! 'Appen!"

Wharfedale's scenic grumpiness: 'Tents will be shifted'

Flooding disrupts Yorkshire road and rail

A little under two weeks since Yorkshire last suffered significant flooding, heavy rain has once again brought disruption to the county's road and rail network. Rail services have been disrupted between Sheffield and Leeds, with flooding in the Outwood area of Doncaster causing delays. On the Calderdale route between Leeds and Manchester, flooding near Walsden has led to the introduction of a replacement bus service to shuttle passengers between stations.

A number of roads have also been affected by flooding, with the Rotherham Advertiser reporting that Station Road in Wath has been closed, and also listing a number of other routes that have been closed or disrupted by flash flooding, including the A630 at a number of locations. As of 17:55, the Environment Agency had issued 36 flood warnings for its Northeast region which includes Yorkshire. Currently, much of the county - South Yorkshire in particular - is enjoying a respite from the rain, and the worst for many may be over for today, although parts of North Yorkshire appear set to endure more heavy rain this evening. The focus of flooding concern now switches to the West Country, which looks set to bear the brunt of the rainfall this evening and overnight. Some thunderstorms are expected across Yorkshire tomorrow, and more rain for all is forecast for the coming the week. When will it stop? The Met Office long-term forecast is equivocal, offering no opinion as to whether the latter part of the month and the remainder of the summer will bring more of the same, or some much-needed dry weather and warmth.

To date, the flooding has not been as bad as during the summer of 2007, and hopefully it will stay that way. Residents of Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge will certainly be anxious to avoid a repeat of their recent experience of flooding, but will the rain abate in time?