It's not the overcrowding I mind. Nor the unsolicited encounters, like my recent one with an elderly tramp at the bus stop. His request was simple.

Would I join him for dinner? There was no mention of who might pay, but he took care to stress that there would be "no strings attached".

No, what I would like to see addressed is the disturbing matter of passengers who use the public space for private behaviour. I've sat in crowded buses or train carriages next to someone who filed her nails, another who clipped her nails and yet another who tweezed her eyebrows.

Mobiles and iPods are blamed for making us think we live in a bubble, unheard by fellow commuters. I'm worried how far people are going to take the egocentric view that they cannot be seen, either. I should be grateful that I have yet to encounter a gentleman shaving on the platform.

Unfortunately, somebody had to share the same carriage as those kids who 'did it' on the Dart. . .