The Rain Falls on the Just

Walking into Kew Bridge this evening – doing my famous drowned rat impression – I could hear my train being announced just as I was coming onto the platform and I watched the waiting passengers emerge from under what little shelter there is and put up their umbrellas. It struck me then that – just as a matter of common courtesy – those passengers who are fortunate and/or far-sighted enough to have umbrellas, might want to actually use them, and leave the few dry spots to those of us that don’t. No?

Of course, it would be an entirely uncommon courtesy for those passengers who have umbrellas to offer to share their shelter with those of us who don’t – although it has happened to me once in the past, and in Hackney too. I’m not sure, but I think our society would have to be very different before that became a regular occurrence. But it would have been rather welcome this evening…