When That Main Character Energy Isn’t Main Enough

I’ve recently had surgery to put in a transcutaneous hearing aid. A little vibrating device was screwed into my skull and in a few weeks a hearing aid will attach via a magnet.

I was taking the train to the central London hospital for my suture removal. I’m sitting in the priority seat (for elderly, disabled, and less able to stand) as I’m still a bit wobbly and the moving train makes me dizzy. For some completely unknown reason, I seemed to be on the Pensioner Express today – a colloquialism for a train that has a much larger proportion of elderly people on it than usual, which means not many people are capable of giving up their seat.

I was on the aisle seat of the table, the aisle on my left, and my head wound was on my right.

A woman got onto the train who was pregnant but not extremely heavily. I’ve had children myself and understand that pregnancy can be debilitating at any stage, however, the following happened.

Woman: *To me.* “Move. I need to sit down.”

Me: “‘Excuse me’ works! But I need this seat.”

Woman: “I’m pregnant and this is a priority seat.”

Me: “Yes, this is a priority seat. Which I need. Ask somebody else to move, or go and find a seat further down the carriage.”

She actually went to slap me, which I mercifully blocked. As she went to find the train guard, the lady next to me saw my head full of stitches and smiles at me. The pregnant lady comes back with the guard screaming about how I HAVE to move because I am sitting in a priority seat. When I explained to the guard that I needed the seat and I did not have to provide a reason as per the law, he agreed with me. He also pointed out that she’d gone past about four empty seats to find him.

I was already starting to read my book at this point, bored, but the lady next to me informed the guard that not only had she been rude and was trying to prove a point, but she’d also attacked me.

The lady was kicked off the train.