The trains have been pretty crowded in the past week or two. My understanding is that government and unions are still squabbling ("We want this!" "Well you can’t have it!" "Can!" "Can’t!" "Can!" "Can’t!"…) and there’s some bans over train repairs so a bunch get cancelled every peak hour instead of getting repaired. The guys at the stations have even got sick of announcing that the "xxx service will not run due to a defective train".
So when the train does arrive we’re all squashed in like a bulk pack of sardines in a normal sized tin. It’s like one of those scenes from Japan, except there’s no guys in white gloves to push everybody in. Of course, there’s a good side… you get to bond with your fellow man. Whether you like it or not. Thankfully it’s winter. Not only do trains break down more in summer, but I suspect the pong from the sardines would be too much to bear.
