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I am now Reading LJ Again, unless further brain-breakage happens, but I am totally not even going to TRY to catch up on months of not-reading. So, uh. Don't assume I've read anything, ever, at all.
Had what I deeply, deeply hope is the last required-by-the-insurance-people medical appointment this morning - agonising as usual, but my brother-not-law Chas accompanied me and was very supportive.
On the way back, traversing the city on a stupidly hot morning, I counterspelled an old dude on the train who was casting Misogynistic Asshole Smackdown at a woman and her young (well-behaved) children.
We boarded at Subiaco, and I, being shaky due to pain etc, took one of the handful of free seats. The small girl who had been on it moved to share a seat with her slightly-less-small sister to make room for me; her sister protested, but was quieted by her mother, who pointed out that the first girl had been making room for the lady. All well and good, the mother proceeded to chat quietly with the girls about their plans for lunch in town.
Now, while all this was going on, I had glanced askance once at the old dude who was sitting on the Priority Seats near the door - two of them. He'd taken his sandals off and left them on the floor and was sitting sideways, legs across the seat. So it's worth noting that I'd already tagged him an ass in my head and debated whether I should say something before deciding against.
Then Old Dude put his shoes back on, stood, and walked over to the mother sitting two seats from me (the one between us occupied by her daughters, one standing leaning against the back of the seat, the other sitting in front of her).
Text will not convey the huffy, self-important way he talked - it had this weird misogynistic vibe, a kind of I Am Man And Therefore More Important And Right Than You attitude that I wondered if I imagined until Chas confirmed he picked up on it too.
Old Dude: You should know, it is very offensive to other passengers when your children put their shoes on the seats, and -
Mother: *deer in headlights look of surprise and dawning humiliation*
Me, cutting him off: It's also problematic when one person takes up two priority seats.
Old Dude: I think, because of my injury, I am entitled.
(He indicates his leg, which has a fairly bad, but also very old, scar.
Me: You could sit straight, and take only one seat.
Old Dude: *stares, then returns silently to his seat; still sits sideways, taking both seats, but does not speak until we arrive at Perth, whereupon he leaves the train hastily*
The mother thanked me twice - immediately he sat down, and again as we were all getting off at Perth, her demeanour smiling and relieved.
See, I can sort of see why someone *could* object to that, although really, when it comes to small children on trains, if they're quiet and staying on one seat, I personally don't care if they're standing on it - which they have to do if they want to see out the windows, a goal I cannot fault. I generally assume that all surfaces on public transport vehicles have been subject to all kinds of grubbiness, and children's shoes will not make it worse.
However, two points must be considered:
a) people who take up two priority seats are living in glass houses, especially when there is an elderly gentleman in the same carriage wearing a knee brace and walking with a cane who had to sit in one of the non-priority seats, further from the door, and therefore should not cast stones at mothers in the presence of their small daughters
and
b) if you have a valid point to make, you should do so in ways that aren't going to make people feel bad, if possible, and he was totally being a dick.
So he deserved the relatively polite smackdown I gave him.
It's not the first time I've reacted to someone being a jerk on the train (the first time it was a mildly drunk dude being racist), but it was entertainingly quick to resolve. The guy is clearly one of those bully types who can't handle it when someone stands up to them (especially a woman).
I do, though, recommend intervening when you see someone being a jerk to someone else. Customers being mean to shop assistants especially - remember that they can't say anything for fear of getting fired, and you can say what you want. (And the shop assistants will love you for it.)
It costs you nothing, and just for a moment, you feel like you were someone's hero. It rocks.Current Location: Destiny; kitchen table Current Music: the air conditioning
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An Australian SAS trooper has been awarded the Victoria Cross.
As the convoy withdrew, the Taliban opened fire. Major General McOwan said soldiers reacted without concern for their own safety.
One, identified only as Trooper F at the time, but now known to be Trooper Donaldson, deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire on several occasions to draw attention away from the wounded.
He then saw that a severely wounded Afghan interpreter had fallen from a vehicle and was lying on open ground raked by machine gun fire.
"Without prompting, and without regard to his own safety, Trooper F ran back to recover the wounded Afghan," the major general said.
"He ran across about 80 metres of fire-swept and exposed ground, drawing intense and accurate machine-gun fire from the entrenched enemy positions."
Still under fire, he lifted the wounded man onto his shoulders and carried him back to the convoy's vehicles. He administered first aid and then returned to the fight.
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