I’m up for a chat on the tube

Looking on the bright side of things for moment, there are some people willing to actively do their part to make our society just that little bit less fractured, just that little bit friendlier.

I am thinking specifically about Team Nice, the people handing out “Niceties Tokens" to London commuters they spot being polite to other people on public transport.

I am also thinking about the folks behind the “I’m up for a chat on the tube” campaign which involves wearing a “I’m up for a chat on the tube” badge and presumably engaging in cheerfully pointless dialogue with any stranger who consequently talks to you.




However tempting it might be to sport a “I’m up for a chat on the tube” badge then telling anyone who tries to strike up a conversation with you to fuck off, it would be churlish and small-minded to be overly cynical about these campaigns. The people behind them mean well, even if their efforts are supremely lame and destined to fizzle out and die a slow, quiet death.

Of course, I could be wrong and these ‘be nice to people’ badges and tokens could take off in a big way.

At which point everyone will want a badge and people will be throttling each other to grab hold of one to sell on ebay, as per the anti-bullying wristband fiasco a couple of years back.

Ah well, so much for my attempt at looking at the bright side of things.

I tried

Maybe it’s something to do with the weather…