So I spend a lot of time on the bus...

I know this is yet another in a series of bus themed postings, but I do not care! After being back in DC, briefly, I have my confirmation of something I had noticed was different about the bus-riding habits of Londoners versus those I knew before. That is this: people riding the bus in London have absolutely no qualms about quickly fleeing the seat next to a person as soon as one with two free seats opens up. I noticed this behaviour shortly after arriving in the big smoke, and found it a bit odd, in that I would feel rude doing the same thing and hadn't noticed it in my previous home city.

Granted, I will admit no one exactly likes being forced to sit directly next to some stranger on the bus. Perhaps your knees will touch awkwardly, perhaps they had to move their all too precious bag/purse/rucksack/glove in order to make room for you to sit. When this is the case you, steely bus rider, have no doubt first been forced to endure the 'look of death' that seems to result from your rude imposition of wanting to sit, and feeling you are probably more entitled to do so than, say, the random rider's clutch. God forbid humans get priority over glorified lipstick holders..but, I digress.

My main observation is that, as soon as a seat opens up where one might be able to sit alone, people in London will immediately scramble away from their erstwhile seat-partner to have the pleasure of sitting alone (or with only their own bag as seat-mate). This has always struck me as slightly rude, and was something I had never noticed before in my years of public transit ridership. In DC, and perhaps much of the rest of America, people will generally remain seated directly adjacent to someone, even when another seat has opened up, from my observations. I think that I, and perhaps other Americans, don't want to appear rude. I'd hate to give the person next to me the impression that sitting beside them represents some unendurable trial for me, perhaps as a result of their body odour or some other unmentionable misfortune. In London, this consideration doesn't seem to figure quite as prominently. Or, if it does, the Londoner's desire for a seat of their own quickly overrides any consideration of appearing unable to handle being within a few inches of another person. Maybe it is the relatively cramped nature of life in London as compared to, for example, Washington DC, that makes the difference. I'm not sure, but wonder whether others have noticed similar dynamics (either grin-and-bear-it DC style, or jump-and-sit London)?