A glimpse of the high life on a commuter train

Commuting is a pretty dull activity – a necessary chore that one gets through on the way to doing something else that is, we hope, more interesting or at least more productive. So it’s great to come across people for whom, on the contrary, it’s a source of fun in itself.

I spotted these two women on the way home tonight. Their smiles, their good cheer were a delight to behold, and highly infectious. And why not enjoy a can of cider on the way home, as one of them was doing? But the touch that really got to me was the green cocktail glass.

Commuter with the cocktail glass

It contained a light coloured bubbly fluid – it might have been cider too but I didn’t ask – I prefer to think it was a fine champagne, to wash down the wasabee peas you can just see on the table, the snack of choice of the discerning commuter. Even if that was merely an illusion, it was one I didn’t want shattered: I was too attached to the idea that here were people who were putting a real fizz into life – with style.