New lift for Finsbury Park Station

graeme

<i>i'll always offer my seat to the pregnant, the elderly, people on crutches and so on, but surely we've got past thinking that all females are weak and pathetic and must be waited on by any menfolk around them? it's the twenty first century, people!</i>

Just because it's the 21st century makes no odds, it's <i>nice and considerate</i> to offer your seat to someone else, female normally, or even on occassion a guy who looks completely knackered. "Female Emancipation AND a seat?! They've gone too far now...." indeed. What a nonsense.

unaesthetic

i work late nights. on a friday or saturday, when everybody's pissed as a fart and having a good time, and i'm squeezed on the n29 following a long and nasty shift, does anybody ever offer me a seat? no freaking way. even if i was a lady girly woman i wouldn't be offered a seat, because i'm not doddery and infirm. it pisses me off when i'm sober and exhausted on a bus full of drunken happy people but i accept it.

everyone is equal. if you need a seat, you need a seat. otherwise it's first come first served.

ADGS

Whether male or female, offering your seat to a male can be really difficult, just because it's sometimes a visibly emasculating experience for a guy who's getting on a bit but still doesn't like to think of himself as old. Obviously if they are visibly suffering, that goes out the window, but if they're borderline it can be kinder to err on the side of 'not'.

Disability (either sex), older women or pregnant: subject to them not eg reading the Mail or a Dan Brown novel (in which case they can bloody well suffer, as far as I'm concerned), then certainly I'll offer my seat, but that's my choice, not their right.

injoke

offering your seat to a "pregnant" woman is a bloody, corpse-strewn minefield in my experience.

nat

Just as aside, there is nothing new about large prams. I was pushed around in a vintage silver cross coachbuilt carriage pram in the 1970s like these and I certainly wasn't the only one if the photos of my babyhood are anything to go by. <http://www.perfectprams.co.uk/>; I still think they are beautiful but I doubt I'd get much help on the tube with one of those...

Ali

Me thinks TC needs a few kittens

nick_m

in spanish-speaking countries children are embraced as a part of the community. this argument wouldn't even take place. from personjal experience in latin america, when a woman is struggling to get on a bus with child and luggage etc. a veritable army of helpers is always on hand, no questions asked, to look after baby, luggage, pram etc. until she has found a seat and said items (plus baby) are returned. OK, so they don't travel with landcruiser buggies, but that's not really the point. i am childfree, but I agree with mattelys. why are we so worked up over this? there's no need to judge people because of the size of their buggy, surely?

ADGS

Children are already 'embraced as part of the community' far too much for my liking in Britain, allowed to run amok in libraries and pervert what should be pleasant adult spaces like pubs into 'family-friendly' blandness. And please don't anyone try to say that one day they'll be paying for my pension, the way the pension age is advancing out of reach in recent proposals, that's never going to happen.
When I watched Children Of Men, I couldn't see what was meant to be so dystopian.

unaesthetic

nick_m, gender politics in these countries often leave a lot to be desired. subjugating women as general is not made up for by helping them get their pram on a bus.

David

I know this is going to enrage many, but my personal experience in Spain is that yes, children are embraced more in the community but they're not as indulged and there's generally less fuss about parenting. This in turn means it just all goes on without anyone getting on each others nerves. Here there just seems to be a misplaced piousness around parenting and that generally gets up other people's noses and encourages the kids to act up - generating these 'no kid' type venues and such. It's just my opinion and no doubt anecdotal, but I'm not very child friendly in this country and that feeling mysteriously disappears when abroad.

rainbow_carnage

<a href="http://www.taga.nl/intro.asp">ooh!</a>

staplejack

<a href="http://www.mothercare.com/Taga-Stroller-Bike-Red/dp/B0028XFJWG/ref=sr_11_1/279-9539238-3467834?_encoding=UTF8&mcb=core">£1,695</a>.

Actually Criminal.

rainbow_carnage

Yes, but when you consider how much you'd spend on an ugly-ass bike, plus an all-terrain stroller, it sounds almost reasonable.

Philistine'sMonster

Fascinating topic*. This is the level of contribution you can expect from me...

<i> “…i'm fed up of people with those immense SUV-size things” </i>

I’m the size of an SUV, what are you trying to say? And, yes, OK, it’s my fault I’m the size I am because I ate all the pies -- ALL of ‘em. See why Kings Bakers closed down? That was me, that was. And once I finished the pies, I ate Mr and Mrs Jonathan King the pie makers. He were self-raised and she were gorgeous.

<i> “It's like I always help people with their luggage…” </i>

It’s, like, I have an arse as big as, like, two suitcases (the biggest, daddy-sized ones, mind)? But you’ve never lifted a finger to help me, have you Tosscat? No one has.

<i> “i'll always offer my seat to the pregnant, the elderly, people on crutches and so on,” </i>

When I struggle to squeeze my gargantuan frame into the tunnel at Finsbury Park station and heave myself down the steps and into the carriage, steaming from exertion and perspiring like Tom Jones, I don’t expect ANYONE to offer me a seat.

And even if they did, I wouldn’t eat it.

<i> “For all its dreadful reputation, London is one of the friendliest cities I've ever been to.”</i>

You probably haven’t bumped into me yet, luv.

<i> “it's the twenty first century, people!” </i>

Thanks for pointing that out to me because, like as much, I’ll probably eat that too.

<i> “…a ramp running onto a Platform sounds pretty unsafe to me !”</i>

Ramp or no ramp, ANY running on the platform is unsafe. For gawd's sake, read the signs, Ali! Jesus.

<i> “ugly-ass bike,” </i>

You’ve met my sister, have you?

Quote of the day: <i> “…her (admittedly, gigantic) bags.” </i>

F’nar! F'nar!

*hazelnuts, nougat and caramel. Mmmm!

bennyfromtheblok

Funny and fat - are you Phil Jupitus?

Philistine'sMonster

Nope. I'm the size of <b> Jupiter </b>, though.

Colette

Now now, children, play nicely. However, since I am currently in the process of, erm, researching prams, I can confirm that it is in fact perfectly possible to buy a small, sensibly sized, lightweight buggy suitable for a newborn, and I can't really see why you wouldn't pick one if you were intending regularly to take your child on the bus or tube. I just don't see the point of the huge tank ones unless you're going for daily walks in Epping Forest. I can't promise, however, that I will be able to hoik even the smallest one up the stairs at FP station unaided, so I'm not sure the size of the buggy is really that relevant there. If people don't want to help me carry it up the stairs I guess it's up to them, but it would be nice if they did. Oh, and I'm always very grateful when someone offers me a seat on the tube, I smile nicely and say thank you.

Slabber

Someone should merge this thread with the other thread about lifts at Finsbury Park.

andy

Someone is welcome to their opinion.

Slabber

Can I be an admin?

andy

no

you can be 'not banned', how does that sound?

Slabber

Why would you want to ban me?

andy

[Signal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio#Informal_use) : [Noise](http://www.stroudgreen.org/account/754/) ratios

Slabber

The whole point of forums is to have people post in them. If you'd rather I didn't, I'm quite happy to take my thoughts elsewhere.

pseudonym

I think Slabber is actually a rogue web-bot invented by David that has spiralled out of control. If it was more sophisticated it might just pass the Turing Test, but personally I think the new lift at Finsbury Park Station would provide more interesting conversation.

It can only be a matter of time before the resident tosscat despatches Slabber by turning it into a link.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slabber

tosscat

Schlabber fozze.

Marquis

That's extremely rude in german, tosscat! There's only one person in the world I'd address like that.

tosscat

Me?

tosscat

Sorry Marquis, it just seemed fitting.

Marquis

Oh no, not you, tosscat, I don't know you! I have reserved that word for someone from the deep dark recesses of my sorry adolescence.

As for Slabber, I really don't see what caused all the adversity and support all the pro-Slabber voices on other threads.