The 6:18 to snooze-ville

If you ever need to ask what the essential differences are between countries. I can tell you the best litmus paper test ever.

Are you feeling safe enough to fall asleep on the train?
I'm still working the kinks out on my trip to my new job in the morning, so today, day 2, I arrived at the station earlier than I needed to, so early that the train before the one I wanted pulled up while I was locking up the car. "it's cold on the station" I thought "let's do this."
That's a lie of course. At 6:18am my thinking is not that articulate. It was more "mmmmrh?" "arrrr!" "yarrrrgh!" so by the time I was trying to combine the twin goals of safety and speed while running down the stairs, I was already kind of committed to the action of getting the earlier train. It was a few seconds later that I was in the doors that I realised the temperature difference and felt like it was a good idea.
If it was early for me getting on at my stop, I can only assume that the people who are on before me must say goodbye to their teddy bears and loved ones at around 3am. Or simply sleep in their cars, with any pretence of a normal life left behind a long time ago.

Or they may live in the trains. I haven't watched much Thomas the Tank Engine, but I do know that trains sleep in little train houses, so I can safely assume that there may be a chance for some of these people to get the odd nights sleep in the little train house with them to save the return journey home for the 28 minutes sleep they must be getting every night.
Or there is the other alternative, which is sleeping all the way to work.
(I so want to take a picture of the girl in front of me right now, but you just know someone would dob me in. But I tell you she is OUT LIKE A LIGHT).
I have been the odd transport tumbler myself from time to time, I mean the city cat ferris that go up and down the Brisbane river in the morning - omfg - I fall asleep about 20 seconds after getting on one of those things. Luckily my journey down the Brisbane river ended at the last stop, so the ferry man would wake me up so he could go have a smoke or have another shot of bourbon, or what ever it is you do when you've done your shift. Being that it was at New Farm park they could probably get up to almost anything.
So I was reasonably sure if I fell asleep I'd still make it to work.
I used to work I'm remote areas of Central Australia, and some times I'd have to fly to a place called Kintore near the WA border. Oh yeah. Almost a 2 hour flight, and if you paid for the charter, and the mode of transport will actually hit the ground at high speeds at the end of your journey, you can be pretty sure you'll wake up. The little engines just shut me down, I don't care that it's basically a Volkswagen with a propeller.
In a foreign country however, no way. I assume that everyone wants to eat me. Fear is my overseas travel buddy.
Actually I'm not even sure i would fall asleep on a train in Australia...I have tried to fall asleep on a train in India, but that was an actual sleeper long distance train. Having said that, I didn't actually get to get any sleep, but luckily there wad always a bloke yelling "CHAI WALLAH CHAI WALLAH CHAI WALLAH" who made sure that even if I could have gotten comfortable I would have been spared a "trip on the city cat" as I like to call it.

The girl in front of me is just out, but as soon as the train driving goblin (I imagine they look like the guys from Gringots in Harry Potter. I believe I have always thought that even though clearly I could they have had that image in my head for a couple of years now) calls out "Central Station" she was eye open and cognitive. I would be too worried that a) i'd miss the station b) i'd snore or c) i'd be so asleep I'd be dreaming and talk or have a really obvious erection or something.
So this was my point, I think you can probably judge a country's relative safety by the fact that the people feel comfortable enough to fall asleep on the train. I still wouldn't fall asleep on the train at night coming home. It's tempting - I get the last train home to the gold coast every so often, it's me and all the kids who don't have cars, or who's parents have given that specific deadline. The security guards always talk to me because I'm the only one over 30. If you could sell vodka on that train, I swear to you, sitting on a gold mine.
City Station, here I am way to early to turn up to a second day of work, I need to wake the he'll up. Or maybe I'll just rest my iPad on my chest and sit at this bus sto.......

I am a FAG WHO FALLS ASLEEP IN TOWN.
I LISTEN TO KEITH URBAN.
WHY DOES THIS GUY HAVE AN ERECTION?

whoa. I need coffee.
Lucky those kids woke me up.
KFS.