ABOUT MY JOURNEY

‘Excuse me,’ said a woman wearing glasses who I’d noticed earlier on the station as I waited for the train I was now on. ‘Would you mind answering a few questions about your journey?’
‘If it doesn’t take too long,’ I said.
‘I’ll give you the shorter version then,’ she said. ‘Where’re you going?’
‘Pardon?’
‘What station you traveling to?’
‘Temple Meads,’ I said.
‘Do you want a pen too?’ she said.
‘Yes, thank you,’ I said as I took both the pen she held out to me and the A5 booklet that had eight sides and made me wonder how long the longer version was.
When I’d answered all the questions I left the pen on the booklet at the end of the table so she could pick it up without having to speak to me or me to her.
Throughout the rest of my trip I heard, from different parts of the carriage, ‘excuse me. Would you mind answering a few questions about your journey?’