CBT001

I apologised.

This might not sound like a lot, but I'm not exactly hot on the apology front. In the past I've been fairly hostile towards people as my default mode, and it's not something I want to continue to be. As ever, Sarah has been brilliant in guiding me along the path to enlightenment and today was the first time I've taken steps to rectify a situation that definitely did not deserve hostility.

As I'm awake at 0400 I thought I might explain.

I bike to the train station each morning and there are a few others that do the same. As a cyclist on the train, you're generally grouped together so you get to know one another through "why are we doing this" chats throughout the winter. You also get to know what's good and bad about trains. Northern Rail, and now Arriva (franchise is changing hands on my line), have an interesting stock. Mostly it's very old and a bit battered but it's a train and I don't have anything negative to say. There are a few different models however, one of which seems almost entirely based around making life difficult for cyclists. Normally there's a space for bikes, but these models only have a space that's not big enough for a bike, so there's a lot of getting in the way of people.

Yesterday there was a new person AND a train sent to test us. The guy got on and I tried to help out by making room for him. Once he had his bike sorted, I put mine back against his and he immediately asked me to move it as his was brand new. This annoyed me, I think because if he'd mentioned this beforehand it would have been easier for me just to not do anything to try to help. I took my bike away and either muttered or tutted, I don't remember exactly.

About 10 minutes later, I was reading the news on my phone when it dawned on me that what I'd done was stupid. It was minor and nothing bad happened to anyone and the guy was just trying to keep his brand new and shiny bike from getting dirty. So I went and said sorry for being rude.

He was really happy to talk and also apologised for not mentioning anything when he got on. We had the "why are we doing this" chat as it was raining and then everything was settled.

And this is what I call progress. Baby steps for all.