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Toxic Gas


I’m new to commuting and it’s been quite an eyeopener getting the tram to Manchester Victoria each morning and then a train to Liverpool. The trams are full to capacity and I’ve never got a seat. I overheard someone saying he sometimes goes three stops in the wrong direction to the end of the line so that he can stay on and get a seat. The whole experience is very intimate; you can actually feel other people’s phones buzzing as you are squeezed in together. Yesterday I started to count how many people were in contact with me, I got to five and then a man moved his hand that I realised had been on my stomach, so six. I’ve been amazed how people just get used to this and continue as normal making private phone calls, playing games on their phones, attempting to read, applying makeup, eating, drinking, coughing, sneezing, belching and releasing toxic gasses, completely unselfconsciously. City life...

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