With the arrival of the first significant rain in quite some time, the railway station puddle has returned. It’s perfectly placed to cause maximum inconvenience to travellers making their way to and from the platform, and, it seems there are many different ways of dealing with it.
The most common technique amoung the young and sprightly, is of course The Leaping Clear. This generally leaves feet dry and avoids splashing, and is usually only attempted by those under thirty.
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| 1: The Leap Clear |
Another common sight is The Stomping Straight Through Because I'm Late For My Train move. This tends to occur due to panic often leading to a failure to observe the obstacle at all.
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| 2:Stomping Straight Through Because I'm Late For My Train |
Frequently used by people with common sense is of course, The Circumventing. A quick assessment easily reveals that The Puddle is somewhat shallower on one side, and with care, can be avoided quite easily. A completely different approach is the Sudden Stretch. This entails walking up at normal pace, giving all the appearances of being completely unaware, then, at the last second suddenly elongating the length of stride. This can sometimes be quite successful, though it relies on good timing. I managed to catch the two techniques in one shot.
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| 3: The Circumventing and 4: The Sudden Stretch |
Some of the more unusual moves include The Crouch. This is an odd one. There seems to be a belief that if one reduces ones height, and then execute a move not dissimilar to The Sudden Stretch, that it somehow gives one an advantage of some sort. However, this is not always the case. In the incident shown below, splashing occurred and some discomfort was caused. Then the subject caught sight of the weirdo taking photos and gave him a look as though it was all his fault.
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| 4: The Crouch |
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| 4a: The "Its All Your Fault" look. |
Another unusual aspect I observed was the occasional Glance Backward. This can occur after any of the other moves, and involves a quick look back to make sure that The Puddle isn't following you.
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| 5: Glance Backward |
I had observed several reactions to the obstacle presented by The Puddle. Some people were indifferent, some a little irate, some downright furious. Some would stop briefly, tutting, as they looked up to determine the source, others threw suspicious glances at the water as they made their evasive manoeuvres.
Soon the business of embarking and disembarking was all done, and the platform was pretty much empty. I was about to leave when I observed one more technique. It is almost exclusively used by very small children. It's known as Enjoy, and involves deliberately taking as much time as possible to traverse the pool, whether in appropriate footwear or not, while simultaneously deeply pondering the sheer wonderful weirdness of water.
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| 6: Enjoy |
