I was travelling on a train in Stockholm today when a man walked through the carriage selling something. Unlike London, he wasn’t flogging copies of the ‘Big Issue’ to feed his dog or demanding money with menaces.
Instead, this gentleman simply proceeded to place small cards on each vacant seat. He did this very quietly and politely and then returned to his original position. Despite craning my neck and desperately trying to look at the cards while simultaneously trying to look completely disinterested, I couldn’t actually discern what was on offer.
This lapse was caused by an innate fear of missing my stop and spending another 75 minutes trapped, wandering aimlessly in the rabbit warren that is Stockholm Central Station. However, I managed to determine that it was either an English language school with beautiful, buxom blonde teachers or Stockholm’s newest lap dancing bar.
To my amazement, after 2 minutes, the gentleman repeated his walk through the carriage, reclaimed all of the cards which had lain undisturbed by any passengers. He then disembarked, presumably to repeat the exercise on another train.