A Strange Occurrence on the 39 Bus:
So I took my seat on the 39 this morning. The windows were very steamed up (condensation, I believe, is the scientific term). I decided to make a small contribution to oxygen levels on the upper deck by opening the window next to me. 30 seconds later this guy who was sitting across from me gets up and shuts the window I've just opened without saying a word. Now, I'm not in the habit of asking people if they mind my opening/closing a window on the bus but if someone sitting across from me had just opened a window I would regard shutting that very same window 30 seconds later without consulting them as somewhat rude.

I'm stubborn by nature so my first instinct was to re-open the window. But I don't like rows, least of all with unpredictable men on the upper deck of the Blanchardstown bus. So I bit my lip. Until I couldn't resist the temptation and, 5 minutes later, re-opened the same window. I was half-expecting the guy to leave his seat and shut the window I'd just opened for a second time. But he didn't and a part of me (a rather petty part, admittedly) felt I'd won a tiny moral victory. The other, more whimsical, part of me kind of wanted him to shut the window again. It was a stupid little power struggle and, if he had countered my window-opening a second time, I'd probably have laughed and shaken his hand (or maybe he'd just have decked me).

Does anyone agree that Irish people are too easily cowed by intimidating strangers (especially smokers on the bus)? It pisses me right off, I tells ya.