Next Door Neighbours
Had a 17 year old kid who had *never* been on a train before.

Just, what?

Edit: This is near Wokingham, Berkshire. Not the middle of nowhere.
(mmmm curry doesn't really understand this sig lark, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 17:51, 7 replies)

I think this needs more information.
I went to uni with a guy who had never been on a diesal train before at 21 and I worked with a 23 year old who had never been on a train. Geography dictates a lot. I've never been on a ferry, a helicopter, or a mag-lev and I'm 33.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 18:01, closed)

true dat
where i used to live it would be entirely possible to spend your entire life without ever getting a train, it being so remote.
( spesh., Thu 10 Sep 2009, 18:05, closed)

And at the other end of the scale
where I live is so built up that we use buses.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 13 Sep 2009, 19:20, closed)

I lived near Wokingham.
Not exactly the middle of nowhere.
(mmmm curry doesn't really understand this sig lark, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 18:21, closed)

I just don't see this being unusual
Thanks to much wider affluence, and the abiding influence of Mrs T, there are a lot of people in this country who basically believe that public transport is only for scummers, and who just drive everywhere (also they're lazy sods, let's not forget that). I'd be surprised if that kid is particularly unusual.
( Olembe Refuses to write in this space, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 18:44, closed)

It just baffles me.
I can understand parents not wanting their darlings sharing a bus with the untouchables, but trains in my head always seemed above that.

My dad used to get 19 year old apprentices working for him who'd never travelled alone on public transport before: so requests like "can you get x part from this company?" were met with baffled stares. He then took it upon himself not to let me and my brother be like that, although now he's a bit older he seems to have ended this approach with my half-sister who is about 10 years younger than me.
(mmmm curry doesn't really understand this sig lark, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 18:48, closed)

You didn't say in your post that it was because his parents didn't want him going on a train.
You merely said that he never had been on a train. Not the same thing at all.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 13 Sep 2009, 19:19, closed)