17 October 2011 : Written by A Camping Ninja
Rugby world cup fever had taken hold at the train station this morning. There was a full platform of people queuing up when the Haka began. A New Zealand rugby team inspired booty shake on the platform edge to put fear into all the other commuters, before the mad rush through the train doors and competitive fighting to get a seat that would ensue.
There is a fine line between imagination and reality, and at this early hour in the morning, I had to rub my eyes to check that this was what was really happening. And yes it was. Everyone around me was dancing and chanting the Haka. It was much weirder than any kind of mirage and yet strangely, and almost unbelievably, it appeared to be the truth.
I wondered if so much aggression this early in the morning was really necessary, but from the angry facial expressions of the masses of people lining the platform, there was going to be some serious elbow jabbing going on once the train doors opened. It seemed that this Monday morning, everyone was desperate to get a window seat.
I didn’t join in with the rugby Haka madness, as for a start, I wasn’t really sure of the actual words and I had a totally different tune buzzing through my head, for when I woke up this morning, three little birds were sat on my doorstep. So I had a good feeling that every little thing was going to be alright today.
And it was. You see it turns out that when you’re a ninja, even the people who do the Haka don’t want to mess with you, so there was a window seat all of my own waiting for me when I boarded the train. Little did they know that I’m just a friendly Camping Ninja and not someone more fearsome.
Besides, there was too much busyness going on for my liking so I sat down in my seat serenely and gazed out of the window across the passing fields, day dreaming of my next camping trip…