On the métro, going to work this morning there was a bit of an 'event'

We'd just left the station, had entered a tunnel, when the driver abruptly slammed on the brakes (nothing unusual so far)

The lights went out for what was probably no more than thirty seconds or so and once through to the other side, we could see that the carriage was filled with black, eye watering, acrid, smoke

There was no panic though !! No, no, nooo

At the next station about two thirds of the occupants thought it worth while to perhaps, maybe, vacate the wagon, leaving those who elected to stoicly stay in place to breathe the cruddy air

Of those two thirds, about half of the people decided to simply change carriages whilst those (of us) left, stood lamely on the plateform waiting for ... well .. whatever to happen

What stunned me most though, was that no-one (a part from yours-truly) thought that it might be a good idea to tell the driver that something was wrong

I really had the distinct, macabre, impression that people were waiting for the thing to burst into flames and if that'd happened ... well .. nothing really

How strange