Mutant Lemming
Established Member
So, in my experience, 1st class is essentially a quiet zone anyway. It's very rare to get drunk people, noisy children, annoying electronic devices etc in 1st. The only noise I've ever experienced has been from pretentious people droning into their mobile phones, but even then you can usually just move to the other end of the carriage as it is rarely full on proper intercity services.
Having just this last week gone up the WCML and then back down the ECML I think you were lucky not to encounter noisy children and annoying electronic devices in first on top of the phone calls (enough to drive one to drink and make up the full package of drunk people as well).
There are a lot of annoyingly noisy t**ts out there and it is nice to have a carriage where they are not welcome. I think you under estimate the nuisance and potential for confrontational situations people's excessive noise can be. I think we have all felt like punching some noisy ignoramus on occasion.
Give VTEC time - it will soon become a clone of the West Coast version. There are already some noticeable changes in that direction. The first class lounges for one are not as good as they were. Won't be long before the snack box appears at weekends and the Speckled Hen gets replaced by some cheapo Argentinian cat pee masquerading as lager.