Personally, I'm one of the "contemplative" lot...Although
what I contemplate and
how I contemplate it may differ *slightly* from the norm...
Simply put though, it tends to depend on what stock I'm on:
- Classes 43, 158, 159, 220, 221, 370, 373, 390, 395:
As a general rule, I like to find myself an isolated vestibule somewhere towards the rear of the train - Somewhere that's sound-isolated from other passengers - Where I can stand, have freedom of movement to lean-in to bends (Those blasted Pendos can never get the angle right!), start one of the high-speed playlists on my MP3 player going at high volume (Hence the vestibule...Chosen in consideration of other passengers), headbang/thrash/air-guitar to my heart's content, and dream of the day when speed limits along the WCML and ECML will finally receive their long overdue 550mph increases! hock:
.
- Classes 14x, 168, 170, 180, 350, 41x, 42x, 442, 444, 450:
Similar to the above with regard to standing for freedom of movement and ability to lean into bends to compensate for certain features that should've been fitted to these trains, but havn't. The MP3 player still goes on with a slightly less empowering playlist, but only after I've let my hearing adjust to the current environment so I can listen at a volume which won't disturb other passengers.
.
- All other classes running under 125mph:
Normally just sit down with the MP3 player if I feel like listening to it, and just idly watch the scenery go by. These services normally feel far too slow for me to enjoy them in any way...Unless it's a Heritage working of some description with some decent grunt on the front!
I do wish more people would use those. I note quite afew on this thread listen to various devices while on the train. Among the worst are those headphones that come as standard with Ipods. Not only is the sound quality awful, they also emit almost as much sound to everyone else in the carriage as they do to the listener! Tizz, Tizz, Tizz, tizz-tizz, tizz etc! Drives ya barmy!
The trouble with that desire is that those headphones don't come cheap, aren't that comfortable, and not everyone can afford them.
As ye can probably imagine considering my musical preferences, I blow sets of headphones on a regular basis...Which would make a switch to "plugs" an
extremely expensive preposition in my case. On the other hand, a job-lot of 50 pairs cheap in-ear headphones that I bought off of eBay a while ago seems to have served me well enough, and at about 12.5p a pair I can at least afford to blow those!
I have demoed more expensive brands and designs on home approval trials before (With most of them dying quickly) and one problem that I found with noise cancelling ones is that - Though they isolate the
listener from the sound
around him - At higher volumes they
don't isolate the
area around the listener from what
he's listening to!
I acknowlege that I use cheap open-backed earphones for my listening, which leak sound badly as one would expect. This though is why I choose to stand in the vestibule and enjoy my music there insted...It allows me to enjoy myself, in the way that I choose, whilst at the same time keeping my "noise" away from other pasengers!