I want to see W-W-WINDOWS!!!!!
Obligatory disclaimer for being a heartless bastard:
We were young, we were drunk, we were wrong.

And so it was that we were on the Eurostar in those heady days following its grand opening, when the price of a Eurotunnel share exceeded the price of a packet of rizlas. As a school kid in the south east of England, me and my classmates were afforded the rare privilege of attending a multicultural, bilingual festival in Lille, to be attended by schools from Northern France and England. It was to be a culturally enriching experience to enhance the mutual understanding of two different nations, under the proud banner of Euro Enthusiasm. Boney M was even doing a live set! Golly. Needless to say a few of us skipped the whole thing and got ruthlessly bollocksed on pastis in a dodgy backs street café. It was ace.

On the train on the way back, our drink dumbed senses were alerted by the panting of a kid a few seats back. It got worse and worse and there was a general feeling of concern mounting in the carriage, until the word "claustrophobe" begin to be bounced around. At this point the kid was in the corridor, breathing into a paper bag and saying "I want to see w-w-windows!!!!!" and sounding a lot like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Laughing was not an appropriate response to this boy's plight, but It was I am ashamed to say it was the sniggering path that a few pissed kids took. In retrospect, I suppose his bravery for trying to overcome his fears in quite a dramatic fashion should be saluted, but at the time we just couldn't understand why a claustrophobe would ever take the Eurostar, especially to see Boney M....
(impossibly witty twat No, YOUR Mum etc etc, Thu 29 Jul 2010, 9:38, 3 replies)

Self knowledge is a wonderful thing
It's possible he didn't know he was claustrophobic until that moment.
I didn't find out until I was on a potholing trip, somewhere under the Mendips.
Apparently I made it back up to the surface in record time...
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Thu 29 Jul 2010, 10:47, closed)

Fair point, thus increasing the guilt factor. I take it potholing is now off the agenda? Or have you conquered the fear now?
(impossibly witty twat No, YOUR Mum etc etc, Thu 29 Jul 2010, 12:08, closed)

Lille is indeed ace.
Disclaimer: I live there.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 29 Jul 2010, 11:04, closed)