Deliverance

A rather odd journey home last night, sharing a carriage with a family that looked to be missing a few chromosomes. Not the politest thing to make fun of others' misfortunes, but these people were so extraordinary...

I made my way to a free seat then looked at the people sitting opposite me. My heart sank. The young (16?) boy looked just like the duelling banjo kid from 'Deliverance'. Really. The mother was a red-faced ball and the father had the look of someone who would pick a fight with just about anyone. I sat there, engaged in my iPod, trying not to make eye contact and hoping, as they were making such a big deal of having a conversation, that they'd get off soon. They didn't. I spent the whole of my Northern Line journey opposite them. The train was full anyway, so there was nowhere else to go anyway. When the male got off at Highgate the other two just stared blankly at me. When they were out of the tunnel, however, they produced their mobile phone and the boy then made several calls, shouting about where they were. As far as I could tell, they seemed to be phoning the same people up repeatedly. As we finally approached High Barnet, he started singing. His mother joined in. I made eye contact for about 2 seconds, but could see it would only end in trouble.