I got on the London to Newcastle train and sat down in my allocated seat. Next to me were two businessmen who obviously knew each other, they were possibly colleages in the same place of work. Halfway through the journey, my phone rang, so I walked out of the seated area of the carriage and into the bit that joins the two carriages together to answer it - I’m considerate like that. After the phone call, I returned to my seat and noticed that one of the businessmen wasn’t there. At first I thought nothing of it; he must have gone to get some food from the buffet car. But half an hour went by without his return and I became curious as to where he was. ‘Excuse me’ I said to the man who remained ‘Where did your friend go?’. The man replied ‘Excuse me?’ to which I said ‘The man who was sitting opposite you earlier’. ‘Sorry’ he replied ‘I don’t remember anyone sitting there’. ‘But you were talking to him! I thought he was your colleague or something’. The man stared at me before returning to his newspaper.

Half of this story happened and half of it didn’t. It was a boring train journey.