The Morning That Spoke Volumes

Jack Dean woke this morning as he does every morning - 8 alarms spread over his 2 phones on a constant set of 'snoozes' until the last minute of eye rest (as once the first alarm goes he knows it is no longer sleep) is drained from the night. He got dressed and, like every morning, thought he 'really should get more of a variety of clothes' before heading into the bathroom. There he brushed his teeth and, like every morning, thought he should 'really get a new head for his electric toothbrush'.

Once out the door the cold air hit him, and his recent belief, that the weather was changing and Spring was on it's way, was shattered.

On the bus, like every morning, Jack listened to his iphone. Except this morning something happened that had never before: he was told to turn it down by a Man two seats ahead. Now, you should understand that Jack is a polite person and remember this, for it is important.

When it comes to his ipod/iphone - Jack has found that how loud the sound is filtering out to the public is practically impossible to judge. He has tried to work this out before - by taking out the headphones with the music still playing and listening to how they sound out of ear - however this isn't how it must sound for the people around him. Jack often wondered if maybe the music bounces around his ear and is louder to those around him once the headphones are in, but how can he ever know? How could he know when his volume has passed that threshold? He has considered this, in detail, but as no-one has ever complained he assumed his out-of-ear test was accurate and he was not a disturbance. Until this morning.

The Man in question started his grump by looking around him. He looked at other passengers to see if they were as clearly outraged as he was. When it was clear they were not, he turned round and started saying something to the person sat behind Jack. Jack couldn't hear what the conversation was obviously, due to the orchestra in his ears, but it was then that the Man in question looked directly at him, with disgust. Jack thought it looked like the same look you would give a child murderer who had stolen your car and erased all the files from your computer. Jack made an ear available for him in a polite manner, but before he could open his mouth the Man told him to "turn that down" and immediately turned around again.

See, now remember Jack is a polite person? Jack did turn it down, with a "sure I will." But the manner of which the Man had gone about his request made him angry. Why couldn't the Man ask nicely? Why did he feel he needed to involve other people on the bus? Why was he treating Jack like he was a hooligan, a dirty citizen, an example of what is wrong with society? Jack is none of those things and the Man had, in his opinion, been the one more rude.

Jacks volume slip up was an accident, and one he can't easily know when it's happened... "there should be a warning" he thought "when you move your volume up a little message should pop up that this volume may cause disturbance in a public place'" because how else will he know? He pondered this, and then his anger at the way he had just been spoken to made him annoyed at everything: "Although" he continued "London Transport has just made buses that much more louder by adding a woman's voice telling you the name of the bus you are on and the approaching stop, very very loudly. To be able to hear your music at all you must have it past a certain level anyway!" His thoughts continued like this for at least the passing of four stops - to-ing and fro-ing between the volume needed to hear music and the practicalities of knowing when your volume is disturbing people. However, by the time the fifth stop came up Jack realised that the most important point was this: even if someone has their music on loudly and you can hear a tinny melody coming from their ears, this does not make you better than them or give you a right to speak to them in a patronising or disrespectful manner, or judge their character. There are things a lot worse that people do. Many things entitle you to think someone a bad person, but someone enjoying music at a volume level that means Philip Glass isn't interrupted by a loud female voice telling you what bus you have caught, just is not one of them. By the time he reached his destination Jack had made peace with the argument he had had in his head. As he got up to get off the bus he looked over at the man, and thought 'how awful it must be to live life being so angry at the world and judgemental of the people you have to share it with.'

And this was how Jack Dean started his day.

He, like every morning, had his Mocha and cigarette while glancing at the morning papers and walked into the International Film Company at which he works at 9am.

It had been a thoughtful morning for Jack.. the day may get stranger and somewhat eventful. He has various meetings throughout the day, and often comes out of them with many thoughts running round his oval head. But then, his life has been strange and somewhat eventful so far... yet some how, it still only feels like the beginning of the story.