OMG! What a sighting!

[Lee]

Last night I was returning to London by train and I had to get the underground from Euston to Waterloo. It was about 10pm and as I was on the down escalator, I wasn’t really paying much attention to anything but suddenly I noticed a lad on the up escalator. He was almost level with me by the time I saw him, but he was bent forwards holding his crotch. He’d almost passed me before I could take in what I’d seen and I was thinking “did I really see that”. His head was bowed so I hadn’t really seen his face.

When I got to the bottom of the escalator, I looked back up to the other side, and this lad was squatting down on his haunches with his head down, still on the moving escalator. There was another lad standing alongside him, so as people usually stand one behind the other, I assume he was with him, or a mate.

I couldn’t say how old he was, probably twenties, but I have no real idea, and he was wearing jeans and a beige coloured shirt.

They’d obviously got off a tube train and he must have been nearly wetting himself. To hold himself like that and then be unable to even stand up straight, you’d have to assume he was beyond breaking point. He clearly wasn’t in any state to be able to run up the escalator.

The most thought-provoking fact for me is that I had only just been thinking how ridiculously long the walk is to get to the underground platforms at Euston station and I was thinking it must be a nightmare if someone had mobility issues. So how on earth this lad managed to eventually get to the entrance and then find a toilet is both a frightening and enthralling prospect.

Assuming he didn’t just relieve himself in the middle of a packed train station (and he obviously hadn’t done so on the station platform), I seriously wonder if he managed to avoid having an accident and wetting himself in full public view.

Who knows, maybe he was even ‘doing it’ whilst on the escalator?

I should have got back on the up side, shouldn’t I?

[Fred]

A great sighting! Using public transportation is the sensible way to get home if you've been drinking, and functional public toilets are often absent or hard to find at the stations. We know that the average male bladder can easily fill with beer-pee in 30 minutes or so, and many trips can take much more than that, so even if this lad relieved himself just before leaving the pub or party, holding it until he got home could be problematic. I envy his mate who was with him!

[ryan1990]

Great sighting! Would love to know if he made it

[Brian]

Amazing! It's interesting that the lad wasn't marching up the escalator and pushing past those ahead of him which might have been the most sensible thing to do. That suggests he was at the can't-move-without-weeing stage. So what happened when he and his mate reached the top of the escalator and he had to get up and start walking is quite mind-blowing to contemplate.

[Lee]

Amazing! It's interesting that the lad wasn't marching up the escalator and pushing past those ahead of him which might have been the most sensible thing to do. That suggests he was at the can't-move-without-weeing stage. So what happened when he and his mate reached the top of the escalator and he had to get up and start walking is quite mind-blowing to contemplate.

Exactly! And I would say that the walk from the escalator to the main concourse where the ticket barriers are is a good 5-6 minute walk at a normal pace. It’s incredible, I don’t know how some people actually manage it and there’s no other option. It was a Saturday night and the whole station and walkways were packed, so no discreet corners anywhere. If he did make it, he’d have presumably been walking in that state in front of everyone!

[Lee]

The more I think about it, I wonder if him squatting down on the escalator was a last-ditch attempt to stop himself doing it?

[bearshel]

Great sighting Lee. I know you only caught a glimpse of him, but any other details you can give? Build, hairstyle, slim/baggy jeans, tattoos, piercings?

And was his friend standing next to him or bobbed down too?

[Lee]

Great sighting Lee. I know you only caught a glimpse of him, but any other details you can give? Build, hairstyle, slim/baggy jeans, tattoos, piercings?

And was his friend standing next to him or bobbed down too?

Oh I wish! I didn’t see enough to be able to answer those questions, other than to say nothing out of the ordinary about his build and his hair was short, mousey-coloured (I think!). The jeans were just…blue jeans!

When I first saw him I certainly wasn’t aware of anyone else with him. It was only when I got to the bottom of the escalator and looked back up the other side that I could see him squatting down and another lad standing up alongside him. As I said, I’d have to guess he was with him because people don’t ordinarily stand alongside each other on the escalator. What was interesting, looking back, was that I could see them so clearly because the whole station was so busy that the escalators were fairly packed too, but on reflection, there must have been a gap of about half a dozen stairs behind them, otherwise I wouldn’t have seen them at all.

I wonder if people were standing back a bit, embarrassed at what was happening in front of them?

[bodgyuk]

I'd have been sorely tempted and probably succumbed to going back up the escalator.

[Lee]

I'd have been sorely tempted and probably succumbed to going back up the escalator.

In retrospect, so should I have been. But you know what, despite my fascination with such things, I might have been too embarrassed!

Out of interest, what would you have hoped to have witnessed?