On a train in UK (was visiting for the holidays). Quiet car. Woman sitting behind me starts playing loud videos on her phone, no headphones. No one says anything. Goes on for ten minutes. Eventually I ask her to stop bc it’s the quiet car and I was trying to work. She looks confused, loudly demands to know what “quiet car” means (English isn’t her first language), I point to a sign which has a clear picture of a mobile phone. Disgruntled, she grabs her bag and leaves. People around me shoot me grateful looks. Car is quiet again. Literally 10 mins later a guy walks in and starts conducting a loud phone conversation, also not in English. Nobody says anything. There’s the usual passive-aggressive Anglo routine from people around him — loud sighs, rolled eyes, etc. Eventually I walk over to him (I was trying to do something complicated, and random noise blaring makes this hard… which is why I picked the quiet car) and point at the “no phones” sign, luckily he says sorry and stops. More grateful looks. I’ll probably get killed for saying this, but I think people in the UK are far too nice for their own good. If you want people to obey social norms you have to be willing to call out antisocial behavior, or it all falls apart and you don’t have nice things anymore. This goes for many things, not just quiet cars on trains. Anyway, the snow looked lovely on the countryside fields. Back home to NYC I go.