KRAKOW-BERLIN. 18th September

(Leaving Krakow) - Have a compulsory-reserved seat, which at 12 zlotys for this trip is a bit of a rip off, as the train is almost three-quarters empty. I am sitting in my correct seat and a l.o.l. of possibly Jewish or Roma appearance comes in and sits across the aisle from me. Then she realises about the reservation system, and I find the correct seat for her, which is two seats from mine. I notice that she's looking at the ''Deutsche Bahn'' monthly, which they leave on every seat, and which is probably about as interesting as "'Who Weekly'', so when one of the station staff leaves a stack of (German) newspapers at the back of the carriage, I take one and give it to her. A big guy gets on and sits in her old seat. Half an hour goes by, and suddenly she's jumping around like a cat on hot bricks, and comes back, looking around where this guy is sitting, and giving me a long spiel in Polish, which might just as well have been in Martian, but it becomes obvious that she's lost her purse. The guy, and two tall and blonde middle-aged women who have just got on, stare at her as if she's from another planet, saying nothing. She looks at me imploringly, so I gesture towards the end of the carriage, as she'd gone out to the loo earlier. With that the big guy looks back too, and suddenly bends down and picks up her wallet from the floor, to the rear of her old seat. She thanks him profusely, and all is well for another half hour, then she appears to realise that there is now no money in it. She comes back and obviously accuses the guy, while he denies it, and she tries to get a passing ticket inspector involved, but he's quite disinterested, and eventually she goes back to her seat.

I hadn't seen much of the countryside on the way to Krakow, mainly because it rained all the time, and the windows were fogged up. Note today that while there are a fair number of recently ploughed fields, there are hardly any maturing crops, although I did see some guys hand-cutting what looked like a field of sugar cane. Don't see any farm animals at all. Once into Germany the land all seems to be utilised, with plenty of cattle about.

You never know your luck. On the train from Muenster to Berlin, in my carriage it was unadulterated schoolie's week all the way. From Berlin to Krakow there are a couple of young guys sitting a bit further up the carriage, and a procession of young women keep coming from other carriages to talk with them, and this young guy spends the whole trip either trying to impress them or other young females in the carriage. This trip it's like the reading room of the British Museum, as all the passengers that are travelling are on their own, with their heads stuck in magazines or books.