I’m in southern Germany in a hostel with 11 other people. The hostel has one shower and we’ve all spent the day on the slopes. I think I’m the last of the unshowered. I don’t care, I have a good book (and a post to write :)).

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I hardly ever mind waiting as long as I have something to do (or read) – even 7 hour train journeys (which are basically just waiting to get somewhere) don’t bother me.

However. What really does bother me, is when there’s a queue and people push in. Especially when the pushers are children and nobody cares or says anything. Maybe being English is an unhelpful attribute when skiing, maybe I’m just not pushy enough, maybe my skiing trousers make me invisible, who knows. What I do know, is that people are inclined to push past you in the queue in an effort to get on the lift first. There are sneaky pushers and flat out blatant pushers. When they’re old enough to know better, you can get stroppy, when they’re smaller it’s more complicated. When the only contact you have with them is the queuing time you don’t know who belongs to whom. I don’t think parents appreciate strangers telling their kids off, and there’s an unwritten rule that it isn’t done, so I usually hold my peace, but it is so tempting to say something. Or bash them with a ski pole. Or their parents for that matter.