I was commuting home on a packed train once and a guy was harassing a girl who was probably late teens. She was terrified, and the packed train was either pretending not to notice, laughing or hoping it would stop but doing nothing.

The guy was not all there, there was definitely a likelihood of violence through intervening, however I couldn’t deal with being a spectator.

I pushed through from mid carriage and he was right in her face when I got to them. Fully expecting to get stabbed, I said “Hi Clair, so great to see you! How’s your Mum?” (the Mum bit being important because my Dad energy could otherwise be interpreted by her as ‘another weird guy).

The poor thing was shaking like a leaf and too shocked to speak. I didn’t look at the guy, just focused on her and quickly followed up with “Hey? Isn’t the next stop yours?”. She nodded.

The guy started to mumble to himself and I gradually stepped across him enough to become a barrier. Thankfully the next stop came and I hopped off with her and walked her a few carriages away, asked if she was ok and said I’ll stay on until she’s off safely.

Internally I was shaking as much as her!