Another gloomy Monday, another overflowing express train into uni. After a few stations I shuffled over into the aisle to let more hoards on board. I had quite little space to move around – even less than the aisle allowed – because of all the knees in the way.

The need for personal space makes for an interesting arrangement on a packed train: in a group of 4 seats, the two sitting on the window side will typically have their knees in front of them but slightly skewed to avoid the knees of the person opposite them, while those sat in the aisle seats generally have their knees tilted out into the aisle so that they’re at least slightly facing away from those next to them.

It almost seems choreographed because it’s just so natural for all of these regular train passengers. The moment anyone steps onto the train, they instinctively move into their position and delve as deeply into their personal space as they possibly can, hastily plugging earphones in and gluing their faces to their smartphones.

A network of bubbles so intricate that we hardly ever notice it, if at all.