At 18:30 the railways official opened the main door which lead through the first-class reservations office to the platforms. A board at the side of the reservations office announced that the Victoria Falls-bound train was departing from platform four at 20:00. Even though there was no prebooked seating in third class, I couldn ’t understand why some people were running and others walking very fast towards the train, given that there was still an hour and a half before the time of departure. So I continued sauntering at a leisurely pace as people rushed past me.
        Their behaviour made sense when I eventually got to the train. The first reason was immediately obvious: there were bad coaches and there were awful ones, and it was to your advantage to get there first and pick yourself a bad one. The second reason dawned on me a bit later: people wanted to sit next to the window so they could rest their heads on the sill during the night because the seat backs were too low for you to rest your head. A third reason appeared only when it was too late: people walked up and down the aisle all night, making sleep impossible for anyone sitting on an aisle seat.