Metro Etiquette?

<< Dubai Mall looking fancy, with Eid celebrants and shoppers. The evening commute, about 6 pm, saw a crowded, but not packed train. Migrating to the less crowded carriages I found a set of four seats (2 facing 2) with one empty. In the other 3 seats were 3 women shrouded in black. As I sat down in the empty seat the three ladies reacted with obvious disapproval. Shall I stay seated? Of course I will, I thought. There is a separate ladies' cabin if they object to the presence of a man, I thought--and after all, they were shrouded in black. What more defenses did they need? Before I could make a stand to hold my ground they gestured toward a man sitting across the aisle from us, obviously one in their party, to exchange his seat with me. We exchanged seats, confrontation averted. So what is proper etiquette here? They could share a seat with a man in their party, so why did they not do so from the beginning? And again, there is the women and children's cabin available to them, so I feel I was in the right to remain seated. I was lucky anyway to have a seat, whichever one it was. I could then whip out my laptop and begin editing some photos. I had checked the gold cabin to see if it was perhaps not full while all the other cabins were. Indeed, that was the case; it wasn't full. So, it would seem if one really wants a seat, then he or she is likely to get one in the gold cabin even while all others are full.

<< Speaking of fancy, what great design at Harman Kardmon! Is it really good etiquette to indulge in my laptop while riding, instead of possibly interacting with fellow riders? As a touch typist, I'm usually able to look around or at least glance up while typing. So I'm quite ready to make that connection with fellow commuters, should the opportunity avail itself.

What a great combination of TV and stand--also at Harman House. Unfortunately the stand was for display only. >> Speaking of the laptop... I still have gripes with the wifi--the high cost and the nuisance involved in having to log in each time even if you've paid. I don't think I've even seen anyone else using a laptop while riding, besides myself. Am I the only nerd, or is the not-so-practical wifi service putting people off? I've come to reason that the most practical payment option is to go for 25 hours at 100 dhs. That way I would not have to worry about always logging in and logging off to avoid wasting expensive minutes. But even this plan is rather unreasonable as it expires in 30 days. So, if you don't use it you easily lose it. Du, the provider, really has a consumer unfriendly service.