The music comes from a clip-on speaker riding high atop a backpack.
Its owner is dozing, having been rocked to sleep as the train tracks smoothly towards Brisbane.
His tattooed neck is bent sideways, his head lolling.
Those of us still conscious have no choice but to endure an auditory assault, song after song’s composition peppered with swearing and yelling, anger and bile.
It is not a genre I seek out and it’s certainly not the kind favoured by the much older couple clearly on their way to the airport.
The sweary noise makes them visibly uncomfortable but, like me, they choose to avoid risking confrontation and endure the cacophony.
I love that there is diversity in musical taste out there, and that we are free to choose tunes that make us happy as much as that which reflects our anger, disillusionment or heartbreak.
What I don’t love is when our choices are removed and when one person thrusts their loud selection on us all in public spaces.
There is no rating given at the start as with a film, and no spicy language warning as on radio broadcasts.
The same goes for the current trend of having phone conversations about private matters on speaker.
Do we really have to hear about a stranger’s partner being unfaithful, a teenager who is driving his mother to despair or a couple’s arrangement to pick up their car from the mechanic?
As well as auditory pollution, we are also subject to the visual kind.
I copped an eyeful from a walking billboard, stretched across a chest as its owner hung out at a bus stop this week.
The two-word message was as subtle as a sledgehammer and as creatively sharp as a marble:
“XXXX OFF” – in capitals and designed to be bold and angry, customised to offend.
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My problem is not with the inclusion of the swear word itself, but that it is worn in public, giving others no choice but to feel as if they are the object of derision.
A nonchalant pedestrian spots it and is startled.
The wearer of the offensive T-shirt smirks, as if satisfied at achieving a bullseye for indecency and shock.
The content of the playlist, the phone call, and the T-shirt slogan assault the innocent, interfering with the ability of those around to enjoy their day in peace.
While not isolated events, such a lack of care and civility still manages to rattle.
Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
