Must admit, I have it down to a fine art form - so if you are in my seat by the window on a table of four, expect to see the following (all done deliberately of course after too much practice).
* watch as the person in my seat moves (usually part of the group and outcast by themselves somewhere else on the train) packs their stuff up, moves things from the overhead locker.
* watch as the person in the aisle seat sits waiting and unable to settle as I faff on putting my stuff in the overhead storage.
* sit down
* after 5 mins or when the group start getting settled again, remember to get something from the overhead storage, meaning the person in the aisle seat has to shift and stay standing when I get whatever it is I need from my bag.
* sit down and fire up laptop, making sure it is plugged in (whether it needs charging or not).
* start eating food (this can be pre-purchased or from the trolley - a good excuse to rummage for change and knocking the person in the aisle seat).
* make sure that if the person opposite is reading a paper or taking up lots of the table, that my laptop (or newspaper) overlaps theirs.
* after eating my food, remembering I need to go to the vestibule to make a call (I always sit in the quiet carriage) which means the person in the aisle seat has to get up and down.
Because reception can be iffy and a call lost, the person I have attempted ringing tends to ring back, 5 mins after I have sat down (cue the person in the aisle seat having to get up and down).
I don't do any of this if the table is taken by other passengers sitting in reserved seats - just when the seats are taken by people fancying a table seat.
RE: Anything and Everything
'Illegitimis non carborundum'