It is a damp Monday morning and the queue at the station ticket office is even longer than usual.

The announcer says your train has been cancelled and the boss is calling about your breakfast meeting.

Just as you realise you are wearing odd socks a few distracting words bring you back from the end of your tether: "If your mind goes blank, how do you know?"

This conundrum is just one of the profound meditations posted on the window of the concourse ticket office at Brighton station under the heading of Bob's Thought For The Week.

The philosophical problems are the handiwork of sales clerk Bob Hoiles, who is becoming something of a local celebrity since he started offering words of wisdom to customers as they prepare for their journeys to London and elsewhere.

Mr Hoiles, 64, from Burgess Hill, said: "The idea came to me while I was at home one night.

"I think about work a lot. I like being there and it was just something to make people smile on a Monday morning.

"It has taken off far beyond what I thought and people will come over now to have a look even if they are not buying a ticket."

The former merchant banking manager began collecting the proverbs from the back of magazines and newspapers earlier this year and copying them on to a piece of cardboard for people to consider while they wait in line.

The phrase comes down every Sunday before a new one appears on the corner of Mr Hoiles' desk for the beginning of the next working week.

The sayings are an attempt to offer customers a more personal service and commuters have even begun offering their own meditations although Mr Hoiles has yet to use.

But Bob's Thought For The Week will only be available until August when the father-of-two retires from his job with Southern Railway.

He said: "I have had two or three suggestions which were reasonable but they were not ones I would particularly use.

"It is the little one-liners that do it for me and I hope when people read them they will want to come back and see us again next week.

"It has caught people's imagination for some reason and I would like to think customers would miss them if they weren't there."

Sigi Beare, 23, travels by train at least four days a week to her job at The Royal Academy of Music in London.

She said: "The thoughts are always witty and a bit cheesy but is good to see when you are about to get on a train.

"It is something a bit personal rather than a blank face and if I had to write my own it would probably be, 'Why do I do this every day?'"

Theatre director Matt Young, 33, commutes to Windsor every week and first spotted Bob's philosophies at the beginning of the year.

He said: "When you are standing around the Thought For The Week gives you something to look at.

"It can be quite cold and faceless in the station and something like this can relieve the stress."