On the Tube

I ride the Tube almost every day. It's generally hot, crowded, loud and smells not so fresh, but I like it. It's very easy to navigate, you can get almost anywhere in town, and it feels wonderfully London-y to me.

These are pictures of our Tube station, Caledonian Road. It is small and, to be honest, not terribly way out, despite what the sign says. I like the tilework, though.

I saw this guy Friday night on my way home from having dinner with our friends Sean and Michelle. I love that he had rings on every finger (though just on the one hand) but was otherwise totally unremarkably dressed. Just jeans and a shirt. And a handful of crazy devil rings.

This is from the Art on the Underground series of posters, at Kings Cross. I see it every day and it almost always makes me want to pump my fist in the air.

It took me about an hour to get home last night instead of the usual 35 minutes or so. I got on the Circle line at Bayswater, but we only went 2 stops before stopping at Edgware Road. We sat there for a while, until there was an announcement that this particular train wasn't leaving for at least 5 more minutes (an eternity to a commuter) but there was another eastbound train arriving 2 platforms over. Everyone left the train, went up a flight of stairs, over the tracks, and down another flight of stairs just in time to see that train pulling away from the station. I was still on the stairs going down when the train started moving. Several people ahead of me just stopped on the steps, trying to decide what to do, but the people behind me kept coming. I had just been reading the day before about the Bethnal Green tragedy during WWII, when people seeking shelter in the Tube during an air raid were crushed when someone fell and there was a crush on the stairs. I freaked out a tiny bit and sort of squeaked, "Go!" to the man right in front of me, but there wasn't a stampede. We just all went back to our original train. When I changed trains at Kings Cross, I saw this sign. As far as I know, under a train is not a good place for a person to be, so that put my annoying commute in perspective...