The Tube

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day and love to all. Seems like everyone in London was walking around with red roses today. (obviously I didn't get this posted yesterday, so belated greetings. They kicked me out of the library at 8:45 pm before I was finished.) Second of all some of you have written that you have sent a comment but can't see it. They seem to show up under the comments for the entry you clicked on, so look again and you might find it further back. I have been posting them. And yes, I am checking my e-mail daily, except on weekends. I've had a comment from an RCA student and a potential student. Nice to know others are looking.
And now let me tell you more about the TUBE, or the London Underground, as it is officially known. Of course if you want any history you will have to read a book. I'm not going to tell you that. I'm going to telling you about my observations and the nuances I have noticed in my last two weeks of riding the tube.

This is what it looks like in Liverpool St. Station. In the morning everyone walks briskly to the tube. I feel like an ant, or someone in the army marching in time. Don't hesitate. People are very impatient. You have to stay focussed to keep up with the flow and not get trampled.

Here I am taking a photo of myself. It's a little shakey as you can see. It must have been at night, since most of the time the trains are full or at least there are some people on. I'm a little nervous about taking my camera out on the tube as I think Barton told me that when he starting snapping photos in a tube station the police came and asked him what he was doing and he had to get a special pass. They are a little nervous after the bombings. I notice there are no garbage cans in the tube stations, but I guess this goes back 15 years or so because of the IRA bombings. There is a huge police presence. This morning there were even more and some had dogs. Something must have been up. They also had Royal Albert Hall cordoned off and protected by police this morning. I asked one of the policemen what was happening. He said there was a musical performance coming up and the military bands were practicing in Albert Hall.


There are lots of interesting posters lining the walls of the underground walkways.

Here is the sign that tells you what train is next. I discovered them after my intitial confusion as to how you could tell what train had arrived. The other thing I have found out is that the reason I was so confused about the East/West thing was because when I get on the train to go to the RCA I take the Circle Line going East, and when I get the train going home, I take the Circle Line going East. No wonder I was confused.
The tube is quite expensive. £3 per day. Multiply that by 2.2 to get the equivalent in dollars. I bought a monthly pass. A little cheaper but makes a dent in your wallet. I was told my money would evaporate in London and it does!
When you are riding the train you will need something to do if you are going any distance. Of course during rush hours it is completely packed and you can just stand there and shuffle around occasionally when people need to get off. If you're lucky you might get a seat, but I doubt it, although people do seem to be pretty polite about giving up their seats to the elderly and people with young children or the physically handicapped. In the morning everyone is reading a paper. There is a free one, sort of like our Dose only not meant for young adults. It has a little more content and you can usually find one on the train if you forget to pick one up. Each newspaper is supposedly read by 10 people. Once the train starts to clear out though, the cleaning staff jump on with their little claw things and love snatching everything up as quickly as possible from arooud you, so don't leave your paper lying around. Actually the trains are pretty clean because of the cleaners.
There are lots of buskers in the underground walkways. They have "busking stations" and there is someone different there everyday when I walk by.


The main thing that people outside of rush hour people read on the trains is maps. Everyone seems to be staring at the maps on the trains. There really aren't too many ads on the trains because there are maps everywhere. And then people have their little pocket maps of the underground that you can pick up in the stations, and then there are people with their big tourist maps and of course the ever present A-Z London guides. You don't have to worry about looking like a stupid tourist because everyone does, so you just blend right in, and it's only Feb. I can't imagine what it's like in the summer. The other reading material is books, papers from work, text books and mobile phones. People seem to be madly textmessaging because they can't talk. On the buses everyone is talking on their mobiles.


When you are on the platform people are all standing about, but as their train approaches, they subtly move forward closer to the yellow line so that they can get on the train. Nothing worse than being left behind because the doors won't close. When standing on a crowded train, people watch for the movements that might indicate someone with a seat is leaving - the closing of a book, picking up a bag, leaning forward - then they start inching there way towards the seat so they can sit before anyone else gets it.
I am actually getting tired of the Tube. It seems to take so much time just getting to and from the stations and riding for about 1/2 hour. I have discovered some of the stops aren't all that far apart and it's much more pleasant to walk. You don't have any sense of where you are on the tube and you don't get to see the London Cityscape, which is still fascinating to me.