This blog is dedicated to all the people in London who take the Underground (or THE TUBE...as you like it) to go to work, to school or to any other place in London!!
In a place like the Tube, always busy and overcrowded, politeness and commonsense are crucial, but some people sometimes forget about that.
Every time I take the escalators I ask myself what's wrong with those who seem not to be able to stay on the right!
Another thing, hard to understand for me, is why, when the doors of the train open, people on the front take ages to get on!
They stay on the edge of the doors, looking around inside the train, maybe to choose the seat with the most beautiful view in the dark tunnel, making other passengers wait behind till the very last second before the doors close.
I would like to spend a few words on the lifts issue. Now, maybe it is just me, but I wonder why people do not go further when they enter the lifts, leaving a lot of space unused.
Going back home from university, I saw this poster on the Westbound platform in Holloway Road station.
I felt treated like a naughty child when I read it...
London Underground does really care about it's passengers, not only for safety and transports efficiency, but they also care about our feelings, our mood.
I was taking a look at some random issues about the Tube, just for curiosity, and I found, with great surprise, that on the tfl web page there is a space dedicated to artistic activities and a section titled "Poem for the day" where, every day, they upload a poem from various authors. Here is the poem of today:
Poem for the day
At Lord`s
It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk, Though my own red roses there may blow; It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk, Though the red roses crest the caps, I know. For the field is full of shades as I near the shadowy coast, And a ghostly batsman plays to the bowling of a ghost, And I look through my tears on a soundless-clapping host As the run-stealers flicker to and fro, To and fro: - O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago!
I know it's stupid, especially from someone who now has been living in London for more than 6 months, but today I was coming out from the Tube and, having some rubbish to throw, I asked myself, and my friend M. as well, why there are no bins in the stations?!
M. looked at me, actually stared at me, saying: "it's because of terrorist bomb attacks, did not you know that?!"
I have never linked the lack of bins in the Tube to terrorist attacks, it was pretty obvious to me and I felt so stupid.
Anyway, I remember about the bomb attack in the Tube on 7 July 2005. I was 16 years old and I remember my friend G., who was on holiday in London, calling me saying that there was a suicide bomber in the Tube and that she escaped for miracle, just because she missed that train.
I was really shocked, but I was living that event from the point of view someone who was out of the UK, a kind of "untouched" viewer.
Three bombs exploded within fifty seconds of each other on three London Underground trains. It was 8.50 a.m. and as usual, the Tube was busy and full of passengers.
The second bomb exploded on the second carriage of a westbound Circle line sub-surface train between Edgware Road and Paddington.
The third bomb was on a southbound Piccadilly line deep- level train between King's Cross St. Pancras and Russell Square; the zone where I live now, the stations I most go to.
I remember now when I was just arrived in London and the first thing my mother told me was: "be careful when you take the underground!!!...you never know what those damn terrorists are going to do!" I just replayed:" yes, yes mum...ah, ah...yes, yes..I will... byeeee" listening at half of what she was saying to me, as usual. My mum, as any other mum, has always been annoyingly anxious, especially since I am here in London, but now, thinking about her words, even if I thought I would have never said that, she was right.
Have you ever realized what a wide merchandising and business is based on the London Underground?!. I did just today, when I entered a souvenirs shop to buy something for my younger, petulant sister who will be happy to see me at Easter, depending on the size and the price of the present I am going to buy her.
Anything with the logo of the underground on it can be sold: mugs, t-shirts, pants, towels, ashtrays, bibs...ANYTHING!
These are just a few things I found in this shop called "Imperial News & Gifts" in Woburn Place, between Russel Square and Holborn.
The prices actually are pretty high as I spent 12.55£ for a t-shirt (the cheapest one) and all the gadgets were, I think, pretty overpriced. I know that the Tube's logo is famous, attractive and very "London style" for tourists who surely spend a lot of money in these "souvenirs", but pay 10£ for a plastic bag with the tube map on it it's too much, isn't it?!?
Anyway, if it works to make the economy run in times of crisis, I am glad I gave my support to this just cause with my 12.55£. This is the t-shirt I bought, with our beloved tube map all over it, so that, whenever my sister needs to, she can just consult her shirt and go wherever she wants...
Thefts in London Underground are pretty common, a kind of every day issue we all are used to nowadays.
Whenever you see someone desperate or complaining in the train because he or she just found out that the wallet has got stolen, you feel pity and sorry for them, but deeply inside, you are glade that it didn't happen to you!
The percentage of people who got robbed in the Tube is really high, and it grows constantly every year, even if there are security cameras in the stations and even if the kind and caring voice at the microphone keep on reminding us to look after our belongings and to report strange behaviors.
All this stuff didn't seem to work in December 2009, when I got robbed at King's Cross. It was a shining and happy Saturday afternoon when I had the brilliant idea not to close my bag with the zip and to take the Tube, which was particularly overcrowded.
I know, I was stupid and, as prize for my lack of carefulness, I won a trip to the Kentish Town police station to make a report; it was my first time in a police station, unforgettable.
I am smiling in this pic, but actually it's just because the sun was right in my eyes...trust me, I wasn't having fun at all....
I know it's sad to say, but theft is something that all the London Underground passengers have to go through sooner or later. Anyway...be on your guard...
Who said that London Underground can't be funny?!....You cold be surprised by how many funny things are hidden "under the ground".
Also train drivers and the security staff at the stations, even if they never let a glimpse of joy shine through their serious, professional and a bit bored faces, they actually are hilarious and when you don't expect it, they manage to make you laugh.
There are loads of funny train announcements and episode that can prove us that London Underground's staff men have a sweet, entertaining soul! Here is just one example:
"To the gentleman wearing the long grey coat trying to get on the second carriage, what part of 'Stand clear of the doors!' don't you understand?"
I was at King's Cross St. Pancras today, like almost every day actually, to change for the Hammersmith and City line as the plan of the day was to go visit my friend O. at Barbican.
That is pretty usual, I mean, me taking the Hammersith and City to go my friend's accommodation, but the unusual thing is that I was 20 minutes earlier, maybe that was itself a magic sign.
Anyway, I had spare time to have fun in the fantastic and hilarious King's Cross station when I just realized that, taking the escalator from the Tube station and going towards the old King's Cross rail station, I got to the famous Platform 9 3/4 that Harry Potter uses to go to Hogwarts!
I know it sounds pretty childish from a 21 years old, but, come on, who does not love Harry Potter and anything related to it!? I was so excited for that, as I have watched all the films and I have read all the J. K. Rowling's books, I looked like a 6 years child with those big, curious eyes and with my camera tightly held in my hands.
The moment was magic and I asked a girl who was passing (looking at me like if I was a strange, little freak) to take pictures of me near the trolley, to immortalize that glorious moment and send them all to my jealous sister in Italy.
Oh, what if I had to jump in a wall with a trolley and have that magic journey to go to school....i would love going to school so much.....do they have journalism at Hogwarts?
