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?
In a big city like London, get lost is pretty easy, but, even if you have no clue of where you are there is always a light of salvation, the big logo of London Underground that indicates you the nearest station, your salvation.
The Tube logo is one of the most popular and easily recognizable thing in London and, probably, all over the world.
The story of this logo is quite old and long. It first appeared in 1908 and then it just kept on changing style till the roundel version we all know now. It was basically to make clear the stations' names, in order to facilities the passengers, that it has this rounded shape, with the blue stripe across the red circle.
London Underground logo, or roundel, is now one of the symbols of London, the core of Transport of London and even if it is pretty old fashioned, people will never get tired of it.
Today, I can say, has been probably one of the most stressful, long and tiring day of my life. Everything I tried to do just went wrong, inevitably wrong and the thing is that...the day is not over jet!
These are the days when I actually get the urge to commit suicide, but while to me the desire to kill myself passes after a deep sigh and a kind of hysterical laugh, for other people, refrain from committing suicide is a bit more difficult, sometimes impossible.
London Underground has a long and sad tradition about people injured in the Tube and suicides, so, when the film Three and Out came out it caused lots of protests and complaints from both the train driver union and the passengers.
Now, the most common phrase I say when I am joking about committing suicides is: "Well, lets jump off a bridge" or, in anyways, the setting I have always imagined for my death is completely different from the London Underground, such a boring and depressing place, but apparently there are people who do really love the London Underground "to death".
Apparently King's Cross and Victoria stations are the most chosen places, I don't know, I don't have my "favorite suicide Tube station", I hope none of you have one, but is it possible that the atmosphere in those two stations is so depressing to incite suicides?!
Some station have pits beneath the track, originally made to aid drainage of water from the platform, with the intent to prevent incidents, injuries, and falls . They are called "anti-suicide pits" or "dead man's trenches", and they actually don't seem to work well enough.
I know that take the Tube doesn't have to be a fun experience, but if Transports of London could make the atmosphere in the Tube more pleasant and "agreable", but maybe if there were some flowers, colored cushions, who knows...
When I first came to London, I took the train from Heathrow airport to Russell Square...I t was my first time in an underground...the first of a long series of times coming...
I was completely unaware about what an Oyster was and so, for a month or so, I just used to buy tickets every time I had to take the train, spending a huge amount o money I could have spent in more worthy things like: food, clothes and beer.
I think that for all that month long, with the money I spent in tickets, I have been paying the whole salary of a Tube driver, but I was lucky that one day, a security man at the station, made this expensive nightmare finish, shaking a brochure about the Oyster right in front of my big, sparkling eyes, with such a hypnotizing waving that I couldn't not to get one, immediately!
Transports here in London are all pretty expensive, especially the Tube tickets, which can last you no more than 24 hours, but there is a secret not to spend £££ in them, and this secret I am going to share with you is....the Oyster card!
Even if your stay in London is no longer than a few days, getting an Oyster is the cheapest and easier way to travel through the Tube and buses. Oyster cards are available in each tube station and they cost just 3£ that you can get back when you return the card to the ticket office.
There are several types of Oyster: Pay As You Go, students and ordinary season cards (monthly, weekly and daily); however, I would suggest one of the season cards or the daily one as, once you top up your Oyster, you can travel as much as you want for all the period you have paid for.
For students +18 in London things are even much easier as, providing the name of the University the study at, they can get an Oyster in which is displayed their picture and full name.With this student Oyster every time they top up, they get a 30% discount.
Oyster cards can ruin other magnetic objects if kept too closely to them, but don't worry because Transport of London look after you any time, that's why when you get your Oyster at the tickets office, they also give you a nice, free, Oyster plastic folder!
Taking the Tube is always the same, boring daily torture, going this order:
1: being squeezed in the lift with that annoying "STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS", which goes on for ages till there is no more oxygen in the lift and people give up, waiting for the next one.
2: getting, or at least trying, to get to the platform before the train you need to take leaves, doing a slalom between those tricky people who stand stuck in the middle of the stairs, talking about the weather and stuff, making you arrive at the platform just 20 seconds after the doors have been closed!
This is pretty annoying, and the worst thing is that it happens every single day, but today, something new, an unexpected event made my day in the Tube.
I was standing at the platform waiting for the train, staring at random advertisements, still half asleep, when suddenly the scream of an apparently terrified woman helped in waking up, definitely.
At first I thought: "ah, freak people...never mind", but then, when two huge rats passed close to my feet, I screamed as well. That is that kind of emotions that you don't want to feel early in the morning at the beginning of a very stressful day, it doesn't help you at all!
That was the first time I have ever seen a rat so clearly and closely, but apparently, is something I need to get used to as London Underground is populated by those huge rodents. You see, many people think that the Tube is boring and depressing, but actually, there are some exiting emotions, like this one, that only the London Underground can offer.
Certainly the Tube is not the cleanest place in London and the fact that it suits rats so well makes people think that there might be something unhealthy and unsanitary.
I have a question now, a big doubt: if rats are well known as inhabitants of the Underground along the network and sometimes also take the trains through it, shall they have their Oyster card or are they generously funded by Transport of London?
Being on a wheelchair can be a serious problem when you need to move through the Tube stations as many of them have long and steep staircases, which are really annoying.
Some of them are really good and skilled in this kind of "extreme sports" as "climbing" the stairs when you can't use your own legs can be a serious and challenging "adventure"...like this brave boy did:
and even if it could be easier in the case of an escalator, thing for wheelchair users are still too difficult.
Just some Tube stations can provide good access for wheelchairs users, and they are signed on the map with this symbol:
The number of step-free stations is now 48, but it going to grow as Transport of London is working on several stations to make them more accessible to disabled passengers especially now that the Olympic Games are coming here in London and the efficiency of the transports is need to be "impeccable".
Sometimes is not only a fact of inaccessible staircases, sometimes is a problem of politeness and selfishness as the London Evening Standard titles talking about how people in the tube care only about themselves, not respecting and counting the needs of people on wheelchairs or with nay other mobility problems.
Anyway, if you don't trust your athletic skills in climbing stairs with your wheelchair, there is a very useful link through which you can check the accessibility of the stations.
Have you ever noticed how noisy the Tube is?!?...just to cite a few of noisy sources: people speaking loud at 50 cm distance to overcome the surrounding noise, the voice from the microphone which kindly reminds us to stand clear of those damn closing doors and to not fall in the gap between the train and the platform, the ring of the ticket gates, the screech of the approaching trains...and so on...
Many other things can cause noise, at different levels, in the Tube...there is a view pack made by WIM in which a series of different "sounds" taken from the network are listed and measured.
If you put on the records all at the same time, you feel like you actually are in a Tube station, however, if you want to complain about the noise is possible to report directly to the competent offices.
Advertisements are everywhere in the underground, EVERYWHERE....in the trains, in the tunnels, next to the escalators and in the lifts.
Sometimes i feel like someone is doing me a kind of brain washing as, even if I don't want to, I can't avoid to watch them and spend a few time in reading whats written on them.
Even the most silly and unusual one can catch our attention, and some of them are also joking about that, like this one which is not a proper advertising but it gets the point...
After six months I am a customer of London Underground I have made a kind of "hit parade" of my favorite advertising placard is the one of Jack Daniel's whiskey! I love the black and white style and I never get tired of it.
On the other hand, I just feel sick when I see the one about the "Legally Blonde" musical which is so pink that my eyes hurt and those silly facial expressions make me nervous and I feel like a want to punch them....punch a paper advertisement....the final proof I am with no doubt seriously compromised in my brain...anyway, that is without counting that I hate that little dog in the pic, which actually I find more similar to a too well developed mouse!..but I would never beat a pet!
Come on...look at them...don't you agree with me?!?!?... feel free to punch them, swear at them, whatever you feel like...you have my support!
In the last few years London Underground has been a good set for some horror films and comedies like Creep and the largely criticized Three and Out accused of being immoral and inappropriate as suicides in the Tube are a very serious and sad issue.
Creep, a film which came out at the cinemas in 2004, is about a girl locked in overnight on the London Underground, stalked by a deformed killer living in the sewers below. The film, directed by Cristopher Smith, retakes the plot from two other horror films set in the Tube: Death Line (1972) and An American Werewolf In London.
Sliding Doors , directed by Peter Howitt, is a film, a bit tragic, but not a horror, whose turning point is the London Underground, in particular the so much hated closing doors of the trains between which people get stuck every day trying to get in.
The story is about Hellen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow) whose life is split into two parallel lives; one of the Hellen who managed to take the train and got home finding her boyfriend cheating on her, and the other one of the Hellen who didn't take the train going towards a different destiny.
It's really incredible how a "closing door" can make such a difference to your life...so, thats made me think that: every time I get to the platform two seconds too late and the doors close in front of me...would my day have been different if I have caught that train?...who knows...
London Underground is the main way of transport used in London, actually, it's not only a railway network, it's also one of the most popular peculiarity of the English capital.
Everyday I see loads of tourists who, instead of taking pictures of monuments, spend hours studying funny poses in front of the London Underground stations, with the big logo in the background. In Summer 2012 London will be the location of the Olympic Games, an event of great importance which requires some changing in transports, especially in the Underground railway.
One of the target of this project is an extension of the Jubilee line from Green Park, trough Docklands to Stratford.
Tube Lines is investing a lot in modernizing tube stations ahead of the Olympic Games and also working on the Jubilee Line and on the Green Park station, to provide a full step free access for people with physical disabilities or too heavy luggage. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ''I am determined for every resident and visitor to this city, whether able bodied or with disability, to be able to use public transport safely and easily."
This project is expected to be completed in 2011 as London will also host the Paralympic Games consisting of the enlargement of the Piccadilly south side entrance and a new direct access from the park.
''We are working closely with Westminster City Council and The Royal Parks to improve the area around the station - these changes will create a better public space for all those who work, visit or live near Green Park.'' said Richard Parry, Director of Strategy and Service Development for London Underground.
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) Chairman John Armitt said that the first purpose of this huge project is to provide a wider and more efficient variety of journey options to and from London 2012 for spectators, Game families, workforce and volunteers.
You know, most of the people in the Tube like listening to music with their ipod, just to kill the time. Here I have something for you,my dear train passenger, a song that you can't miss....and that will make your journey! XD
Some time ago, me and my friend M. were seriously planning to sign up for a gym....seriously!as the summer is never too far and there is the "bikini test" to pass. The reason why our good purpose failed is that, ignoring the high percentage of laziness which obstructed us in finding a good gym,we don't have enough money to pay a good gym for the long period we need it to get fit! London Underground Service is the solution!
Arriving at Russell Square station on the Piccadilly line,the lifts to the ground floor are always overcrowded,full of tourists and those kind of huge space ships which are called prams that actually should have their own lift. Imagine you,being in a hurry, getting at the lifts finding that probably you will not even reach the famous "closing doors" in less than one hour...the only other way is the stair case,175 steps.
The poster says: "Take the stairs only in case of emergency" but you take them anyway, at your own risk.
After 15 minutes you get at the ground floor, sweat, tired, out of breath but glad that you survived such a hard test and that, taking all those 175 bloody steps, you might burnt off a huge amount of calories and fats!!!!!!
So,thank you London Underground for providing such a good, effective and cheap gym service, all included in the oyster card price!
