The Boy in the Tube.
I entered the tube train at Covent Garden to find a boy, ginger-haired, freckled, and very keen, cradling his coat, with mobile phone and notebook on it. The instant the train stopped at Holborn, he was alert, stabbing a key on the mobile phone, and making copious entries in the notebook. The same at Russell Square. I could not restrain my curiosity; was he unofficially checking on-time running? No, he was on a mission to break the standing record of 2hrs 9 min. for a complete tour of all stations on the Central and Circle Lines: his best to date is 2hr 20 min. At Kings Cross he leapt up, saying he had to get off here. His notes, I hypothesize, consist of time checks on the best run between South Kensington and Kings Cross, two Circle Line Stations which also happen to be linked by the Piccadilly Line; but why? To avoid some undesirable duplication of stations? I have no idea, but there might be a website for it……….
I observed that in Sydney, an occasional tryer will set out to visit all 171 stations on the metropolitan network in a 24-hr period. Oh, he’s already done that in London, all 245 of them, and will be doing it again in January! Can you just imagine the excitement levels in that house as he sets out on that dark cold January morning?
And the game need never end, because stations occasionally close, and new ones open; Queensway on the Central is currently closed I know not why, thus removing one baton change from the relay race, so it’s all on again under the new rules. Better that than drugs and mugging little old ladies, and I’ll bet he’s crash hot at mental arithmetic. He’ll be a respected back room boffin on the Underground one day.
Pennie and I almost on the same day and quite independently, thought up a game of our own: to visit and photograph all the sites on the Monopoly board in one day. From Park Lane to Old Kent Road, sparked in my case by my discovery of Pentonville Road the other day.
And the attraction at Covent Garden? The London Transport Museum Shop of course. Routemaster Vol I, by Ken Blacker, is still in print. I am beginning to get seriously fascinated by the design work behind this vehicle, which to put it in context had already been in service for 7 years when Sydney’s trams finished in 1961, and was still running here two weeks ago. The shop also has T-shirts that say, across an Underground roundel, “Mind the Gap”. At Camden Lock markets they have them in perfect replica to say “F--- the Gap”. One I like is “Jesus Loves You”---- in the fine print, “I think you’re a s--t”.
Covent Garden Market was humming: street actors, choir groups, a superb string and flute quartet, hot roasted chestnuts from a brazier and last minute shoppers everywhere. And snow? No way; it’s 9 deg. today and broad sunshine at present; that changes on a minute by minute basis however, but the weather people are promising a “meteorologically bland Christmas”!
I observed that in Sydney, an occasional tryer will set out to visit all 171 stations on the metropolitan network in a 24-hr period. Oh, he’s already done that in London, all 245 of them, and will be doing it again in January! Can you just imagine the excitement levels in that house as he sets out on that dark cold January morning?
And the game need never end, because stations occasionally close, and new ones open; Queensway on the Central is currently closed I know not why, thus removing one baton change from the relay race, so it’s all on again under the new rules. Better that than drugs and mugging little old ladies, and I’ll bet he’s crash hot at mental arithmetic. He’ll be a respected back room boffin on the Underground one day.
Pennie and I almost on the same day and quite independently, thought up a game of our own: to visit and photograph all the sites on the Monopoly board in one day. From Park Lane to Old Kent Road, sparked in my case by my discovery of Pentonville Road the other day.
And the attraction at Covent Garden? The London Transport Museum Shop of course. Routemaster Vol I, by Ken Blacker, is still in print. I am beginning to get seriously fascinated by the design work behind this vehicle, which to put it in context had already been in service for 7 years when Sydney’s trams finished in 1961, and was still running here two weeks ago. The shop also has T-shirts that say, across an Underground roundel, “Mind the Gap”. At Camden Lock markets they have them in perfect replica to say “F--- the Gap”. One I like is “Jesus Loves You”---- in the fine print, “I think you’re a s--t”.
Covent Garden Market was humming: street actors, choir groups, a superb string and flute quartet, hot roasted chestnuts from a brazier and last minute shoppers everywhere. And snow? No way; it’s 9 deg. today and broad sunshine at present; that changes on a minute by minute basis however, but the weather people are promising a “meteorologically bland Christmas”!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home