Ken on the Tube

He DOES use the Tube



This isn't going to be a post about Ken Livingstone talking about the Tube - although doubtless he will be this evening in the State of London Debate, but it's me spotting Ken himself on the Tube.



We've recently moved offices and I now have the most God awful journey to get from Richmond to Barbican or Old Street. It's a mare. Today I changed at Gloucester Road to get the Circle line going clockwise. I discovered a few days ago that a platform map reckons there's only about a minute or so difference to get to the Barbican going anticlockwise. I'm not convinced, but am still in experimental mode, so did it.



I'm slightly tired and hungover, so wasn't really paying a lot of attention to anything, but at Westminster I saw a bloke with a standard issue beige raincoat and traditional umbrella, legging it for the tube. "That's Ken Livingstone", I thought, as he got onto the next carriage. This was confirmed by a handful of other people making the same connection as me and looking at him.



This was too good an opportunity to miss for a tube celeb spot, so I moved along my carriage and amazingly he was sitting a couple of seats away from me in the next carriage. It definitely was Ken, as regular visitors may remember that me and Mecca met him last year and had a chat with him. Hardly anyone in his carriage gave the mayor any attention or showed signs of recognition, apart from a guy standing up reading his report on London Transport over Ken's shoulder.



My first picture was a disaster, as waiting for the train to stop, just as I was about to snap, a woman reached over for a Metro and her arm was exactly in front of Ken's face.







Second picture is better, but it is through two panes of glass. Oh yeah, he got off at Blackfriars.

A little bit of culture

Arts at Gloucester Road



Gloucester Road (well the District and Circle line bit of it) has always been known as a place where art is displayed in little alcoves along the platform walls. But yesterday as I came back from a meeting there, I heard classical music being played in the ticket area as I went through the barriers.



No buskers around and it was way too good to be a busker anyway. Me and another guy were looking round and staring at the ceiling to see where the sound was coming from. Hardly anyone else looked remotely concerned, particularly a couple of station assistants chatting in the corner.



It was about 11.30, and not many people about, but I certainly didn't notice it when I went steaming through the station and a few hours before. So I asked the station assistant who it was. He didn't know and said "It's just a compilation one of the guys has done from his computer - there's no label on it"



So yet another mystery. It was definitely a piano concerto, something like Satie but definitely not as contemporary. But whatever it was quite soothing, perhaps it will catch on at other stations.

The things people talk to their partners about

What's unique about Mile End (or Liverpool Street) and how many one unders are there?



Two very weird conversations taking place between boyfriend and girlfriend, strangely both emailed to me today - (have I missed "Have a conversation about the tube with your partner Day"?)



Konstantin from www.londonleben.co.uk emailed me with the following query:



"I overheard a conversation last night - in the tube of course. A guy said to his girlfriend "Apparently there is only one station, where you can start a journey and reach every other tube station by changing trains once only. It's Mile End."



I'm not sure about that. I believe it would work for King's Cross and Liverpool Street as well. Was he just showing off? I spent an hour today on the tube, checking the tube map and I still don't know."



I tended to agree with Konstantin in that it works for Liverpool Street too. King's Cross is a no no, as although it is the station with the most lines running through it, you would have to change twice to get onto the Waterloo and City Line. Anyone any other views?



Also in a fit of morbidity Rachel asked "How many people fall under tubes per year? How many are suicides and how many are accidents?



I reckon about one a week, and my boyfriend reckons one a day. Any idea?".



I could help Rachel by finding out from tubeprune that tube driver District Dave reckons there are about 100 suicides a year. A report on the tube's website from March 2003 says there were only 9 non suicide fatalities that year - or one per 100 million customer journeys.



And I've no idea where I found this out originally but 11am is the peak hour for tube suicides and Victoria and King's Cross the most "popular" stations for them - originally from my tube facts page.



Now I hope the couples go back to arguing about more normal things like who's going to put the bins out.

I am not obsessed with men's underwear

I am not obsessed with men's underwear



If I repeat it often enough it will become true. And I can't help it if men send me in pictures of their boxer shorts and likewise I can't help it if men insist on flashing their Calvins to everyone on the Tube.







I never knew men wore colour co-ordinated knickers before. I can't say I have ever, ever, worn a pair of kecks to deliberately match my belt.

Today's Metro Momento

Heartbreak at Hither Green



It's the last Monday in the month and the day when Metro try to play Cupid and match commuters who fancy other commuters. Maybe this month's lot are getting more into Lonely Hearts than others I've seen, or maybe the people who make up letters in Metro are coming over all Mills & Boon. This one, from the poetically named Allegra, is a classic:



"Surrounded by Japanese tourists, you were reading John Lennon's Definitive Biography, and my heart went boom. It was the 5.49pm train from Charing Cross to Orpington. When you sat down, you seemed annoyed at the noise being made by the guys behind you. It made me look at you again and if there is such a thing as a thunderbolt of love - I got it. My heart swelled and I couldn't move. I saw you looking at me in the reflection of the window but our eyes only met once and I thought my chest would explode. When I got off at Hither Green, I turned to look back at you and you were doing the same. When you saw me your face broke out into the most beautiful smile. I'm just sorry I didn't give you my number. I'm also sorry because I haven't seen you again because I have looked for you every day since."