British Days: The Tube

The tube station can be a pushy place and getting on the tube can be a challenge. Tubes stopping at Finsbury Park tube station--which was the nearest station to my homestay--are always crowded in the morning. A lot of people get off and a lot of people are unable to get on. Before the tube gets there there is always a long disorganized column of people along the plank waiting to get on. The unlucky are at the back of this long column, waiting to see if they can get on. They usually don't and have to wait until a tube or two passes until they have a chance. Each time a tube passes their chances of getting on the tube increase. This is because when a tube passes some people get on, making the column thinner, allowing the people waiting to move up each time a tube passes. Also, whenever people move up in the column their previous place is taken by a new arrival. People on the plank in the morning are like a mechanized machine at work, despite whatever inconveniences that exist.

But this is only one of the complications of using the tube. In the morning and evening the tube is crowded; and when somebody enters a crowded tube it's like entering a pack of sardines that has reached its maximum capacity and is on the brink of bursting. It's so crowded you can't move. You are literally in somebodies face and there is plenty of bumping up against someone or something. Everybody who has to wait on the plank to get on the tube trades his or her place for a more crowded one. The best thing you can hope for is to get through the experience in one peace. But if you're unlucky you'll be stuck in front of someone who needs takes a shower and there's nothing you can do about it. This has happened to me. During my second visit to London somebodies bare armpit was in my face; and either his deodorant had worn off or he hadn't bothered to put any on. It was not a pleasant experience. There are certain places where a lot of people tend to get off the tube, which will leave more room to move. But worse things can happen. Sometimes the tube stops because of some malfunction, and people can be stuck on the tube for hours until the problem is resolved. This tends to be big news in London. Newspaper vendors often try to sell papers whenever the latest tube disaster has happened using this sort of headline: 300 PEOPLE TRAPPED ON THE TUBE FOR THREE HOURS IN TUBE NIGHTMARE! But what would be worse is if the tube broke down and you had to use the restroom. You would truly be in trouble with few options to deal with your predicament--and I am not trying to be funny at all. There were many times in London when I had to use the restroom, and finding one when I was trekking around London was not easy.

Some people might feel overwhelmed and intimidated by all this, especially people who have mobility problems. There have been times when I have seen elderly people who have mobility problems have difficulty using the tube. This is reminiscent of the Tortoise and the Hare children's story. The hare has no problem with mobility; he's fast and the mere thought of being slow would be unthinkable to the hare. But tortoise is slow and sometimes it's a real struggle for him to get from point A to point B. The elderly who have mobility problems inch their way toward the tube in a struggle while everybody else rushes by them. Whenever I saw this it reminded me there will be time in my life when my health will be in decline, and I might not be able to do some of the things I enjoy doing now. I can see why Ray Davies wrote "imagine yourself growing old" when he was 23. Those people were a constant reminder to him the older he got the more likely he was going to have health problems. But one complication I know the elderly wouldn't tolerate in London is being pushed or shoved from behind, which is common in the tube station. One night when I got off the tube at Finsbury Park I was pushed from behind. Somebody put their hand on my backpack--either inadvertently or not--and pushed me forward. I had paused for a second because I was tired; the trek down to Tottenham Court Road and back had worn me out, and I needed a breather. But the unspoken rule of the underground is unless you have mobility problems no one is going to wait for you. If you stop moving when a lot of people are trying to get off the tube or when a lot of people are trying to get on you're liable to be bumped or pushed out of the way. I didn't turn around and quarrel with the person, that would have been pointless. He or she were probably long gone anyway, making their way through the rush and push of the crowd. I fell in with the rest and did the same with the knowledge that this was simply part of life in London.