Commute

[commonpeople1]

The Tube
Originally uploaded by mvizcarra36

When I'm in the Tube, just by the yellow strip, with hardly anyone about and the train speeding in my direction, I sometimes get this occasional thought of jumping on the tracks. Or of someone from out of nowhere about to push me. Then I see the face of the train driver, bored and looking down (at a crossword puzzle? A gun?) and I wonder what it would be like to have Freddy Krueger's metal fingers run across the carriages as the train comes to a stop.

More and more people abandon newspapers and books for electronic games during their London commute. A woman in her forties was playing some game on her iPhone this morning. Her finger flicked over cars speeding down a street intersection. I was listening to R.E.M. and the song turned her look of concentration into something melancholic.

A young guy down the carriage was wrapping a scarf around his neck. He reminded me of a colleague from the temp agency I briefly worked for last summer. They'd make a beautiful couple. When I looked over again, he was staring back at me.

Comments

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

I often imagine being pushed on the track by a random loon...

In fact when I am close to the yellow line I often brace myself in case someone tries it... (especially since it did actually happen a while back to some poor French chap, for no reason whatsoever)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Where I catch my train, Mile End, there was someone pushed under a train a few years back. People are quite aggressive there as they run from District line trains to Circle line (and vice versa), pushing and shoving their way into the packed trains. I think my paranoia comes from being pushed by a surging crowd behind me.