iTube

I thought I’d take a moment to talk about a major but easily overlooked part of my life in London: the Tube. After having lived in Los Angeles for the past two and a half years, a place with notoriously horrible public transportation, I was amazed at the ease and speed with which I would get around without a car. To ride the Tube, one must have an inexplicably named “Oyster card”, basically a debit card which you use to swipe in to the station at the start of your journey and then swipe out at the end, at which point, based on the distance and the time of day during which you traveled, a certain amount of money is deducted. It’s actually fairly expensive to ride the tube—I’m usually traveling during peak hours so my ride to and from school is £2.20 each way or approximately $3.30. Since my only other options are to take the bus (only about 40p cheaper than the tube, adding about 20 minutes of travel time but much more visually enjoyable) or to walk (for an hour, in the rain, wind and cold), I have so far chosen convenience over economy.
One of our first orientation meetings had to do with safety, specifically theft and theft on the Tube, and I have found myself behaving a little paranoid. We were told about thieves who can unzip your backpack, steal your wallet, your Oyster card, your mobile and zip your bag up again without your noticing, all while being jostled and crushed in the Tube. I see plenty of people with their iPods in their laps, using their digital cameras, not having a firm, vice-like grip on their bags at all times, all things that I, the very safety conscious, would never be so foolish to do. Other than this small paranoia, I do enjoy riding the Tube. Every ride provides an interesting sampling of the types of people to be found in London. There are noisy groups of students, anxious looking business types, little old British couples where the husband always makes sure that his wife has a seat, tourists with London guidebooks in various languages, families with strollers, struggling not to block the aisle and not to let the baby roll away, and very often someone with a guitar, just to add that extra bulk to the already crowded car. When the doors open we are all reminded to “Mind the Gap” as we hurry on our way.