Top Tip For Travelling On London Tubes
Two things in London that you can almost rely on – they are almost a dead certainty. During the summer in London it gets real fucking hot on the tubes – unbelievable hot and delays. Air conditioning just doesn’t exist. I know its the 21st century and men have walked on the moon, but air con on the tubes in this city, dream on. And best of all they charge you a small fortune to travel.
In my mind there is nothing worse than sitting on a packed, boiling hot train deep below the streets of London and it suddenly stops in a dark tunnel for no apparent reason. And you sit there for 5 or 10 minutes, or sometimes longer until the delay has been sorted out. It gets real hot, thirsty and if you have couple of the great unwashed in your carriage it gets real smelly. It is like hell on earth.
The moral of my story is never, and I really mean NEVER travel on the London tubes without taking a bottle of cold water with you – it could be a life saver. The bottom line is, we haven’t got a clue when the train we are travelling on is going to be delayed. And believe me it will happen when you least expect it.
No matter how much of hurry you are in, stop and buy yourself a cool bottle of water before you get on that tube, because when and I really do mean, when the tube is delayed it will be the best measly quid you have ever spent.
I jumped on the packed Bakerloo tube at Oxford Circus this afternoon, heading home to Kilburn and because I have learned my lesson from past experiences, I purchased a cool bottle of water prior to entering the station. And I was so glad I did. I must admit it has been a while since I have had any bad journeys on the tubes in London, but I knew it was only a matter of time.
The train was jammed packed, standing room only and it was pretty dam hot – at least there wasn’t anybody with an allergy to water, soap and deodorant standing near me. The inevitable happened, and by the time the train had reached Kilburn Park it had stopped for 5 small delays of between 3-5 minutes. It was a nightmare journey. A similar thing happened to me a few months ago on the same line, so I was prepared with a nicely chilled bottle of water.
There were people on the tube looking like they wanted the ground to open up and swallow them, because they were so hot and bothered. I personally found it amazing that there were only about 3 people in my carriageway who had something to drink with them. That’s London for you, everyone is always rushing around. You however can’t rush around on a delayed tube stuck in a tunnel 50 feet below the ground…you aint going nowhere, no matter how much of a rush your in. I had about 25 pairs of eyes on me when I was sipping my cool water, it tasted so dam good. I wanted to tell everyone to rush to the shop and buy a bottle of water next they enter the hell that is London Underground.
That is my top tip for travelling on the London tubes, do not travel without a bottle of water or you will regret it one of these days. Be prepared…
Related posts: