Before October I can't honestly remember the last time I travelled by train , maybe a London theatre trip , you know the kind of thing , you get out of the theatre late at night and just want to be home , not travel across town and then sit on a train for an hour and then walk back from the station ....
I went on a train to London yesterday and then 2 different tubes to outer London. As it was out of 'rush hour' it wasn't a bad journey , seats available on all trains & a great deal of people watching to be done as I think you can only do properly in a big city.
People of all shapes , sizes and nationalities , some with wheely suitcases , some with dogs and some who looked like they would rather be anywhere else in the world.
And there is the point to this blog ( about time , you say).Everyone looked miserable , there were no smiles , no animation on their faces , nothing.
On the way home it was cold , very cold and it was 'rush hour' (although this seems to last at least 3 hours) and the faces of the people on the tube reflected their misery.
Some plugged into their ipods , ipads , kindles , phones some reading a paper or a book and some just staring glumly into space.
Then the mad rush as they get to Liverpool Street to get on that train , so that they can stand for most of the journey home.
I looked up that if you were buying a yearly season ticket from my local station that covered you in all zones for the underground as well as up to Liverpool Street you would be paying £4364 for that pleasure and no , that isn't 1st class travel , that would cost you the sum of £6760 !!
So over £4000 and you don't even get a seat and if you do you are squashed in between that guy reading the broadsheet and the other one who has fallen asleep and is likely to dribble on you before the end of the journey.
We broke our journey to get off at Stratford for a little bit of shopping , hoping that by the time we had finished the trains would be a bit emptier , hmmm , no such luck !
After just missing a train and having to sit in a little weather shelter on the platform for 20 minutes the train arrived and it was just as busy as the earlier ones but full of people who seemed colder & more miserable than before if that was possible.
Standing in the doorway the one thing that struck me was the greyness.
Everyone in the carriage was wearing grey or black . Grey suits , black suits , coats , dresses , shoes , expressions.
I felt a bit like a peacock in my apple green coat & cerise handbag ( ooops sorry didn't get the dress code memo !!)
No eye contact between anyone , I wondered what would happen if anyone smiled at anyone else? Or actually started talking to the person next to them ? Okay I know , stupid idea , they would all tag you as the nutter in the carriage of course .
Such a shame that so many people spend so much time and so much money on travelling this way and it doesn't enhance their lives at all . I really hope that when they are old , they have enough in their lives outside of their work and their daily commute to be able to look back on and actually smile.xxx
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