‘Tubed’

I love going up to London, and I love the vibe it offers the visitors to it from the moment they arrive.

It just picks you up and moves you forward, instantly drawing you
into its frantic pace and heightening your senses. It seems to raise your awareness about everything around you and it creates a feeling of wanting to rush off to see first hand all those now iconic landmarks which you are so familiar with…only all at once!

The sounds the sights the smells the multitude of commuters, the black cabs waiting on the taxi ranks the new style bright red double decker buses weaving their way through the thick chaotic density of the busy city traffic.

Fearless cyclists and daring dispatch riders zipping along at breakneck speed through gaps you can’t even imagine attempting to get through, whilst narrowly avoiding collisions with the lines of wing mirrors jutting out of the vehicles only inches alongside them.

Trafalgar Square, the Christmas lights in Oxford Street the seemingly endless choice of restaurants, the bustling bars with punters outside dressed in their suits necking lagers and smoking cigarettes. The London Eye, The Houses of Parliament,10 Downing Street, Big Ben, The River Thames, Street performers, beggars, homeless people, the swathes of visitors alighting from coaches armed with their cameras and hell bent on snapping images of everything they can. Covent Garden, the architecture the Museums, the list is endless, it just goes on and on…

And to get to these wonderful places quickly; londoners and the many many visitors from all over the world head down the escalators and staircases and onto their most famous transport system; the London Underground.

I was of course like everyone else at that time of the morning squeezed into the carriage alongside my missus and our two friends. Then as the doors closed tightly and after hearing the loud and familiar ‘Mind the Gap’ the public announcement system … we were off.

That sudden thrust of the trains power causing us all to lose our footing. Wobbling unsteadily we grabbed out at the yellow handrails around us as our train was sucked through the first of a series of pitch black tunnels. Beneath the carriage floor that distinct clatter and high pitched whine from the metal rails as we all sped along an into the darkness.

Opening the window between our own and the carriage in front of us we were treated to a distinctly warm breeze being drawn up from the rails beneath us and in through the carriage; giving ourselves and our fellow passengers the illusion of breathing in fresh air.

I shot this image above of a young commuter who had just stepped into our carriage at one of our many stops and was blissfully relaxed listening to music on her iphone.

I particularly liked the slogan on the paper bag she was holding in her hand at the time.