London Underground

The ads, the confusion, the pushes and the auditory or visual isolation...
who would've thought the tube could be such a human place.
Everybody is here for a reason: to go from A to B. 
No one speaks and everyone thinks of where they need to be, where they must go. 
Yes, I have been pushed on the tube before. And I've also pushed. 
I've complained against the escalator's unspoken rule of staying on the right hand side and walking on the left...but I've also used it from time to time, even after having thought that no one could ever possibly be in such a rush to need to walk up a never-ending steep escalator. 
I've done it.
And yet...I've also occasionally caught the glances of other people and, even more rarely, have caught their beautiful smiles. On the tube everyone is equal: whether you want to admit it or not...whether you read the paper or not. And when you find out the person next to you is playing your favourite game on their cell phone you wish you could say something like "I love that game too! What level are you at?" without sounding too much like a crazy stalker.

What would London be without its tube anyway? It would be like a businessman without his briefcase, a mom without a child, a blind man without its guide dog. And yes we'll keep on ignoring each other, we'll keep on wishing that that lady doesn't steal the seat in the carriage  that caught our eye, we'll keep rushing and not helping the woman with the heavy luggage going down the stairs...

But we'll also keep showing up, going from A to B. We go underground. Even if we feel not wanted in that carriage because we stopped the doors and everybody is staring. And we'll also keep stealing empathising glances. Be glad we are surrounded by people when we are going home and we don't feel like it. And all this must mean something. We are part of something. Even if it's a split second. Even if we desperately try not to share anything with the person sitting next to us. We are all part of a journey. It's up to us to make the best of it. Yes...who would have thought the tube could be such a human place.

Happy 150th birthday tube.