Friday, July 16, 2010

The Tube

You know how buses have those pretty awful colored seats with the strange patterns that you wonder how or why anyone would conceive of them. Well the tube is like that too, though I don't perceive that dirty feeling or distaste of it as I do with public transportation in other places. Maybe its because the tube is so necessary. Because it's something that everyone uses out of ease and preference rather than a resource used by those with little access to other things.

Different lines have different feelings as well. While there's always a diverse array of people on board, sometimes you're very obviously in a car of bankers, or one of hipsters and when you think the reason is because of the stop the train has just been to.

I wonder sometimes where they are going. Where they've come from. And how interesting really is their iPod?

I also love making friends on the tube. You're often in very intimate space with people and (with the right tact) there are any number of jokes you can make to make the situation a little less uncomfortable (though its highly likely with the lack of British humor to make the situation much worse too).

I wish that there were more cities with such an array of transportation options. When I last lived here my relaxed (non-existent) schedule allowed me to take days where I would get off at a random stop and just explore. How often do we do that on a normal
day in the city you live in? Go to a random part of town with the intention of just wandering around to see what there is to find.

Back in San Diego there was a day my good friend Kristin and I decided to walk San Diego. For 6 hours we wandered the streets, found great new restaurants, and visited new parts of a city we had lived in for 4 years. During the walk we remarked how European it felt to just wander and walk and it makes me sad to think that it is inherently un-American to just wander and walk.

Try it sometime

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