Commuter Hell

I have just spent the last hour being crushed like a walnut in a nutcracker.
The Tube at rush hour.
Wow. Never seen it like that. And never seen anything quite like it.
I could tell it was bad as I was going down the escalator at the Piccadilly Circus station. There was a big crush of people turning the corner onto the platform, backing up onto the escalator. And when I finally got to the platform, people were lined up 10 deep as far as you could see.
After a couple minutes, a train arrived. But it didn't look like there was any room on the train at all, with commuters squished inside all the way to the door.
That didn't stop anybody, though.
The big crowd I was in just pushed towards the door, with lots of us just heaving in in between those who managed to get out. Nobody seemed to care about the announcement that another train would be coming soon.
I got in somehow, not sure how, ahead of a man who muttered "cheeky" to me as I was crushing in. It's not like I got in ahead of him. I was just part of the throng. And the door closed just behind me -- and ahead of him.
Sorry dude. I didn't mean it.
I stood up for the rest of the ride, smashed in between two other people, who I tried desperately not to actually touch. No chance of reading the paper I had bought. Even though other, more experienced commuters, still managed to read theirs somehow.
And god was I hot in my leather jacket.
The "cityness" of this mega-city cannot be underestimated. Washington just feels like a sleepy little town in comparison.
And there's nothing like the Tube at rush hour to remind you of that.
Whew.
It felt good to arrive at my stop, walk up the stairs en masse with a hundred other people and get out into the late evening sun.
I didn't even mind that I was suddenly freezing as I rode my bike home.