The Wild Ones

Saw what divides Italy and Britain so vividly today.
Commuting in on the Tube, there was an announcement that the escalators at the Piccadilly Circus station were out, the station I use for work.
Ohmigod, chaos.
I thought of the two really long, steep escalators at the station there. And all the people, some of whom might not be able to walk up all those stairs, I worried.
And still in an Italy mind-set.
I even considered getting off at another station, but we were only a station away when I heard the announcement.
Got off at Piccadilly Circus.
Really orderly procession -- aided by London Transport staff positioned in key areas along the way -- through an alternate exit there. With not as many stairs.
Everyone behind each other, respecting their distances, moving slowly, but deliberately through the detour.
Until we get to a smaller escalator at the end.
It was full of people, laughing, talking loudly.
They weren't lined up on the right side of the escalator, letting those in a hurry walk up the stairs to the left -- like is customary on the Tube.
Then I heard the Italian voice, the teacher talking to the group of Italian teens crowded all over the stairs.
"Keep right," she said, loudly, to be heard over the din.
"Here, people stay to the right in a line and let others go up the left," she said, sorta laughing. "Move to the right."
Most of the kids moved to the right side.
But not all.
It was like taming a herd of wild animals.
You couldn't get them all.

The Lonely Commuter

Can you feel really alone when you're squished in like a sardine with thousands of other people?
In the Tube at the evening rush.
A huge crush. 'Cause my second train took about 15 minutes to come -- an eternity at that time -- and the people just stacked up a dozen deep waiting.
And then it came, packed to the sides with commuters.
Took more than an hour to get home.
It's a rickety old Tube line we're on. Everyone in London knows it.
Whew.
Is this my life now?
That's the end of my two days work, which this evening, as I waited on the cold platform, I was quite glad about.
But, I'm not working again until the last two days of next week, which is awhile away.
Financially. And otherwise.
I'll do too much housework in the meantime, which seems like a real waste of my life.
But someone's gotta do it. And who feels like paying for it now.
I could start on all the things I want to do with the rest of my life, of course.
What were they again?
Uh oh. They seem big. How do I get started?
I can write more to you, of course.
But you never write back.
So what is the point?

No Newspaper Day

I hate to admit it, but I did not buy a newspaper today.
I read three or four -- certainly not the best ones this town has to offer -- but I didn't actually pay for any. Which is not a good trend. For them, I mean.
First, I picked up the free morning paper at my Tube stop in the morning on the way to work. They gotta stop giving away free papers everywhere if you ask me. It makes you not want to pay for them. Lots of other commuters picked one up like me. They have them stacked up conveniently near the stairs.
I still haven't broken down and gotten a paper delivered, although I guess I'm going to soon. I'm still deciding which paper I want every day -- I like a few of them -- although I am close. And we were away a lot over the summer. And it gave me a reason to go out, get the paper.
Anyway, so this morning, in a rush, I just picked up the free paper at the train in the morning instead of buying one. Save myself a pound. And then someone left the section I like best in one of the quality papers on the Tube, so snagged that. (That happens a bit).
During the day, at work, I checked the Web a bit to read up on the tsunami in Asia.
In the evening, I got the free afternoon paper, guy always hands it to me as I walk down the stairs at the Piccadilly Circus station.
Thanks, I say.
Okay, these are not good papers. But you never know if you're going to get a seat on the Tube, especially in the evening, and you need something to read, and the good papers are fatter of course, and harder to fold, even though they're all tabloids here. Fat tabloids. Love that.
There was another paper left on the Tube in the evening, so even though I don't like it that paper very much -- it's one of the trashy tabs with the naked girls -- I still took it. Why not? I'll look at it tonight, or tomorrow morning with my coffee. They did break news today.
I still like to linger over a newspaper in the morning -- an hour or so ideally. But I am finding, that when I have to go to work, I'd actually rather listen to the BBC World Service, which is just so good.
All bad news for newspapers.
I mean, I'm a die-hard.