You had to expect one of my blog entries to be about the Tube,
officially known as the London Underground. It is pretty reliable but
provides lots of comic material.

First background on the tube. Its part of metropolitan London's
transportation, a lot like New York's subway or Chicago's L. I take
it every day to and from work. To travel roughly four miles, it takes
20 minutes. I have an iphone that I listen to every day during my
commute while either reading Kindle books or playing solitaire. I have
tried other games but I tend to do better at those when I can sit down.

Second, the rules. They are pretty simple but still some people refuse
to comply. First, when you are ready to board the train, let the
people getting off get off. When boarding "mind the gap". When you
finally make it on, there are a few more rules. Most importantly, you
must avoid eye contact. Second, to look like a true Londoner, you need
to bring along reading material. Only tourists actually look around
the car. The last rule is the most important--you should NEVER ever
talk to someone else. Unless you have kids and then its okay. The
strictness of the rules does vary depending upon day and time with
rush hour on weekdays being the strictest.

Finally the stories. Today I got on the Bakerloo line as normal.
However as we approached Oxford Circus where I switch to the Central
line, the driver announced that the Central line was shut down. Keep
in mind in the past ten months I have had to deal with similar things.
So thinking on my feet, i decided to go to Baker Street and switch to
the Circle line and head home. Problems arised when I hopped on the
wrong train at Baker Street and got on the Hammersmith and City line.
I did not realize my mistake until I heard the announcement as the
doors were closing. No problem, I thought I'd just switch at the next
station which looked possible from the map. I got off at Paddington
and learned that while I could switch, I had to walk about a half mile
across Paddington Train Station.

Thinking about it, most of my stories have to do with getting on and
off the train. One time I missed my stop (had to hop off at the next
stop and catch a train back the other way). Thankfully nobody
noticed. Another time I got off at the wrong stop completely engrossed
in my game of solitaire. Fortunately I realized it and got back on the
same train. Unfortunately somebody else noticed. He broke rule #3
above and laughed at me. One time I was coming down the stairs as a
train was getting ready to leave. I decided to hop on even though the
doors were closing. Ouch those doors hurt!

I do have to say that nine out of ten trips are completely uneventful.
I can even laugh after riding in one of those cars that people are
riding like sardines and we can all smell each others' deodorant. I
just try and remember that I will not be riding the tube to work
forever and will look back on my memories with fondness. And I will
always remember "Mind the Gap".