As a rule I think that the tube is fantastic - it gets me pretty much anywhere I want to go in London, and is a public transport system that I think should be replicated elsewhere to cut the New World reliance on cars. When antipodean Londoners complain about rising petrol prices, it's because the cheap flights to Europe are going up in price, not because they are struggling to drive to work or supermarket. That is largly because of the tube.
Living in London, however, you get accustomed to tube delays. Signal failures, passenger alarms being activated and engineering works often conspire to make me late for work. On the weekends in particular it's not unusual for trains to be delayed or stations closed because of people throwing themselves on the tracks.
Last week, though, I was late to work due to an unexploded World War Two bomb being found in East London. Apparently it started ticking so a tube station was closed until it was removed, causing delays to the entire District Line. I hadn't realised that over 200 unexploded bombs are still in East London, and that these are being discovered as the London 2012 Olympic site is being prepared. This one was in particular was 5 ft long and known as a "Herman", named after the stout Luftwaffe head, Goering.
I always thought that I was born 35 years too late to be directly affected by World War Two, but now I can say that the Luftwaffe made me late for work. Heh.
Living in London, however, you get accustomed to tube delays. Signal failures, passenger alarms being activated and engineering works often conspire to make me late for work. On the weekends in particular it's not unusual for trains to be delayed or stations closed because of people throwing themselves on the tracks.
Last week, though, I was late to work due to an unexploded World War Two bomb being found in East London. Apparently it started ticking so a tube station was closed until it was removed, causing delays to the entire District Line. I hadn't realised that over 200 unexploded bombs are still in East London, and that these are being discovered as the London 2012 Olympic site is being prepared. This one was in particular was 5 ft long and known as a "Herman", named after the stout Luftwaffe head, Goering.
I always thought that I was born 35 years too late to be directly affected by World War Two, but now I can say that the Luftwaffe made me late for work. Heh.
4 comments:
That is AWESOME!
SERIOUSLY awesome. In a obviously-thank-goodness-it-never-exploded sort of way :-) I have photos of Tane looking grumpy on the train haha - will facebook.
What do you mean you love the tube??!!
After the awful Wellington bus drivers' strike of 2007 the tube is great. At least when you are waiting for it you're not in the wind and rain!
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