Mind the Gap

One of the first truely British things we were exposed to was the London Underground, or Tube as it is also known. It is a masterpiece of engineering, planning organisation, timing, overcrowding and very convenient and rather frustrating all at the same time. Our first trip was from Heathrow to the hostel in Kensal Green. You can follow on the map: Heathrow is on the blue Piccadilly line bottom left. We travelled up to Piccadilly Circus station where we changed to the brown Bakerloo line which took as to Kensal Green station. Not rocket science if you take the right train in the right direction (eastbound/westbound, northbound/southbound), the problem comes in when some of the lines are not working or are delayed. You can easily spend an extra hour underground. Even so, its still an amazing system, think about it:There's a station within walking distance to just about anywhere in the city and a train stops at every station every 5 to 10 minutes. This means that you can get from anywhere to anywhere within an hour or two using only public transport. If thats not enough, there's also the buses, which does more or less the same thing just a bit slower. And with a travel ticket you have unlimited access to both these services for as long as the ticket is valid! What does 'mind the gap' mean? All trains have an automatic voice talking to the passengers telling them what the next stop is, when the doors are closing etc. And at each stop it tells you to 'please mind the gap between the train and the platform' as if you cant see it! A perfect example of the British health and safety overconsciousness. The rhythm of the announcements, the beeps and doors opening and closing can be hypnotic and many people have fallen asleep on the tube, missing their stop. But even that is not a problem, since you can just get off at the next stop and take the next train back, as long as its before 1 in the morning when all trains stop running, in which case you will have to take a night bus, but thats another story all on its own...

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