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I’m writing this 30,000 feet in the air. Through the foggy porthole window I can see ships crossing the channel and sunlight reflecting red on the horizon. Shortly my flight will be descending into the London night-time and for a few minutes I will get to see London in a way that wasn’t possible over 100 years ago.
Flying still hasn’t lost its novelty for me. For the last couple of months I have viewed the spectacle of London from the air twice a week as I commute back and forwards to the European mainland. It’s not always something I look forward to, it means nights away from home, long hours and early mornings…how I hate early mornings. However for an hour I’m blessed with peace, quiet and calm and a view that you simply cannot compete with.
I remember when I first moved to London and for the first time in my life I was ‘allowed’ to ride the underground every day if I wanted to. The first month commuting to work was an adventure, a short few hops above ground before burrowing into tunnels of darkness and arriving at stations built like warrens with new and old chafing against one another. Granted there were delays, and queues and suspended lines and all the things I’ve grown to expect from mass transit, but for that first month going to work was fun. Following that I had to remind myself that I thought it was fun, and occasionally I’d smile remembering how exciting it once was before smiling at how ridiculous it was to have to remind yourself to smile. Shortly after that, the novelty of commuting by underground wore off, but I’ve never lost my fascination with it. Visit London’s Transport Museum in Covent Garden and you might understand why as it discusses how the first underground tunnels were opened back in 1863 to avoid bulldozing large parts of London for new train lines. The underground as we know it now, with Harry Beck’s iconic diagrammatic map wasn’t introduced until later in 1933.
I always choose a window seat when I check-in. Right now that means sitting at the back of the plane where I’m less than treated to the sound of the toilets flushing every two minutes – the Frankfurt Car Show has brought pandemonium to the air and hotel industries of Germany. Shortly I’ll be on a Hammersmith and City line underground train and back home again. Right now however, I have the window to look out of, the sun is almost set and the view is beautiful.
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Nice blog post. I have been using the Shanghai metro for a year and now im on the busses because theres one that goes right to my work. The metro is ridiculously busy and noisy, people using iPads and chatting. Whereas the people on the bus are very quiet even though its equally busy. a strange contrast. I think it's because everyone is looking out whereas on the metro they're looking inwards, so you're forced into a conversation!
11 Nov 2011