Tube People Watching

On the Tube, there is one of four things which people are doing during their commute. Everybody is doing at least one of these things; some people may do a combination of things, and occasionally you get people breaking the norm and doing something else completely. But everybody does at least one of these things on the Tube, and on any given day during a regular commute, you will see all four of these happening.

1. Reading. Londoners stick their nose in a book, and will not take it out for anything. People continue reading as they cross the platform to catch another train. People continue reading as they stand on the escalator to exit the station or switch lines. People go as far as possible to avoid putting the book down. Lately, the most common book I've witnessed people reading is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I think they're making a movie of this book, because I also see a lot of posters for it around Tube stations. People also read the sequel to this book. Also commonly read on the Tube are newspapers. It is not uncommon for other passengers to read news papers over peoples' shoulders, especially on packed Tubes. I certainly have been known to do so. Some people are even polite enough to share the paper if they notice people reading over their shoulder.

2. Listening to their iPod. I specifically say iPod, as opposed to mp3 player, because majority of people are, in fact, listening to Apple products, as the tell-tale white earbud headphones indicate. Listening to an iPod is frequently combined with another Tube activity.

3. Playing with their iPhone. Again, specifically iPhone. Occasionally you will see people playing with other cellphones (Blackberry is another common one), but iPhone is clearly a status symbol. Usually, the only people you see sitting on the Tube playing with an iPhone are business people wearing their fancy suits. They're probably doing important things on their phone (or at least trying to look important); I usually pull out my iPhone as if to say "look, I have one too! I am smug as well." and then sit there playing with Facebook. Very important use for Pete.

4. People watching. If you have nothing else to do, or if you have your iPod in your ears and nothing to occupy your eyes, it's difficult not to people watch. The Tube is packed full of people, sometimes they're practically in your lap - everywhere you look, you see other people. So it can be very interesting to people watch.

I mention all of this, because today I had an interesting little people watching moment. I hopped on the Tube, claimed a seat, and popped in my iPod.

At the next stop, a big gentleman got on and sat down next to me. I scooted over to allow him a little more room. I wasn't paying close attention to him, as he was directly next to me. All I could tell was that a big, strong man had sat down next to me.

And then, I heard the sound of a juice-box being slurped. My seatmate had pulled out a little juice-box and he was having a nice little treat on the Tube! I was so amused by this incident, that I didn't realize that the next stop was my stop. He got off there; you would have thought I would have followed him! So, as the train traveled to the next station (where I got off and went back to the previous station), I was musing to myself over this unlikely fan of juice-boxes.

Edit: I notice that I talk about the Tube a lot. In my defense, it is a necessary part of every day for me. And it certainly is considerably different from home, where I drive everywhere and only occasionally ride the bus. We don't even have an underground subway system in Washington state!