The Metropolis

A possibly apocryphal story about the Tube (Part 1)

Mike Pollitt | Friday 13 May, 2011 10:48

●

A friend was on a central line train coming in from the East. It was morning rush hour, hot and squashed. This friend of mine wasn’t feeling great, having had a few the night before, and his mood was further soured by his position. He was jammed in at the end of a carriage between a large corporate suit and a builder in a paint splodged smelly tracksuit. At least the window was open. So my friend shuts his eyes, turns up his iPod and thinks: “Only two more stops til Bank. Only two more. Nearly there. Only one more now. One more stop til Bank.” Then he opens his eyes and sees a guy in the adjacent carriage turn towards the connecting door, pull down the window on his side, vomit through the gap into my friend’s carriage and onto back of the corporate suit, then pull his window back up and turn away as if nothing unusual had occurred. And then my friend got off, because it was Bank.

Filed in:

Snipe Highlights

Some popular articles from past years

  1. Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
  2. Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
  3. Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
  4. 9 poems about London: one for each of your moods
  5. Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
  6. An interview with Desiree Akhavan
  7. A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
  8. London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
  9. Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
  10. The best church names in London, and where they come from