Flaming Nora

It's not very often that I get excited when I hear a certain noise on my way to work each day. But there's a clang, a heavy clang, in the tube station I leave from every once in a while that fills my heart with glee. It's a heavy metal clang which signifies something's happening with the track or the points or whatever it is in the station in the tunnel out of view, and it can mean only one thing. An empty train is coming and I will get a seat.

London Underground is one of the best - and one of the worst - things about living in London. The Tube will take you anywhere you need to go, quickly, smoothly, usually. Sitting so close to your neighbour on the Tube is the hard part. If you’re unlucky, you can smell and tell what they’ve just eaten. If you’ve very unlucky, you can tell if their stomach has disagreed. And if you’re having the journey from hell, then your neighbour will be going swish, boom, crackle, static from their Ipods-a-go-go as you try to blank out their bleedin’ headphone noise to enjoy Alan Bennett on the Piccadilly Line. *I nicked the picture from here, pictures of real London