#Everybody Wants To Be a Londoner

So yes that is me, I’ve hit the 3 month mark of living, working, eating, drinking, occasional gyming, shopping, making friends, exploring, partying, dancing, dating, loving and hating London!…. No not much hating…. only on the tube during peak hour!….

The first time I travelled on the tube during peak hour was on my way to work, on the central line, the main tube train line that runs from East to West London straight through Oxford Circus…… I was speechless, never have I seen so many people on a train, pushed up against windows, pretty much on top of each other, then to see more people trying to push themselves on and into any space they can find, being within inches of getting caught in the tube doors…. Whilst on the platform more and more commuters gather to board the next tube which by the way comes exactly 1 minute later and another one exactly 1 minute after that….. I thought to myself I will never try to squeeze on a tube with all of those people, that is ridiculous, what is the point….. Give it 3 more peak hour journeys of watching train after train pass because you think you can’t fit, you realise you have been waiting 20 minutes that is at least 10 trains you could have jumped on and now you are late for work… Now I understand why people get ‘Tube Rage’….Day 4 you are throwing elbows, so Cirque Du Soleil you’re going all chinese gymnast to get yourself on that tube…..Once you’re on the tube and the doors are closed don’t think you can breathe easy yet, you better hold on because the tube waits for no one and that thing goes fast…. Hold onto any rail, door or ceiling you can, try not to fall on anyone around you, hold onto your bag and be mindful of thieves ( I had a close call with this!) and just hope you don’t start sweating and need to take your coat off… because… well….. you physically can’t!….All a while it’s freezing temperatures outside it’s the toasty tropics inside….minus the sun!

It’s not all bad, once you work out the better times to get to the station, the least crowded carriage to board, it’s one of the fastest and most convenient ways to travel around London. I actually love it and I love how random it is, the things you see and hear whilst trying not to make eye contact with anyone for too long…..

One morning as I squeezed myself onto a crowded tube I look up to see quite a handsome man smiling at me as we stand inches away from one another…. I don’t even stand this close to my friends…. There we are on the tube nose to nose, not really knowing where to look, trying to play it cool, not to look each other in the eyes or be caught checking each other out… Oh I know I’ll look up and read the tube map…. because I haven’t looked at that a thousand times before!…. As the tube pulled up to each stop and people got on and off we moved near each other, exchanging glances and smiles… Ok I think he fancies me, time to ‘grow a set’ but we both have ear phones in so how will we ever actually talk?…. I thought I’ll just casually take my ears phones out and put my phone in my bag and see what happens….Nothing to lose!… He taps my arm and asks me if I am getting off the tube… I say ‘No, not yet’ (Insert cheeky smile) and we start talking, we ended up getting off at the same stop and chat to the tube exit. There is an exchange of numbers and kiss on the cheek goodbye…..

Some flirtatious texting later in the day…. this guy seems really nice and quite normal, portrait & landscape photographer, well dressed, very Noel Gallagher looking, plus it was fun how we met as I’d been through a bit of a bad run with that fishy dating website so was nice to just meet someone randomly….. Texts continued and there was talk of going out for a drink…. and then…. and then came the part I love to hate, he asks me ‘Can you send me some pictures?’…… I get it, this is the world we live in now and I love technology but whatever happened to just meeting someone for a coffee? See me in person with no filters, you will know within the first 5 minutes if there is an attraction, even sooner than that…. So I thought ok we did only meet very briefly so I’ll just send him a few recent photos that I have on Facebook, it’s nothing that I haven’t already put out to the public. Problem with this is you have opened the door to sending images but my theory is you don’t have to send anything you don’t want too…. doesn’t stop them though!

So he sends me a picture of him in his underwear amongst his other fully clothed pictures….. I just say he looks handsome and leave it at that……. A few days pass and there has been no more messaging so I just message to say hi and see how he is……. No reply…… A few more days pass and I get a ‘Hey, sorry I was out all weekend working and partying and being hung over…how are you?…. His next message was ‘So are you going to play with me now, or will I have to use my imagination?’……. my reply ‘IMAGINATION.’