On my days in London I wake up early (normally between 5-530). I spend an hour or so getting ready/watching TV/drinking red bull/hating how early it is. I do some work. I walk to the bus stop, usually arriving just in time to see the bus pull away. I walk to the train station. I stand around with all the other commuters, no longer an I but a we.
We crowd together under the overhang because it’s pissing it down with rain and no one brought an umbrella. When the intercom announces the train (Platform 2 for the 8.23 Southwest train service to London Waterloo. Calling at Staines, etc … This train is formed of 8 coaches.) we make our way down the platform. Jostling for a position. We all want a forward facing seat.
The journey through suburbia takes under 40 minutes, if we catch the fast train. We arrive in Waterloo. We spill onto the platform when the doors open swiftly walking toward the exit. Once we put our tickets through the gate, everyone goes their own way. Quickly joining another group of we.
By tube. By taxi. By bus. By foot. We all leave Waterloo. Rushing. And rushing. And forever rushing. We arrive at our destinations. Finally becoming an I again.
I don’t know how people do this every day. I suppose they have to but… God, it’s exhausting! I cannot wait until I’m more central. Soon. Eventually. But for right now, all I can do is sit back and enjoy the train rides with my fellow suburbanites, while we wait, impatiently, for London to whisk us off to our finally destinations.
The photo and words that depict the pictures of suburban commute are stunning, and your exhaustion is indeed felt, but, remember, many good things happen in between. A music composer will tell you that the magic of their sounds happen in- between the notes. It is in the spacing that the magic begins. Many a writers have found inspiration in the in-between and have written their best works while in commute somewhere, nowhere, etc. My dear, believe it or not, these are the best of times, the times when you are busy at work at becoming all you can be, so…take it in, take it all in, for this is it, life on the go life in the moment.
Take care and keeep us informed.
Regards,
OlgaC
olgacroom.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for your kind words. You are so right that good things happen in the between spaces.
That sounds like my commute, except I’m usually going the other way, towards the suburbs when I get a freelance assignment. Of course, when I’m shuttling around London itself, I’m nose to armpit with my fellow citizens. I could do with a bit more in between space in those instances…
Oh, I do know what you mean. The other day, I accidentally found myself on the Northern Line during rush hour…. With my nose literally in someone’s armpit. Pretty sure my feet weren’t even touching the ground it was so crowded.