The Tube Dude

As I sit on the cold hard bench of the Metropolitan line I stare around at my ‘fellow’ travellers. Each person is sat at least two seats from the next, desperately using newspapers, iPods or worse still adverts to avoid any form of interaction. The bright halogen lights make everyone’s faces look gaunt and unwell. Some passengers feel my gaze and glance up, only to appear startled or disturbed by my interest, pulling their newspapers up higher over their faces. Even the warm air flowing through the carriage brings no comfort, just causing one to feel muggy and light headed. Is the tube such a horrible form of transport due to remaining in the unknown environment of being underground, or is it simply we travellers that make it so?

My question would soon be answered, for just as I begin to despair at the thought of yet another silent lonely journey a man steps on to the train with heavy dusty boots. If everyone I travelled with so far were sheep then this man was an orangutan. He had dreads weaved down to his knees, predominantly brown yet with streaks of every colour I could imagine, like a hairy rainbow. He blazoned a jacket that had been patched up so many times it was impossible to tell its original colour, with a tall frilly collar pulled high under his hair. Beneath this was a pair of luminous high visibility trousers that shone even brighter than the halogen lighting. His eyes had long since sunken into his head, yet the golden brown irises beamed life. Despite this flamboyancy not a single passenger had noticed him. With a skip in his step he bounded over opposite me and took a seat.

It was as if the world had been resuscitated.

The halogen lighting appeared to turn to candlelight right before me, filling the carriage with warmth free of humidity, as newspapers filled the air like confetti. A roar of laughter deafened me as out of nowhere travellers were mixing and merging like waves, barely containing themselves as they hugged and kissed merrily. Suddenly I was the only one left in my seat, remaining transfixed by the scruffy little man who had turned the world upside down. He looked me deep in the eye with a smile and a wink. I could feel the seat below raise me and that was enough. With a squeal of wonder I leapt up out my chair, I stretched my arms wide determined to embrace everyone, everything. I could hear the man singing as if to my soul. The carriage was rocking, not like a train but a cradle. Just when I thought my heart would burst, haemorrhaging with love, suddenly-

The world had returned. I was stood alone. People were desperately scrapping up newspapers or looking down low, that sombre look returning as they plugged back into their earphones. I looked round behind me to see a blur of colour leaving.

In a fraction of a second I had decided, no matter where I was going, today I wouldn’t go alone.