I love London.
More than that, I love London’s Underground.
This ancient subterranean transport system has been a part of my psyche from the first time my Mum brought me up to the big smoke to see the pigeons of Trafalgar Square – remember them?
Since then the colourful, maze-like map and simple iconography have been a clear and constant theme throughout my life.
Recently, after moving to London, travelling on the Tube (as it is more commonly known), has become a daily routine. Having spent a good couple of years working out of town, it really is good to be back.
Back on the underground.
Another pleasant by-product of enjoying my favourite form of public transport is the fantastic photography of it all.
Over the course of last year I caught myself snapping here and there more often than not, when there is an absence of occupance. This in turn led to the creation of a Flickr group -Â Empty Underground.
A collection of photos taken of London’s underground rail system all in that rarest of moments; emptiness.
My small obsession with all things London Underground continues unabated with this video pulled together of different shots I’ve taken in and around our fair public transport system.
I love it, I really do.
There’s so much interesting architecture to photograph and shoot that one can easily get quite carried away. Originally I intended just to make this video a bit like a scrap book; it’s ‘pages’ made up of all the out-takes and un-used footage that I’ve taken so far this month. But when I found the stuff with my old friend Basti, I had to whack it on the end.
Yes the audio is out of sync. It’s supposed to be. If you ever meet Basti, you will know that he operates on his own planet, in his own dimension, running by his own rules.
Time and space and all that jazz work around him, not the other way ’round.
This is for all my Jaiku buddies who having a big Meetku Party in Finland. Sorry I can’t make it!
This is mys econd attempt at uploading a special ‘Meetku Video’.
The outtakes were fun.. But this bad boy never made it up before. Try, try again..
Morning all – I am shattered.
Didn’t get much sleep last night and this morning I managed to oversleep.
Brilliant.
Then I get to the tube station only to discover that the travelcard on my Oyster has run out.
Brilliant.
Not only that but I also don’t get paid until tomorrow.
Excellent.
So I queue up to try and get it topped-up, half an hour later, my debit card fails.
Why? See previous point.
Fantastic.
What am I to do?
Well – at this point I had a good mind to turn around, go home, back to bed and sod the rest of the day off.
But no – I persevered – I managed to get through the barriers (just). Sneaky I know but I called my friend Alex to have a good moan and she insisted that I had no choice but to get myself to work (cheers Bongo, if you’re reading this).
So fifteen more mins later (when the tube finally turned up) I climb aboard a sardine tin-esque tube carriage…
..and off to work I went.
[EDIT: Just noticed the gormless looking dude over my right shoulder, on the bottom-left of the pic - brilliant - hahaha]
Note – my tube is NEVER that busy in the mornings.
What an absolute pain in the arse. GRRR!
Anywhoo – I’m at work now.
Ranting coming to an end.
Dunno what I’m gonna do about getting home yet – should be interesting.
Maybe I’ll work really late and sleep under my desk – that’s not a bad idea….
Oh – and on top of that – I’m moving house this weekend apparently.
Must start packing soon!
