I have previously commented on how commuters tend to ignore each other while they are on the tube or bus, keeping their eyes on the floor or book or anything except their fellow commuters. Perhaps in so doing they also feel that they have licence to do things on public transport as they don't think anyone will take notice. Well I do notice and yesterday I witnessed two bits of action on my tube journeys that I thought worthy of mention.
My husband was away yesterday and I took Baby to nursery in the morning- one of my husband's chores. Perhaps because it is a relatively unfamiliar route I was a little more alert to my surroundings than usual. As soon as I got on the Jubilee line at Canning Town, I noticed a man holding on to the pole in the central standing room of the carriage. The reason he caught my eye was that he seemed to be looking very intently at the floor or his own feet, as in he was bent almost double at the waist and looking down. My initial thought was that he had dropped something and I should be careful where I tread. Then he started to wiggle his hips, raised his torso from the waist up and bopped left and right, holding on to the pole and occasionally stepping slightly left, right, back or front. He was actually dancing to the music that was being broadcast through his headphones. Mercifully the music could not be heard by anyone else in the carriage; he must have had good headphones, or maybe he didn't need loud music to instigate a dance. He was very amusing to watch, albeit also a little alarming as he seemed quite oblivious to the people around him and I was worried about being knocked over by his dance moves. Perhaps he was protecting his personal space by doing his little dance routine.
The other person was a lady calmly applying mascara with one hand while using the image from her phone, which she held in her other hand, as a guide. One couldn't help but wonder how she could keep her arm still enough for a precise application amidst all the movement from the train and her fellow commuters. I was mesmerised by her exercise in stillness, just as much as I was entranced by the dancing commuter's movement.
Who says commuting is boring?
My husband was away yesterday and I took Baby to nursery in the morning- one of my husband's chores. Perhaps because it is a relatively unfamiliar route I was a little more alert to my surroundings than usual. As soon as I got on the Jubilee line at Canning Town, I noticed a man holding on to the pole in the central standing room of the carriage. The reason he caught my eye was that he seemed to be looking very intently at the floor or his own feet, as in he was bent almost double at the waist and looking down. My initial thought was that he had dropped something and I should be careful where I tread. Then he started to wiggle his hips, raised his torso from the waist up and bopped left and right, holding on to the pole and occasionally stepping slightly left, right, back or front. He was actually dancing to the music that was being broadcast through his headphones. Mercifully the music could not be heard by anyone else in the carriage; he must have had good headphones, or maybe he didn't need loud music to instigate a dance. He was very amusing to watch, albeit also a little alarming as he seemed quite oblivious to the people around him and I was worried about being knocked over by his dance moves. Perhaps he was protecting his personal space by doing his little dance routine.
The other person was a lady calmly applying mascara with one hand while using the image from her phone, which she held in her other hand, as a guide. One couldn't help but wonder how she could keep her arm still enough for a precise application amidst all the movement from the train and her fellow commuters. I was mesmerised by her exercise in stillness, just as much as I was entranced by the dancing commuter's movement.
Who says commuting is boring?
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