As a child and a teenager, I was a big runner. I ran everywhere. Down to the shops. Home from school. And, in many ways, I have continued that into my late middle-age. In the morning when I’m going to work, I run through the tube corridors at Victoria to try and catch the 9.03 circle line train, rather than waiting for the 9.12. I get it once out of five times. Why do I need to get the early train? Just to have a couple of minutes with a coffee before starting work. I’m still a runner in everyday life. I will suddenly break into an ungainly jog on Harleyford Road, the ugliest road in London, just to get the moment over with.I am a man in a rush.
On the London underground escalator the rule is you walk on the left and you stand on the right. On your way home in the evening, on the escalator going down, why would you stand on the right? Surely you want to get home as soon as possible. I’m not talking about the up escalator where you will have to stride up the high metal steps (I do this too by the way), but the down escalator where there is nothing simpler than just tripping down the stairs to get back to the home fires and your buttered crumpets quicker. It struck me the other day. There aren’t many of us trippng down the left hand escalator. Most commuters just stand. Is their home so rebarbative? Would they rather be at work? Do they love the commute so much that they want to prolong it? Or am I just a ridiculous man in a rush?
