I know. I am writing on this less and less these days but I fear that my new job and very happy relationship (1 year now!) means that the scope for meeting interesting strangers on The Underground is less and less likely at the moment – especially as I am now riding a bike 9.67 miles to work and back every day!
Robyn’s dad kindly lent me the use of the Italian Stallion you see here below. I made a few modifications in buying a speedometer (essential for any serious cyclist!), some flashing lights and a water bottle along with a wheel pump. It takes me a record of 36 minutes to get to work so far but with my legs getting stronger by the day, I reckon by December I could shave a couple more minutes off!!
Now the reason I’m writing today is because I actually had a meaningful exchange with a bearded man on my bike tonight! I left work a little late ( about 8 ) and at the first set of traffic lights I applied my brakes only to hear a voice exclaim “lovely day for two wheels!”…
“It certainly is” I replied looking to my left at the frail and bearded man from which the previous utterance came. I then said (assuming I would speed off and leave him eating my dust) “Ok, have a good journey home!”….only to find he kept up until the next set of traffic lights…he then continued the conversation – “My cousin used to ride a fixed gear bike…” – oddly I had just had this exact conversation with my Father on the telephone so I told him as much – “I just spoke about that with my Dad” I said.
Excited about the prospect of making my first cycle friend, I asked the logical question “so where are you heading to?” “just to London Bridge then I get on the train” he responded followed by “I used to cycle a lot more as I was born in XXXX and worked in XXXX”. “Interesting” I replied, hoping he would ask how far I had to go so I could impress him with the distance I’ve been commuting…and sure enough he asked and I told him. “Wimbledon”.
After a brief analysis of the gradient of the hills I would have to defeat on my way home (there arent many he was keen to point out in comparison to the route he did as a lad) he then said that he now helps run a Robotics Company called “Shadow Robot Company” and having just visited their website I can tell you that the man I met tonight is called Nick Singer (photo below).
Armed with this information I wished him a good evening and gave him a firm thumbs up as I cranked up my gears and accelerated over London Bridge overtaking several fellow cyclists as I did so grinning to myself. I like Nick – hopefully we’ll cross again.
Last Wednesday I was on the way to play football after work with my colleague/friend Dave and as I was getting onto the tube, I noticed the lady in front of me was quite heavily pregnant. I wasted no time in putting on my helpers hat and asked the young man sitting on the closest seat if he would mind letting her sit down “as this lady here is pregnant”…he looked up a little bemused and stood up and the lady looking confused sat down…without so much as a “thank you”…I then looked at Dave who was shaking his head and blushing slightly.
“She’s not pregnant dude…!” he whispered excitedly – clearly amused by the way in which my heroic action had backfired. A few smiles broke out around me although the lady was anything but smiling – she was sitting there with what still looked like a baby bump although it was now inconveniently (or purposefully) covered by a large scarf type thing. The rest of the journey was spent in silence until we all got off at Kings Cross and Dave held back to confirm my mistake…woopsie!!
It’s a strange and awkward place to find yourself in to be looking at someone deciding whether they are pregnant or not and whether to give them your seat as a result of your decision! Those baby on board badges are a clever idea – all pregnant women should wear one On the plane to Vegas the stewardess asked a girl sitting near us “oh, how pregnant are you?” to which her mother replied…”she’s only 14.” WOOOPSIE! that was an awkward 10 hours!
Personally I blame no one but them – if you’re significantly overweight to be possibly mistaken for being pregnant, I think there are worse ways to be told that maybe it’s time you lose a few pounds
The sun is streaming through my window and as I sip away on a cup of water replenishing my internal water supply, I’m recalling my journey home last night which involved meeting a few complete strangers – or so I initially thought!
The journey started at Old Street as I left a colleague of mine following 2-3 pints post work as we discussed the pricing matrix for a product. Full of Dutch courage (the tour guide on the duck tour tells me this phrase originates from the days of the Great Plague when no one but the drunk Dutch would dare import goods into London) I began conversation with a lady who studies art and specifically fabric printing. Turns out it is quite popular in the fashion world. Once she departed I spoke to the lady sitting next to her who I noticed had a wedding band and a snake for a ring on the same finger. She told me that his historically people bought these snake style rings for engagements as they can be unwound should the engagement break off…I’ve Googled and thus far not found such story but I don’t know why she would have lied about it!?
I then turned to the gentlemen who just got on the tube as snake lady came off and started talking rubbish about the guy’s shoes – they were green and had three fluorescent yellow adidas stripes. Having recently finished a book on the history of Puma my sister kindly gave me last Christmas, I enjoyed telling them about the history of Adidas who was actually Mr. Puma’s brother probably more than they enjoyed hearing it. Eventually (and I don’t remember quite how) it turned out that one of the guys had worked with my boss in the past and was now writing a dissertation on Grid computing (of which my boss knows a lot about). He gave me his card and no doubt I will mention him today.
Makes me think, London really isn’t that big a place – although it can sometimes seem it, the rule of 7 degrees mentioned before on this blog would indicate that should you speak to 7 people on the tube, chances are you’ll know someone in common
Speaking of which, the other day I was running around Farringdon and I saw none other that Sian Clancy again!!!! She just keeps popping up that girl!
A few months ago I went out with my pal Prath (www.prathab.co.uk) and some friends at a very cool place called Inamo – a restaurant where you choose your menu on the table which is pretty funky if you want to impress your next date!
Anyway, one drink left to another and after spending some time on the dance floor on my own, Prath thought it was time for me to head home…I left the club after talking to the Senegalese bouncer for a while in French before Chris put me in a taxi. I don’t really remember what happened next but basically I found a video on my phone last night which brought back a few lost memories of “what happened next”….
Since finding this video, I remembered that I then got back on the underground with a broken umbrella and spoke in some broken Arabic with some Egyptian guys who were all very nice. I then spoke to two Irish ladies who came to London for a show but they missed the start and then went to onto a few drinks instead. They were sweet but I don’t really remember what we discussed. As I write this I also recall that I started asking everyone on the carriage where they were from to illustrate the fact that London is a melting pot of backgrounds…wow just listened to the video – I was tipsy – might mute it.
Just also realised he gave me his phone number – which makes that 3 guys phone numbers I’ve picked up in the last few weeks…more to come from the other ones next week where I will be reporting from VEGAS!!!!!!
The other day I was on my way home slightly later in the evening when a man appeared on my carriage with his violin and a little speaker – he then started to entertain the travellers with his merry tune! Funny how some people didn’t take out their ipod earphones to listen to this dude – although I must say the evening tube is certainly a lot more fun than the morning one! Imagine him busting his beats on a tube crammed with sleepy commuters…I actually think he’d get a much better response than you’d imagine! Play on player – that’s what I say.
I had a meeting at lunch time today and as I made my way back to Tower Hill station a young man with a UNICEF jacket approached me and asked if I had a few minutes to spare…now I usually save both him and I some time and pretend to be on my phone but as the sun was shining and I was feeling quite relaxed, I said yes.
We didn’t actually talk about Unicef as such, more about his job, his interests and his gold investment tactics. Actually, I don’t think UNICEF’s work was really ever mentioned although he tried a few times, I know in general that they’re a big and successful charity helping children in desperate conditions all over the world – so I didn’t need convincing that their cause was a worthy one.
Truth be told I wasn’t initially thinking about signing up but it was when I found out (by me asking rather than him telling) that he doesn’t work for commission – just a basic salary. I liked that approach a lot and as I realised he was doing it for the joy of meeting new people and working outside, I saw Unicef in a different light and will consequently be £7 lighter every month!
I gave him the address to this website so hopefully he’ll pop on and give us some thoughts on his job and how many different types of people he must engage with every single day – an interesting and no doubt rewarding job!
This morning I looked up from my Metro to see a lady standing in front of me with a “baby on board” badge (see below) which alerted me to her pregnant status as her coat covered what was a subtle bump…
I immediately stood up and offered her my seat to which she seemed quite surprised – which in turn surprised me seeing as she was the one donning the badge! Anyway, got me thinking – what if more of us wore large badges signalling our status – maybe we could link a LED display via blutooth to the badge so our status could scroll? “Grumpy, leave me alone” or “enjoying this book – ask me about it”…”I just farted” (I would appreciate the honest factor of the latter because I get tired of breathing in loudly then shaking my head with a nose full of guff whilst audibly tutting).
After all, we live in a generation that constantly “tweets” its thoughts and updates our facebook statuses to a whole host of online strangers- why not just share it with your neighbour?!
I shall investigate further but just in case, I hereby copyright the above idea.
Well as my good friend Prath rightly points out in his recent blog, summer is upon us and people are starting to worry about their bodies as the time to wear less clothing is here….and by jove man is it here!!!
I’ve often had the summer vs. winter debate and this year more than most, I wonder why the hell I’d ever consider backing winter because of its warm and cuddle credentials!! Summer kicks winter’s ass – literally!…
On Monday morning last week I was exiting Old Street station after a fairly ordinary journey in when I looked up above me and noticed the young lady in front had such a short skirt on that as she walked up the stairs (and I arched my head slightly to the left) I could see her bum!! This was followed by Thursday’s bum which I saw walking down the stairs to Old Street station – the girl had a floaty skirt which bounced up and above the bottom of her bum cheeks as she walked down the stairs.
Lastly, and hopefully by no means least, yesterday afternoon as I left work there was yet another young lady (on a bicycle this time) who rode past me and whose skirt was so short I could not only see the fact she was wearing stockings but also her bum cheeks!!!
So, I guess in response to Prath’s post on why people worry so much about their appearence in summer – I’m not sure why, but I’m glad they do because it brings a smile to my face to see a perky bottom on the street Long may the summer continue!
My friend Simon kindly pointed me in the direction of http://submate.com and it’s brilliant!…well will be! It is exactly the vision I had for commuting until the faces of my fellow commuters got me down…
This morning was prime example – the train was jam packed because the one in front had “traction problems” – which I admit is a new excuse to me on the Underground – and people were tightly squeezed on huffing and puffing…they hate each other!
I’ve had a few short conversations but nothing worth talking about really…want to make some new London Buddies or “submates” for the summer time – will work on it.
…I’m going to be a martial arts company setting up expert.
I was in a pub the other day with a colleague of mine and noticed a girl hovering next to us. Clearly waiting for her evening companion to arrive, I asked her if she’d like to converse with us until he or she turned up.
We started with polite conversation and it quickly lead to “so, what do you guys do?”. I could have answered with the truth – but the truth seemed a little too easy and even a little too ordinary – I could have said – I sell IT, the office is round the corner. Instead, both Dave and I made up some silly stories that we worked in martial arts – on an advisory basis on how to set up a business in it. I used the fact that I currently have a broken wrist in a story about a failed concrete block failed karate chop and it was clear that she wasn’t quite sure how to take it – reality or fiction?
She worked for “Hello” magazine and had shoes from Primark. Her friend eventually turned up and after some further questioning we parted ways with her and her friend no clearer as to what we did or who we were. It was very pleasant and it has made me think that maybe I’ve got it all wrong about people’s awful attitude towards each other – maybe the reality of it is all too boring and probably why no one really cares about what their tube neighbour does or where they come from. However, I’m quite sure if we bothered to ask, we’d fine everyone had a fascinating story to tell.
![[A photo of Nick Singer - Design Engineer]](http://www.shadowrobot.com/images/HR/Singer_Nick_6.jpg)
On the plane to Vegas the stewardess asked a girl sitting near us “oh, how pregnant are you?” to which her mother replied…”she’s only 14.” WOOOPSIE! that was an awkward 10 hours!
