Surviving The Rush Hour
Avoiding the underground swelters
Getting around in London is easy; there are so many different options, different routes, and at varying prices. If you’re savvy enough, or know a good app to use, getting around is easy. It’s surviving through it that’s the challenge.
Rush hour, which in London doesn’t always mean just when people get off work en masse but rather instead just when most people are about. You’re budged up right against someone else, everyone is sweating, the platforms change sides at random, and you’re worried how on earth you’ll get through the swarm of people in front of you to get from one side of the carriage to the other before the doors close on you. Then of course there’s the fact that the tube is heated, so if you’ve just come in from the cold, bundled up in a thick coat, complete with a hat and scarf, you find yourself frying and sweating through your clean clothes.
If you’re lucky, you don’t need to be on the main Tube lines through rush hour. If you’re only slightly lucky, you can take any of the larger, cooler lines like District to get where you’re going, where the extra space and the air conditioning do wonders for surviving the mad rush and heat. If you’re not, you must make do with sticking music in and staring at one spot throughout the journey and try to keep yourself calm enough even though at least three people are shoved up against you and it’s way too hot to stay sane. But you will, you’ll make it to the platform and be off again.
