As the very first subterranean transport system, London’s underground, or the Twilight Zone as I so fondly refer to it (what is it about all social etiquette and conventions go out the window the further you venture below ground!?) is world renowned. The multi-coloured map, full of confusing and contorting lines, is sported gallantly across the walls of various international underground stations, from Buenos Aires to New York – so iconic is it’s horizontal red line, diagonally snaking navy line and circumnavigating yellow and green.
And yet, venture down into the preternaturally warm depths of the tunnels, and you’ll find a breed of Londoner so entirely at odds with the awe-inspiring tunnels and feat of engineering that you’ll wonder if they are indeed a new breed of being. At their most awesome when intermixed with the circumspect wandering traveller. The natives are the ones navigating their well-trodden, regimented routes with callous; elbows at angles, headphones on, eyes down, nose buried deep into the spine of a book.
Sounds eerily familiar? It seems apt then, that if you are going to be all-encompassed during your commute, it should be with one of the collaborative books created by Penguin and Transport for London to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground. The series of 12 books, each inspired by the various tube lines are filled with first-hand experiences of the English capital, penned by some of London’s finest.
Penguin Underground Series, available at £4.99 each Tfl.gov.uk.