1. “Mind the doors means mind the doors” – This one came from a angry lady driver. She was probably done for the day and just stretching till the last station using every bit of her energy and patience. After repeated warnings, people were still obstructing the door and finally she lost her cool and may be the tube etiquette.
2. “Not my day. Again a fault in the train” – This guy was a rather jolly and fun loving driver. He seemed to take it easy. The trains halted thrice before I could reach Greenford and the third time he made this statement. It made me feel nice because he was associating himself as part of us(sitting in the train) and felt equal frustration. I wish he could take some crash courses for other tube drivers.
3. “Thank you for obstructing the doors and causing the delay” – This guy had a rather sarcastic touch to his verbal skills. On Oxford Circus, it often gets too packed with people and doors have to literally struggle to close. After two futile attempts to close, the driver managed to close the door however in the first set of doors in our compartment a guy just rushed in and got his bags stuck in doors. Thus came the comment from driver. It sounded more grave than it appears here.
4. “Keep cool. I know it’s hot and uneasy. Keep a bottle....” – This lady reminded me of my mother. I have come far from home to work and build career. It was about 40 degrees in the tube. Terrible summer. We left white city, and entered the tunnel. Suddenly a very pleasant and concerned voice came from the speakers. The lady just spoke as if she was taking her own family in the train for a ride. She spoke for about 5 minutes suggesting various means to keep better inside the tube in the hot summer. I felt relieved just by hearing that announcement. Wish we had only lady drivers like her specially in the evening trains whilst heading home.
5. Loud ear deafening announcements. These do come every often. Once, the drivers blasted on the microphone but it was too loud to make anything out of it. I had absolutely no idea what he was saying. Not even sure if it was he or she. So loud! I’m sure many of you have noticed this. Why do these guys need to shout so hard in the speaker? Others, like the lady above seem to have no issues and cane speak so beautifully. I heard this and although was holding a book in one and bag in other, had to put my bag down and close my ears. Imagine if this was a security or an emergency announcement.
6. “Although the trains terminate on the next station, get down here if you are going forward otherwise you will have to climb the stairs to the other side of the platform” – Now this seems like a perfect gentleman. He knew that many people that the first take available and then get down on the last station to wait for the next station to continue their onward journey. But usually, when trains terminate early, they are put on a separate platform. The White City tube terminates on platform 3 while tube going further down come on 4. These platforms are on different sides so anyone getting down on White City would have to take the stairs to get to the other side. This nice bloke announced that we need to get down at Shepherd Bush if we want to avoid climbing stairs. Cheers to him...
