This week’s shots have all been taken on the night tube. I waited many many years for it to come into effect and am now very happy it is here as it was promised for so long and seemed like it would never actually happen. The first ever night it was on I was so excited to use it I stayed up all night at a friend’s party just so I could get it back. Unfortunately I slightly over-egged it and didn’t get on a tube until 8am which I realised wasn’t actually the night tube, it was the day tube starting again. I’d missed it by being too late which is a joke because the great thing about the night tube is that you are never late. It is always on. That is the beauty of it. No more rushing for the last train and having to cut your night short by several hours just so you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on a minicab.
And then uber came in and it was cheap and fast and then suddenly the night tube didn’t seem so important. And with the decrease in nightlife venues in central london it felt like the night tube might have arrived too little too late. And for the first few months it came into action I barely used it. I then got a regular weekend night job which meant that I started using the central line every Saturday night around 3am from east to west london. And so these shots that you have seen this week are all from that weekly late night/early morning journey.
There are only 5 things that really happen on the night tube..people are either passed out, eating mcdonald’s, being drunkedly loud, snogging or…and this is the weirdest one of all…talking to one another. And I mean stranger to stranger. The one thing that would never happen on the daytime tube in a million years is actually a regular occurrence on the night tube. People interact. Yes, undoubtedly fuelled by alcohol but still, its a wonderful thing.
I try to take at least one shot on every journey and have been doing so now for over a year and will show you more over time. Although it is quite tense and I actually feel quite apprehensive taking shots as everyone is drunk and you are in very close quarters so if you get caught taking someone’s picture there is nowhere to go if they have a problem with it. Fortunately with my stealth like ninjaness I have been able to get away with it thus far which is a relief.
The shot you see above you was shot around last xmas. We watched from the next carriage as this girl, in her Santa hat and micro black dress, proceeded to give a guy who was a total stranger to her, a lap dance in front of everyone. I have been travelling the underground all my life and I can safely say I have never seen that before. And I’m pretty sure neither had he. He followed basic lap dance rules which stipulate you can look but you can’t touch. I actually thought he dealt with it pretty well considering it can’t have been what he was expecting on his journey home.
And I guess that is the beauty of the night tube. If the daytime version is personified by its repetitive regularity, its nocturnal counterpart is defined by its unpredictability…