A Subway named Desire

Commuting back and forth to work we come across familiar faces who are complete strangers to us. Sometimes after a while you might find the time to nod at these passing acquaintances. Furthering the friendship, conversation can be entered into. This is where it gets tricky. Soon flaws could be found in the character of your new buddy and try as hard as you can to avoid future contact, you’re stuck with him.

A good idea could be to shift allegiance and attempt to engage with a different traveller who, hopefully, will reciprocate your friendship. Worryingly, a ménage a trios could be formed whereby the original friend joins in the conversation. You can use this to your advantage by limiting your input to the chat gradually until you have left them to their own devices and returned to peaceful anonymity.

However, when sharing the same subway section with the usual collection of human beings if a regular passenger has disappeared all manner of variables go through your head: Has he/she a new job, change of hours, moved to another town, been sacked, unwell? And then you wish you took the time to get to know the person better. They have an affinity with you; they’ve been riding in your carriage for years. Even a friendly smile would not have gone amiss. Now, that face is lost forever, like a pen.

Sometimes love can be found in the claustrophobic sweaty air of the warren; tales of romance in the subway are not the stuff of myth. Many’s the time innocent introductions blossom into love watched by fare paying chaperones enjoying this real life Mills and Boon affair. Petrol stations and book shops are losing their allure for lonely hearts as the clack-clacking of the underground becomes a tunnel of love.

Informing an unattached friend of my observations of these trysts he has now changed his mode of travelling to utilise the subway in his endeavour for relations with the opposite sex. He’s still on the tracks, poor soul, and it’s a pity he doesn’t live in London or New York. Compare the sizes.com.

Small in stature, uncomplicated in structure the Glasgow underground has one beautiful stop that is the true love to millions.