Down the Tube

In London I saw many wonderful things – Westminster Abby, St. Paul’s Cathedral, paintings in the National Gallery and the Tate, sculptures from the Parthenon at the British Museum, and so on. But one of the most memorable places was underground: The London subway system is amazing.

Londoners call it “the tube.” The center of the city is surrounded by a tangle of subway lines, marked in various colors on the map. I used it frequently to save steps, as trains came often and made frequent stops.

At that time people described things as “Way Out”, as they would later say, “Cool”, or even later, “Bad” or “Hot”. Seeing a good movie was “Way Out.” The landing on the Moon was “Way Out.” The London tube was definitely “Way Out.” I stepped off a train and a sign saying “Way Out” showed me to the exit.

I had ridden subways in New York (many times), in Chicago (daily, when I worked in Chicago’s loop), in Montreal (wonderfully quiet on rubber wheels), in Moscow (statues and murals at each underground station), and the Paris metro (the best system in the World). .

At first the London tube did not seem much different than Chicago or New York. The dimly-lit cars were filled with men in shabby work clothes, young people in jeans and tee-shirts. The trains screamed and screeched through black tunnels.

After a long day of sightseeing, I went underground to return to Margaret and Jack’s. At the Highgate station the “Way Out” sign led to what looked like the longest, steepest escalator in the World. With feet aching after walking all day, I stepped on the escalator and rode upwards counting the posters across from me on the wall behind the “down” escalator. I estimated the ride was the equivalent of climbing a five-story building.

I walked onto a tile-floored platform, which proved to be only a rest stop before another long escalator. It was another five-story ride until I finally reached the surface. Not as deep as the Chilean miners, but quite a ride! “Highgate” was aptly named. From places in the suburb you could look down on skyscrapers in the city, many miles away.

During World War II, as the Germans bombed London into rubble, people took shelter in the subways. For months families slept every night on station platforms. “The tube” saved thousands of lives.