Suddenly, your commute transforms into a survival challenge. Every bus stop looks like the queue for a sold-out Glastonbury. You see a man in a suit trying to charm his way onto a bendy bus by holding up a tenner. It doesn’t work.
Walking becomes your only option. You start walking faster, pretending you’re training for a marathon. But really, you’re just trying to avoid the real marathon: being late for your 9 AM stand-up meeting.
If you’re lucky enough to find a Tube running, it’s a game of Tetris with limbs. You will make eye contact with a stranger’s armpit for forty minutes. That is the price of London.
The Social Media Meltdown
You grab your phone to check for updates. Twitter is a warzone. “Is my line open?” is the most asked question since “Is water wet?” Everyone is posting blurry screenshots from a third-party app that crashed at 7 AM.
Then you see the announcement: “Limited service due to strike action.” It’s the most polite way of saying, “You are stuck, mate.” It’s like when the airplane pilot says “a slight delay” but you’re sitting on the tarmac for three hours.
You scroll further and find the memes. There’s always a picture of a lone cyclist smiling while everyone else trudges in despair. You hate that cyclist. You really, really hate that cyclist.
London Tube strike: All lines down after workers walk out - BBC News
