This article is from WeChat official account:Nine lines (ID: jiuxing_neweekly), author: Jian language, edit: Er Shugong, layout: Gloria, from the title figure: vision China
Since the high temperature warning was issued, the old artist has been living in his home for almost a month.
To tell the truth, I’m not afraid of high temperatures. I have been “baked” for a long time. I am a native of the stove city.
But walking under the scorching sun wearing a mask is the first time this year. How unsuitable a mask is for summer, you will understand after covering your mouth and nose and going to the sauna.
The mask is worn tighter and tighter, and the old artist who relies on subway air-conditioning to keep his life on a trip always thinks about this, and his admiration for the London people without air-conditioning on the subway is like a surging river.
Not long ago, the British Meteorological Service said that the UK is experiencing the first wave of high temperatures after the summer.
When the outdoor temperature is close to 38 degrees Celsius, it can be said that the temperature inside the train compartment of the crowded Central Line of the London Underground exceeds the 40 mark in minutes.
However, the real London Underground has not been driven by the heat into purgatory.
In all kinds of extreme driving environments that break through imagination, what you see is the unique quiet and loneliness of this city.
1. London Underground passengers living in the Middle Ages
Different from the indifference and restraint of the Japanese subway, The quietness of the London Underground often reveals a romantic temperament of the Renaissance.
If you have seen a group of photos called “Medieval Metro Passengers”, you can feel this:
An old lady in a green velvet headscarf focused on reading, a chestnut long-haired girl with headphones closed and enjoying music, an office worker holding a leather briefcase with her eyes closed, and a student who looked devoutly at the car roof in thought Party…
△Passengers reading quietly/unsplash
During the crowded commuting peak, these passengers who were immersed in their own world as if they were pressed the mute button gave the London Underground a soft light of classicism.
The photographer Matt Crabtree, who created this group of photos, once described the London Underground he experienced in this way:
“Many of the passengers around me look like figures from the paintings of painters such as Caravaggio or Vermeer. They often give me the illusion that I am not in a daily capacity A modern subway with more than 3 million passengers, but a time train bound for the Middle Ages.”
△The style of London Underground, with a retro flavor/unsplash
How much do the people of London want to be quiet and dislike conversation when they take the subway?
There was once an American brother who dreamed of changing the world. He paid out of his pocket and made a bunch of Tube chat(Metro chat) The badge calls on the people of London to give up British indifference and talk more to each other when riding in the car.
His badge and his attitude of “not chatting and doing nothing” completely angered the British people. The people of London cheated on Twitter and took the initiative to teach him how to be a man.
“As a key point, this is a city where 996 social animals would rather wait for the next subway train and avoid talking with friends.“
Londonians seem to like reading books and newspapers more than talking. If you want to vote for the most atmospheric reading destination in the world, the London Underground must have a name.
△If you have a book to read, what day will you talk about/unsplash
Remember the book-losing event that swept Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in 2016? You know, London is the birthplace of this activity. Long before Emma Watson caught fire, there was already a book called Books On Th in London.e Underground’s charity organization has been focusing on subway book drifting for 500 years.
The initiator of this event, Hollie Belton, is just an ordinary office worker who loves to read.
When she discovered that many passengers on the London Underground love to read books, her curiosity about reading in other people’s hands flashed. Wanting to know what others are watching, she decided to be the first sharer to let the books in her hand flow in the subway.
△It is a bold idea to let the books “flow” on the subway/unsplash
In addition to the battle of losing books, the BBC often selects readers on the subway and invites them to share the book list: there are popular novels such as “Game of Thrones”, and classic readings such as “The Weakness of Human Nature”; there are unpopular stories about extramarital affairs. Novels and niche books focusing on patients with Tourette’s disease…
△Unsplash/unsplash reading on the platform
On the London Underground, it’s not surprising to encounter people holding “Zhuangzi”. On the small whiteboard on the wall of the London Orville subway platform that provides service information, staff members use marker pens to copy famous sayings and share with others every day.
As early as 16 years ago, the first sentence was written on this whiteboard–A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
The translation is: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Anthony Gentles, manager of the station customer service department, said that his favorite book of Tao Te Ching was the inspiration for his daily golden sentence sharing: “Metro stations should not be boring and boring places. “
If you don’t have the patience to read, the London Underground will also provide you with newspapers that are more suitable for fragmented time reading.
In the newspaper box in the station lobby in the morning, you can find the “Metro Newspaper” which gathers international news, social news, entertainment gossip, and supermarket discounts; and at the subway station entrance at 4 pm, there are two hundred Distributed by the “London Evening Standard”, the favorite of the middle class for many years.
△Newspaper/unsplash distributed in the London Underground
Both newspapers are provided to passengers free of charge. Even on the back of the car seat or next to the escalator, you can still pick up old newspapers that others don’t want to take away. The only little regret is the newspaper. The Sudoku game may have been finished.
2. Only the most broken car can read the wildest book
The above, may be able to make a pot of chicken soup articles such as “Reading makes Britons better than other nations”. But the fact is that reading a book on the subway in London is actually more like a choice without choice.
Britain Sky TV has conducted a survey on “what do you do when riding the subway”, and the results show: In the absence of internet, most people prefer to read or play offline mobile games. read newspaper.
If the network signal is still good, browsing social platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, sending and receiving e-mails, and watching videos are the three things that people generally do.
So, the brainwashing package of “foreigners reading and Chinese playing mobile phones” should be enough. The key to the fact that the people of London can’t dance is because the subway signal is too bad?
△No signal, everything is over
The length of the London Underground network is more than 400 kilometers, of which urban lines basically run underground.
In other cities, the cell phone signal may get worse after entering the subway. In London, if someone doesn’t communicate on the phone, don’t worry, he may just get on the subway.
Here, loss of connection is very common. After all, there is no network coverage in all subway tunnels in London.
△London’s subway tunnels are relatively old, and it’s common to have no signal/pexels
In addition to the complicated subway lines and various interchange platforms, you have to do your homework before entering the underground if you don’t want to get lost in London. Attempting to temporarily rely on the mobile phone map to find the route, the weak signal that only exists in a small number of platforms may make you desperate.
The time has finally arrived in 2020. According to the promise of Transport for London, the people of London are about to offer the freedom of communication to “make a phone anywhere on the subway and go online”.
Officially beating the gongs and drums to tell you that the subway will soon cover the 4G network in the Twitter comment area. The most popular comment is the indifferent response from the London people: Please install the air conditioner first Right.
More unbearable than wireless networks is that air conditioners, which were born more than a hundred years ago, are now owned by only 40% of the vehicles on the London Underground. In recent years, passengers on the London Underground have been fainted by heat almost every summer. With the global warming, the number of passengers who fainted due to the high temperature of the carriage is also increasing year by year.
It’s no joke to take the subway in London in the summer. If it’s the first time to ride, the locals in London will give a sincere advice:
“Please carry a bottle of water with you. When the temperature is too high, you can use it to kill yourself first.”
Because the subway has been in operation for too long, the insulating clay layer in the tunnel that should have been breezy has almost lost its heat-absorbing function because it has absorbed too much heat generated by the train. This resulted in tunnels that had an average temperature of only 14 degrees Celsius at the beginning of the 20th century, and now some locations can reach 30 degrees Celsius.
△London’s underground station is the old station at first glance/pexels
In addition to the heat release of vehicle operation and passenger activities in the cabin, it is common to feel 35 degrees Celsius + when riding in a car in summer. Ironically, this is a lot higher than the European Union’s regulation of the transportation of livestock that cannot exceed 30 degrees Celsius. .
So, taking the subway in London is really inferior to the pig series.
In this regard, the subway officials also have their own opinions and arrangements: we have realized the problem of overheating of the carriages, and the air-conditioned vehicles with refrigeration system are expected to meet with you in 2030.
In the face of such a long-running picture cake, the people of London have shown a consistent gentleman spirit: “Thank you for your improvement plan. In the summer of 2030, my unborn baby is enjoying the summer vacation, and I may have Going to work in a flying car.”
3. London Underground, a place to meet love
Like the subways in all cities in the world, the London Underground has a cold side A, so naturally there will be a funny side B.
On a windy and rainy winter day in early January, you walk into the London Underground in a padded jacket. Don’t be frightened by the white thighs in the carriage. This is just an ordinary British “Metro Pants Day”.
Take off your outer pants and only wear underwear to ride the subway. The British, known for their stodgyness, will also reproduce the American madness.
There are passengers who wear all kinds of headgear and fancy clothes without revealing their real faces; there are also sleepers who sleep on the ground without the burden of idols;
△Open a live in the car comfortably
The carriages expressly stipulating that alcohol is strictly prohibited will become a drunk train at midnight when it is open all night; people seem to be indifferent and have no conversation, but there is a sharing community of secretly photographed subway guys like tube crush. People here unobtrusively express their love for strangers…
Lonely and boring Londoners, they also long to meet love here.
After all, this is a subway trip whose background is related to love. The platform prompt sound Mind the gap(Be careful about the gap between the platform and the carriage) was recorded by a real person. After more than 40 years of use, many platforms’ The system upgrades have replaced it with new dubbing, and only the Embankment station by the Thames still retains the original sound.
This attracted a lady to come to check in every day for thirteen years, rain or shine, so that the moment she stepped into the carriage, she could hear the voice she was familiar with——Mind the Gap, it was her late husband and voice actor Oswald Laurence who recorded this sound.
△The short film “Mind The Gap” is adapted from this story
The unswerving love is hard to find, but the fast food love at first sight is still easy to get. On the London Underground, you not onlyYou can shed tears for the love of others and create opportunities for your own love.
I don’t know which angel sister is, and developed a dating app called Find Your Commuter. The platform will match you with fellow passengers based on your entry and exit time and the route you take. Tap your finger and swipe, maybe you can find the little brother who just stood on the opposite side that made your heart beat.
△On the London Underground, maybe you can still meet love? /unsplash
And this makes everyone who walks into the London Underground seem to have walked into the opening chapter of a love story.
This article is from WeChat official account:Nine lines (ID: jiuxing_neweekly) author: Jian language, edit: Er Shugong, layout: Gloria