There is an advertising campaign on the tube at the moment which says “Think 3
minutes is too long to wait? Try waiting 3 weeks for broadband!”
Before I started working in London, it always amused me that people would rush for the tube when another one is along so frequently.
The tube is a brilliant system. I like the fact that there are big announcements telling you exactly where you are so you know when to get off. I like how easy it is to get a connection. I like how frequently they arrive. I like how easy it is to find a tube station by just wandering around if you’re not sure where you are..
I’m also a big fan of the tube map. I love maps. I’m not sure why. I think it might be because I’ve got no sense of direction and therefore I like things that help me overcome that. I also like looking at them and all the exotic – and not so exotic – names of places I could visit, things I could see, things I could do.
Since Dan Light showed me that you can put a ‘transit’ option on Google Maps, I’ve become obsessed with looking at maps with the actual underground routes put on. It is interesting to compare the diagrammatic London Underground Map originally designed by Harry Beck with the actual layout of the tube lines. The standard map is so neat and structured yet when you look at where the actual lines run, it looks like a chaotic mess and you can start to appreciate what a work of art the map actually is.
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| Tube Map of London (left) compared to the actual layout of tubelines on Google Maps (right). |
It’s not as much of a mess as the Paris metro which looks like a plate of multi-coloured spaghetti. I am confused by the New York system where basically all seems to run the same way and I struggle to see the benefit of having so many lines doing the same thing. I like the simplicity of the metro in Prague where three lines all intersect at just one point. Or the even simpler system in Athens where two lines cross over at two points. I think this is a hobby it will take me a while to tire of as there are 148 cities with metro systems for me to look at.
I fell in love with the tube map when we got a game called The London Game when we were little. I had no idea what any of these places were with exciting names such as Pimlico, Barbican and Knigtsbridge. I had no idea what these places we like, where they were, what you could do there (other than a few things on the cards in the game) but I fell in love with them and fell in love with the structure of the map and the ease of navigation.
Since working in London, I’ve come to realise that sometimes running for the tube can be useful. My trains back to Folkestone run every half an hour, so if I miss one I’ve got 29 minutes to spend loitering at St Pancras before I can get home to dinner/bed depending on the time of day.
So I’ve started to see why having to wait three minutes for another tube could be a bit frustrating at times. I struggle, though, to find much sympathy for people having to wait three weeks for a broadband connection. It is such a luxury item that I’m sure you can go without it for three weeks. When I moved into my flat it took 2 months for them to install my broadband. This was partly because the internet company refused to believe my flat didn’t exist as it wasn’t on the post office database. This confused me as the postman suffered no problems actually delivering my post.
I survived during this time. I spoke to humans rather than machines. I think we are too obsessed with connectivity these days. I include myself in this. I’ll often almost bump into someone in the street as I’m replying to a message which could probably have waited the 10 minutes until I get to my destination to reply to. We don’t need to be always connected, always on. I’ve started turning my phone off for periods of the day just so that I can ensure I’m not picking up my phone every 20 seconds and can therefore focus on what I’m actually doing or enjoy the moment knowing I’m not going to be interrupted.
Our modern society is also so obsessed with having stuff now – which the internet is partly to blame for, I think. You can now get pretty much any entertainment you want – music, films, books, computer games, delivered to you instantaneously. And anything you can’t get straight away, you can get delivered pretty quickly.
I love the internet. It lets me watch House of Cards, and I’m all for technological progress but I’m sure anyone can do without a broadband connection for 3 weeks, especially when everyone has a small box that can be used to summon the elders of the internet to provide you with information if there is something you really need.
Some people have been waiting thousands of years for clean water. It is often far too easy to lose perspective. You can deal without broadband for a short while.