The London tube rattles into the dim lit platform, metal screeching on metal, as it comes to an abrupt halt at Marylebone station. The station is crawling with irritable commuters, drained and disheveled after a day’s work. The doors slide open with a satisfying sweep and a wave of people hurriedly trip onto the platform in an attempt to beat the crowds. The awaiting Londoners stall politely outside the doors, as is a custom on the underground, but each have a little more than an air of impatience about them; and stream into the carriages as quickly as they can manage without losing a limb. If you are not accustomed with the London tube, the atmosphere inside a carriage is that of silent impatience, cramped and claustrophobic. There is an unwritten law that under no circumstances must two strangers communicate on the tube, with the exception of asking the next station, the time or which stations are closed today. These particular passengers keep this rule religiously and the air of civilized hostility is palpable. Each passenger casts their eyes onto the grimy floor of the carriage and has a polite-but-don’t-come-to-close look about them. As the train bumps along the tracks, the lights flicker and the passengers shift uncomfortably in the dank carriages. The fortunate thirteen passengers, who had won the seat race, are eyed enviously by weary business men as they pretend to be engrossed in last week’s Metro. The London Underground is a people-watchers paradise; the assortment of characters found in a single carriage is astounding and can keep one amused for hours. There is always the standard, uniform package of a mother plus screaming child, an oblivious teenager whose music is just loud enough so it can be heard across the entire train and of course the petulant business worker. Occasionally there is an odd, opinionated pensioner who clearly wishes to voice his or her judgment on the level of noise emanating from the head phones. Each face holds a gloomy countenance and an uncomfortable silence hangs as the train rattles on towards Paddington.