The City is still in a state of near death. Yet oddly enough the tube is definitely getting busier. Not, like jammed, rammed and slammed, praise be, but, like 10 people on a carriage now instead of one. Or two. So where are all the tube travelers going? If not to work?

They didn’t look like workers. They looked like… like… like imposters! I generally take the 9 o’clock tube, or nearest. What is known as the ‘alta-cacker express’ because its the first tube of the day that over-60s can use their free passes. And I’m not saying I’m too mean to pay for tube travel, its just that I’m too mean to pay for tube travel. WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I??? AT MY AGE???? I FOUGHT A BLOODY WAR FOR YOU, LOST ALL 3 LEGS, GOT SHRAPNEL IN MY EARS!!! AIN’T PAYIN’ FOR NO TUBE RIDES…

Sorry, I seem to be suffering from Alf Garnett syndrome, it’ll pass.

So these journeyers were old couples, probably shopping. And there were other parents with kids. But no-one looked like a ‘normal commuter’. Who you can recognise by the dead eyes, the hang-dog expression, the aura of gloom that surrounds them, even in a mask.

Yet this was tonight’s headline. Tell London its safe to go on the tube. Until you all go on it, then it becomes seriously unsafe. Where social distancing will reduce from 2 metres to 2 millimetres. Where you become more concerned about the guy next to you having hygiene issues than Coronavirus. Where the sneezing and coughing starts. And people aren’t deploying their masks properly. I don’t deploy my mask properly.

So every day I hope the tube is empty, but pray that its packed. Just like the government. It’s a mini-distillation of the entire Covid issue. Health vs the Economy. Though I don’t really know who I’m praying to. Possibly to Boris. Definitely not to Sadiq Kahn. Maybe to Lucifer. Or Trump. Same thing really.

So there we have it. Maybe next week all will go back to ‘normal’ again. All we City bods have to do is click the heels of our red shoes together three times and we’ll be back in Kansas. Which is probably much busier than the City right now.

Happy drizzle.

A xxxx