And so, perhaps it is time to take a dispassionate, more ‘philosophical’ perspective on the London #TubeStrike today.
I am in a position to take a dispassionate, more ‘philosophical’ perspective on the London #TubeStrike today, because thanks to the combined – so as not to say concerted – efforts, and unwavering commitment to their jobs, by a London Overground driver, a Southwest Trains driver and a bus driver on the No 490 bus, plus all the staff and colleagues and infrastructure that support them in their sterling service to us, the public, I am now (at the time of writing) ‘airside’ at Terminal 5; and having emotionally and psychologically prepared myself for the extravagant expense of a taxi cab, but, thanks to the unsung heroes who have created and given us CityMapper, not incurred that expense, on the one hand, as well as having built in a sizeable margin of error into the additional estimated travel time and – again all credit to aforementioned innumerable transport workers – not really used it, on the other, I have since rewarded my fully acquired British stoicism with a glass of Sancerre and the most delicate sea bass ceviche, devised and provided by our friends from Fortnum & Mason for our delectation here at the airport; and so my level of gruntledness is now ‘pleasing’.
Maybe we are altogether wrong, admonishing London Underground staff for their ‘industrial action’. I feel tempted to say we should embrace, nay, celebrate these occasions. For do they not serve us as timely, and – even at their near-regular frequency – welcome, reminders of how trivial our woes are by comparison.
When trade unions were first thought of as a good idea, their purpose was to secure a tolerable existence for their members, which largely meant high enough wages to put food on the table for their families and to maintain a roof over their heads. How glorious an achievement, then, is it not, that some of our best paid public sector workers today are able to assert their right not to baseline survival, but to a finely tuned ‘work-life balance’: surely this is progress, and enlightenment put into practice, of sorts.
Also, the worst thing that has befallen me, for example, today, is that I left my flat two hours earlier than ordinarily I would have done, and instead of taking the well-trodden, over-familiar route involving the Piccadilly Line and nothing else, I was given the opportunity to take a handsome detour via Clapham Junction where I was able to take some pictures that I might use to illustrate the first instalment of my new concept narrative online, which happens to set off from that precise station, then watch a man sleep on the train, wondering what he might be dreaming of, and make a fleeting acquaintance with Feltham, which I am convinced has its own charms, although my time spent there was sadly too short to discern any of them. Thence, it was an unguided but nevertheless fascinating tour of the Heathrow perimeter, which showed Heathrow up to be quite as large and expansive as it looks from the sky, with stops at (and in) places you would ordinarily only ever see in a less-than-convincing English ‘action’ film by an earnest young director attempting to emulate American television drama. And who would have thought that Terminal 5 has an approach road called ‘Walrus’? That alone warms the cockles of my heart, as I can never hear or see the word ‘walrus’ without imagining John Lennon, perched on a rock in the water, with his glasses on.
And, because I had time to spare, and was frugal in my choice of transportation, I now know what a ‘ceviche’ is. Most worthy of rejoicing in though, surely, and of bearing in my all too often still, I warrant, all too self-obsessed mind, is the fact that nobody dropped a nuclear bomb on my head, burning the skin off my flesh today and incinerating every thing around me.
Perspective can be a soothing balm, indeed.
(Do I now support the London Underground workers in their strike? Of course not, I think they’re being completely unreasonable, but who’s to say that unreasonableness is, in itself, not something we should simply elect to celebrate now and then…)
If you want to read from somebody who doesn't think the tube strike is unreasonable: this is interesting, (though I'm not sure I quite buy it).
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