Monday, April 04, 2005

Going underground

In the spirit of Annie Mole, a few questions on life, the universe and everything, which occur to me when travelling on the tube.

Why does every busker choose to sing Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"?

If there are so many struggling singers and stand up comedians trying to make it in London, why don't they just get jobs as tube drivers for 20k+, impress their captive audience with their wit and/or musicality, and hope some media types notice them? Rather than temping in a god awful office and getting heckled in the back room of a pub for £30 a time (obviously the musicins would have to be singers with a recorded backing track in their cabs; I don't suppose it would be a useful career tip for a guitarist).

Where do the people selling The Evening Standard outside the stations learn that strange call? Joey Deacon spent years trying to have his speech understood, to have some dignity, and then people with relatively normal diction try to sound like that. How would they like it if a load of Blue Peter presenters came round to patronise them, and throw their shoe into The Thames, eh? If you're under 30, you won't understand, but you might like to go here for a history lesson. He was actually quite an admirable person who wrote his autobiography against amazing odds. Ooh...the website is a bit politically incorrect. I'll get comments. Are these jobs advertised? Do they make you do it at the interview?

Where do the tubes go at night? do they just stop in a random station, or is there a big depot?

If we had 24 hour tubes, as some people have suggested, would homeless people beg for the tube fare, and then just go round and round, sleeping for the night? Do some of them maybe do this on cold days?

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