Well I've now done three weeks on the North London Line and it's been an
experience. I did travel on it from Highbury and Islington to
Gunnersbury in the early 90, when it was affectionately known as the
hair lip and club foot line. But nothing really prepares you for it in
2007.

Firstly there is the stuff people take on it. I'm not talking about the
rucksack with all their worldly goods that people in their 20's seem
obliged by law to carry everywhere. We're talking truly weird stuff. The
sort of stuff that makes the guy who went round Ireland with a fridge
look like an amateur.

1. Two guys with the best part of a flat packed bedroom. They had four
boxes so big they had to tilt them to get them on. There is a kind of
frontier express spirit on the NLL, so people actually helped them get
it all on board.
2. A guy on his own with a large and very old 26 inch TV.
3. A guy with a bamboo summer house in bits.
4. Bikes of all shapes and sizes jammed into soft knees and shins.
Despite the frontier express spirit I do worry about the health and
safety aspect of so much rusty metal packed onto a crowded train. A
minor accident could lead to lots of broken bones.

It has to be said the people on the NLL could teach City Gents a thing
or two about manners and tolerance and all this is treated with a smile.

Then there is Highbury & Islington ! You can hear people on mobiles
telling friends, "We're at Highbury and Islington, there'll be trouble,
there always is." The train pulls in and the people on the platform are
so packed in that they can't make a gap for the people getting off. A
sort of scrum develops and people moan at each other. The frontier
express spirit would still mean nothing serious would happen, but the
staff at Highbury & Islington then play their trump card. They start
shouting at people through megaphones (honest) and of course that gets
things nicely heated up and trouble ensues. Eventually a lone police
woman comes down the stairs, uses a bit of common sense, stops the staff
shouting and order is restored.

If you think your line is congested, or your journey is bad. Travel on
the NLL for a few days. You'll meet some of the nicest people you could
hope to meet, who are subjected to intolerable conditions on a daily
basis.

So come on Ken, if you want a third term, give London some decent
transport. Filling the roads with busses isn't good enough.

--
Edward Cowling London UK