5 Ways the London Tube Will Affect You as a Reader

A rare moment

I've been living in London now for almost two years and in that time I've learnt a few things about what it's like to be a book lover in the big city. Aside from during the evenings and in my lunch breaks I get the majority of reading done on the tubes - the northern line from Kennington to Warren Street has been my reading space twice daily for the last two years. I can tell you now that it's not always tube delays that have me sobbing in the end carriage.

For my fellow London dwellers these five points will be more than a little familiar and for everyone else, here is a little taste of the ways the tube will affect you as a reader.

1. You will be continually disappointed by people obscuring the covers of their books. Nosey Nellies be warned.

2. When this doesn't happen, you will fall in love with people purely based on their reading material. If you're reading Wilkie on the tube and I'm nearby, prepare for enthusiastic smiles, staring and maybe, if you're really lucky, even a wink or two.

3. You will become adept at reading in the loudest and most uncomfortable situations, even when there's an armpit less than an inch from your face.

4. Walking around the tube network will make you want to read all the books thanks to various strategically placed adverts for the latest gripping read (FYI it's the Penguin Little Black Classics adverts that are getting me at the moment with their monochrome and spine-tingling quotes).

5. You will inevitably be struck down by alogotransiphobia - the fear of having nothing to read on public transport. It's a modern pandemic.

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