Tube Tales 1

"Show me why you deserve to have it all" Kanye West beats down my drum so I can't hear the call of the stop.

At Bank. In my football kit, knee still raw, bloodstained from grazing the AstroTurf. Next to me the Evening Standard has a picture of a football manager on the back page having lost or about to lose his job. He looks helpless. It's a good photo.

Stalled at Bank. Kanye West samples Otis Redding on the new track, another rhyme about making "Jesus Walk" and I realise I love Otis Redding. So I switch to These Arms of Mine and then That's What My Heart Needs. Thanks Spotify. Lulled into a happy state, I'm tired and still at Bank. 9.30pm is a late kick off. The track plays out with Otis screaming Come On. Come on Baby!

I look left everyone's pretty still. There's some movement from a younger girl in mock leather with her friend in a different design but still mock leather jacket. They giggle at something. It would probably be me if they knew Otis was now singing a soulful rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb and really going for it. So much so I tap my feet in time. Hell yeah Mary had that little lamb! The track fades with some more Come On. Come on Baby! And I think I even hear a baaaah.

Pain In My Heart plays out. Still at Bank. Should I get out the open door of the carriage and check what's going on. I hear the driver say stay back from the doors, the beep beep beep, and then they close and we move while Otis cried Someone Stop This Pain as he fades out.

The ride to Moorgate is loud, with the carriage grinding with the rails. The next station is Moorgate. We stop. One man goes off , one man comes on.

Stuck at Moorgate. It's 10.49pm.

Don't Leave Me This Way!