London Life in a Tube Train carriage

It was very soon after my first arrival in London in 2002 that I was given a heads up, or word of advice... "No matter what you look like when you leave the house, you will always find someone else in London who looks stranger than you." And this has always been true.

But this evening, as I took a tube train from West Brompton to Wimbledon, I was confronted by something truly surreal - like I had entered the set of some futuristic Western movie...

i entered the carriage more or less in the middle, and out of the corner of my eye spotted something strange to my left. There, at the front of the carriage were two wrestlers - suited up with Lycra pants and fantastic masks - and one even sporting a bare chest.

I smiled to myself and looked to the other end of the carriage. At this point I nearly choked laughing - at that end of the carriage were two fully costumed Mexicans! Dressed up complete with ponchos, over-sized sombreros and moustaches these two fellows cut a fantastic picture.

And in the middle of the carriage, amongst this surreal mayhem and with my imagination trying to catch up to the reality of this microcosm in a tube carriage, a father played clapping games with his daughter as she lay in her prams, gurgling and laughing at him, and mimicking his clapping.

What a treat - and what a fantastic life this is, this life that is London.

You'd be content if the story ended there...
But just after parsons Green station, the Mexicans decided to venture down the carriage, in something resembling a stand off, and face up to the Wrestlers...
The other passengers on the carriage trembled in fright, fearful of what might happen as these 4 fellows face each other down...
Well - turns out that whilst they didn't know each other directly - they appeared to all be heading to the same party in Fulham, and so it was with much chatter and boisterous laughter that they all got off together at Putney Bridge.

somehow the rest of the journey didn't seem quite as enthralling....