Going Underground

"In 1854 an Act of Parliament was passed approving the construction of an underground railway between Paddington Station and Farringdon Street via King's Cross which was to be called the Metropolitan Railway."

Nine years later the world's first underground railway opened in London. This photo was taken at St Paul's station, on the Central line.

For those of us who live here, moaning about "the Tube" is a regular past time. Sure, sometimes it's rubbish; but the majority of the time it gets me to my destination quickly and without the traffic jams that beset London's other iconic transport mode - it's red buses.

So used am I to having a frequent service, if there is more than about a 4 minute wait showing on the indicator boards, I find myself tutting like a pro about how dreadful the service is. But it's not until I meet visitors from abroad that I realise what a great system London Underground actually is.

A friend in Melbourne was recently complaining about his transport woes - Connex (remember them?) used to run Melbourne's trains, and its now under the control of another mob. It has gone from one disaster to another. And their new electronic ticketing service (modeled on London's Oyster card) is not exactly customer focused, by all accounts.

So let's celebrate what we have - and admire one of the most elegant and iconic logos on the planet.