Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Running Barefoot Across London

After my night of comedy last Friday I had a little adventure running through the streets of London. I guess I stayed a tad late in the comedy club and it was 11:30 when I made to leave. I had a little walk through Camden Town to the train station and then got onto the Northern line heading south towards Waterloo. Annoyingly I picked up the wrong branch of the Northern (I'm sure it was not totally clear, but the slight inepriation might have had a little to do with it).

I'd heard rumours that the underground stopped at about half twelve but didn't really want to check my phone to see what the time was. I checked the underground map and noted that the Jubilee line connects London Bridge to Waterloo so I got of there and nipped down the escalators to the platform just as a train left. Unfortunately, to my horror, the announcement then came on the tannoy informing us that that was the last westbound train. Mistake!

So I ran back up the escalators - I love running up escalators in bare feet, especially the really long ones leaping up two steps at a time, quite an skill - picked up my bearings outside and then headed for Waterloo running along Southwark Street and then Stamford Street. The distance was about one and a half miles and I reached the station with 15 minutes before the train left (I had only sketchy info regarding the time of the last train back to Southampton being at about 1 am).

This was definitely a good example of the beer scooter as my friend calls it - that uncanny knack to get home when slightly under the influence. I was well surprised to find that it still worked with out shoes on, and what's more my feet survived intact. Though the heals were a little sore the following day, and my calves ached the day after that, but otherwise unscathed. Result.

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