Trying to avoid sniffing armpits and other peak hour adventures

You can't have truly experienced a life in London unless you've travelled peak hour on the train.

A very empty Kingston Station at 7.55am!

The 7.55am from Kingston to Clapham Junction is the relatively painless part. We're one of the first stops, so it's easy to get a seat. By the time it gets past Wimbledon the carriages are full, and when I get to my stop, Clapham Junction I find myself almost doing acrobatics as I navigate my way between passengers, dogs, kids, bikes and bags to get out the door. 

It's then a mad dash from platform 11 to platform 1 but thankfully I wear my comfortable flatties. The connection isn't an easy one, not just the distance you have to close in a short period of time, but avoiding people meandering while reading their phones and trying not to miss the only connection every 15 minutes to Shepherds Bush.

Guessing where the doors will stop is the name of the game on platform 1 as that gets you first through the door and onto a seat. Of course if you don't, then you shuffle on with all the other sheep on the train, find a spot to hang on and try and immerse yourself in either a book, music or the latest news on twitter. Anything to avoid the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia.

So while the trip into work can be a little challenging, it's the trip home on a warm summers day that I really dread. No it's not the fact that sometimes the platform is so crowed at Shepherds Bush that I just stand back and wait for the next train; it's just not worth the stress.  The fact is, it's just not very pleasant when hundreds of people are squeezed together in a small train carriage and all you can smell are body odours as armpits glare down at you (yes I'm short so can't escape them). I always carry a scarf with me to bury my nose in and thankfully it has the remnants of my perfume to tide me over before I can escape into the fresh air.

It is no wonder that by the time I arrive back to the place I started that morning, it's almost a sigh of utter relief that the travel for today is over and I can disappear back home, throw my bag down, kick off the shoes, rip the work clothes off and change into some comfy trackies and then plonk myself down on the couch for a few brief but welcomed breathes in utter peace.

Serenity now....

ps.. if anyone reads my posts feel free to share your train experiences!