Saturday 5th October

I am lamenting the demise of the briefcase.  That neat compact and usually small bag which, hard or soft, would sit in peoples laps during their tube journey.  You rarely see them now.  The current fashion seems to be for rucksacks, which individuals stick between their wide-open legs (men that is, women tend to sit with legs to one side and the bag to the other, though taking up just as much room) and consequently block up the aisles.

Or they stand with these ever bulkier bags slung over one shoulder and bumping everyone in sight as they turn to look and see which station the train is at.  Just what are they carrying around in them?  I suspect a laptop and cable, which could easily fit into a briefcase, but also clothes.  Many young people seem to combine going to work with visits to the gym, and so take trainers, towel, shampoo etc. and shorts and spare tops with them on their journey to work.  But this takes up more and more room.  Some days when I am forced to strap-hang (though it is a rail these days) there is hardly any room to stand, and when a seat eventually becomes vacant you stumble over assorted bags and splayed legs to the safety of the vacant seat.  Add to this chaos the number of travelers with cases, workmen with tool-boxes and women with outsize handbags and large carrier bags full of Primark goodies and the tube is a minefield these days.