Dear Man on the Tube

It was over a year ago now.  I had worked late at a recruitment party for The Sting as a colleague had been off with his sick wife.  I was feeling pretty good, I had gotten a few people jobs and the atmosphere in the club had been fun.  So I was a bit smiley and feeling a bit bold.

As I walked down the Victoria Line platform at Oxford circus – ready to be at the right end to get off at Victoria, I saw you.  I thought huh, he is pretty all right.  Then you proceeded to take off your jumper as it was hot in the Underground.  As you did so, your shirt came up and I caught an eyeful at what you had underneath and it was good.  As your head came out of the jumper, you caught my eye, but I kept walking. 

I stood next to the wall and proceeded with my Underground ritual, headphones in, and book out.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see you watching me.

The tube arrived and I got into one carriage, and assumed from where you were standing that you had gotten into another.  As we pulled away from the platform, I looked up and there you were in my carriage staring at me.  I am not used to being stared at so didn’t really know what to do, so continued being a bit haughty.

The train stopped at Green Park, and you got off, and as you walked past the still stationary train, you looked in the window at me, and were rewarded with a half-smile.  You saw this and smiled back, and headed back towards the doors.  Then they closed.  You threw your hand up in despair and I waved at you as the train speed off.

This whole encounter lasted no more than 8 minutes.  But those 8 minutes cause me to think of you often at Oxford Circus late at night.  The thing is, I am not used to causing that reaction in people, so I didn’t know what to do.  I wish that I had the courage to get off the train, or to pull the emergency stop.  Something tells me that you would have liked that.  I do look for you every now and then, but am not sure that I would know you again.

I told my Mum this story and she said it was the saddest thing she had ever heard.  My best friend called it a James Blunt moment.  A colleague told me that you would have been perfect, not a shit like the rest of the men in my life at the time.  Another lamented the end of the London Lite where people who had encounters like ours wrote in to get in touch.  But I just smile and remember the day that a complete stranger made me feel beautiful, magnetic, and attractive.  Without saying one word.

I hope that life has been good to you, Man on the tube. I hope that you have a lovely lady in your life and that you make her feel these things on a daily basis.  And who knows, maybe one day, you and I will meet. 

Yours sincerely

Nicola