InternationalUK

Here are the best Twitter responses to London’s #Tubestrike ordeal

By Geoffrey Smith
Tube Strike in London
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - AUGUST 05: Commuters trying to find alternative routes during the tube trains at Victoria station ahead of the Tube strike in the evening rush hour of Wednesday, August 5, 2015. The strike will be a 27-hour stoppage by about 20,000 Tube staff to shut down the entire London Underground network on the second strike over night service on parts of Tube, which will be starting on 12 September 2015. (Photo by Tolga Akmen/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Photograph by Getty Images

Londoners are enduring another day of misery as drivers on their subway–the famous ‘Tube’–strike again in protest at plans to introduce a 24/7 service. The order of the day has been horror, resentment and frustration, punctuated by sporadic outbursts of perspective and the occasional piece of marketing so good it could actually make you forget the smell of the steaming bus-riding commuter into whose armpit your nose has been jammed by the crush of tourists behind you.

Here we present some of the highlights.

At least we got a chance to indulge in the one national sport that foreigners haven’t overtaken us at yet – orderly queuing.

https://twitter.com/lesleyashmall/status/629184141951537152

But on second thoughts…

Tempers were, it’s true, just a little bit stretched (don’t click on this interactive map of Londoners heard swearing if you’re easily offended)

And there were the usual snarky references to the drivers who already earn upwards of 50,000 pounds ($78,000) a year for a job that doesn’t tax either the brain or the body unduly.

https://twitter.com/CatNeilan/status/629201465098285056

Although the debate was far from one-sided…

At least some were able to inject a much-needed sense of perspective into the debate.

Cafes and cocktail bars alike were all busy trying to cash in what was after all a pretty golden opportunity for them, but this one got to the heart of the matter more directly than most.

But the old pros were the best for producing slick #Tubestrike-themed marketing – witness Carlsberg’s recommendation for how to use your ‘Oyster’ card today.

And, by the by, thanks to this maker of hygiene products for not laboring the point:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smug cyclists–rguably a bigger irritation for most Londoners these days than the foxes that strew your garbage all over the street before the collection vans can get to it–yeah, they were out in force alright:

You probably need to be English AND remember the 1970s to get full value from this one.

Ditto for this one (on a day when England’s cricketers routed old rivals Australia in the latest match between the two sides)

But at the end of the day, there was at least this to look forward to.