I lived in London for a few years, while I was there part of my daily commute was on the underground. Looking back I find the underground utterly terrifying, in fact I find London as a whole pretty scary. Anyway.

I spent a lot of time on the underground and it shows. Iím underground expert, able to roam at will from A-Z under the feet of Londoners, zoom up and down escalators on the right and avoid the dangerous loonies at will.

As I clocked up the hours in the bowls of the capital I began to notice some odd things. Flashers that had forgotten to undress prior to flashing me, the homeless using the station photo booths as there personal crappers, and pigeons are so smart that I came to admire them.

Thatís right my dear reader(s), this is my pigeon blog.

I think it was at Whitechapel on the District Line back in 1994 that I first noticed pigeons waiting for trains. It was just me and the aforementioned rat-with-wings on the platform. Oh he was doing the occasional desultory peck at some leftover McDonalds but I had the distinct impression this was a sham, and he was in fact in the same position as myself; awaiting the train.

Iím watching him, heís watching me, although he returns to his egg McMuffin breakfast whenever he notices me. As the Tower Hill tube pulls up, we look at each other, the doors open to the almost paternal cry of ‘Mind the gap’, and we board the opposite ends of the same carriage.

The journey is about 12 minutes, the whole time Iím sat watching this pigeon. He stands in the centre of the aisle looking right back at me. Daring me to say something, to wonder what the hell heís doing. Like heís thinking, yeah, and so what.

Stopping in Tower Hill we both exit, he has other pigeons waiting for him, they coo and peck some cigarette ends. Urban pigeons, rebelling against there parents probably. I make my way to University wondering if this tube travelling pigeon was a freak.

I start to watch the pigeons more closely after that and found that tube travel was pretty regular, pigeons have know the tube, which stations were open, which were closed. This is the only animal other than us humans that I know uses our transport system.

The only drawback to my noticing this I got the feeling they were keeping tabs on me. Like Iíd noticed something that I shouldnít have and that one word out of place and Iíd have been, well, pigeon food. I figure ten years on and Iím safe.

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