So many evenings (and mornings) I see the usual crowd on the tube from St Pauls where I dis-embark and re-embark, they range from ‘the suit‘ – well dressed office types, ‘the creative‘ – bearded and uber, ‘the manual labourer‘ – in a high vis jacket and ‘the tourist’ – usually sporting a camera and looking excited.
Each one of them has their own story, their own plans, their own stresses. These types are pretty easy to spot in my opinion, sometimes I try to guess which tube stop said people will disembark at (fun tube game, feel free to use this one) quite often I guess correctly although some people do surprise me (obviously having no reception on my phone leads my mind to wander, or maybe I need to get out more).
By far the easiest people to spot are the working parents … There should be a designated seat for “mummies / daddies that have been up all night with babies / been woken at 5am by over-excitable toddlers and have worked a 12 hour day” please give up your seats willingly!
Note to TFL: These people are “less able to stand” and need to sit down to take this precious time to relax. When they get home their second job of being a parent will start and that is the toughest one of all!
Like myself, many working parents persevere through their work lives each day, trying to function like ‘normal human beings’ (although we’ve forgotten what normal is) and what’s better is we’re actually doing an amazing job of being successful and creating uber brilliant careers. Well done to you all, you rock (myself and Emma included, haha)
So today, if you spot the signs below please offer a reassuring and understanding nod or smile because being a working parent is hard work!!
10 tell tale signs of a working parent on the tube…
- The head holder – the head can no longer remain upright so the hands are needed for support
- The sloucher – almost always in the end seat with their head against the plastic / glass divide (which is filthy from previous peoples heads btw)
- The snorer – this person has let it all go, taking a well earned 40 winks while on their commute home. The best nap of the day by far!
- The leaning on other passengers, passenger – the funniest of all tired commuters, lots of fun to be had here…. Hehe
- The face of death – pure grumpy face, cannot continue another day face, if they saw themselves in a mirror they’d be horrified face – like something from Michael Jacksons thriller video!
- The “unaware that they have milk sick on their shoulder / down their back” commuter
- The person who has a dinosaur / fairy sticker, face paint, loom band bracelet or glitter tattoo on them that they forgot about
- The rummager – spending 10 minutes searching through the collection of wet wipes, toys, crayons etc in their bag before they find their tube pass and miss their train (and cry)
- The half dressed look – they just ran from a childminder/nursery/school run wearing practical not pretty shoes and are still dressing themselves (may have odd socks)
- Very often found wearily humming a tune from CBeebies (they are so catchy!)
Through all of the sleepless nights and long days and embarrassing tube rides of epic tiredness we must always remind ourselves that we are awesome role models to our ‘mini me’s’ and give ourselves a hypothetical pat on the back for landing that global client after 3 hours sleep the night before, so keep going! Plus we always provide epic entertainment for the dull tube rides home 😉
