Well two Irishmen to be correct and a London Underground tube more specifically, heading south to Sloane Square. On my way to meet my good friend the Chameleon in one of the numerous glass-fronted Starbucks.
You know how everyone sits on the Tube: limbs hunched in, eyes downcast, as if the floor provides both a safe and fascinating alternative to meeting the gaze of other human beings. Well I was hunched in alright, in one of those priority seats near the door, when two men climbed on at Gloucester Road, one carrying some kind of banjo and the other a violin. ‘We’re going to play a jig for you,” the man with the banjo announces, “You may dance if you like or just sit there.” I thought it was too much to expect tube travellers to get up and leap about, not that there was room for such, but as they started playing, people began smiling, tapping their feet along with the music.
I shared a grin with a dark-haired girl who was standing up and filming them on her iPhone. So what did I do? Got my own (less fancy) phone out and did the same. And whilst I was doing so, I couldn’t help but keep smiling, grinning in a foolish manner at my neighbours as the black tunnel buffeted us about. The men didn’t seem to be busking. There was no collection hat, and even if there was, their manner did not speak of it. It struck me that maybe, just maybe, they found enjoyment in stepping onto a random tube, letting it take them where it will, whilst they hoped to spread some joy to the less joyful amongst us.
And I found myself thinking; this is a thing peculiar to London. As much as I protest against the place (even having lived in the capital’s vicinity most of my life), I thought that this phenomenon was more likely to occur right in the middle of its bubbling heart. I certainly can’t imagine something like it happening in my own town, not that we have an Underground, it being Devon.
I can’t upload the video of them in its current file type, so here is a pic instead:
