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12/29/2003: "Apropos of nothing."

Next time you're on the tube, bored, uncomfortable, distant, take a second to look around. Everyone will be minding their own business, heads in newspapers, minds on the ceiling, ears in music. Separate, detached; alien to the person next to them.

Except they're not. Neither will you be. At least one other person will be breathing in rhythm with you. Perhaps three people inhaling and exhaling in time with each other. More in the next carriage along - and the carriage beyond that.

Then on the platforms, the escalators, up to the ticket offices, the street, the sandwich shop, offices, tower blocks, hospitals, boroughs, cities, regions, countries, continents, across timezones and under stars. Millions upon millions of us all breathing at exactly the same time. Separate, detached and unbelievably close to one another.

Next time you're on the tube, take a second to look around.

Replies: 2 Comments

on Tuesday, December 30th, DaninVan said

Nope. No 'tube'. No crowds.
Not here.....yet. The sound of heavy synchronized breathing behind me, is probably that damn bear that ate all my apples off the tree.
http://www.bigpacific.com/about/albums.html

on Tuesday, December 30th, IDgaf said

I might edit it later to say heartbeats. Somehow that's a bit more impressive - the millions of bloodbeats pounding in time.