Subway story

From 8am the morning to 9:30am the subway is crowded, people just awoke up, Beijing is waiting for them. After their breakfast or at the same time they eat it, the Beijiners go to the subway. A part is walking like zombies, others are running after time, forcing passage, hustling every one… Every transfer station is more dangerous than a rugby game between people who would like to get in quickly without waiting and the others who want to get off…

In Beijing there isn’t a middle class, if you’re rich you take a taxi, if you’re not and you live in the center, you take the subway, according to a Chinese lawyer I met, the “premium class” doesn’t mix to the rest population… no well dressed men and women in subway excepted few Europeans

Most of the time people play on their phone, send a text, watch a program or a movie on their Ipad, see their watch, check the stations on the map, wondering which transfer station they will get off… It’s quite quiet. Few discussions inside the subway just the noise of the train and the coolness from the air conditioning (sometimes too much cold)

A moment during the afternoon at the peak time was quite funny. I was going back home, few people are exhausted and sleep in subway. I saw two men, tired, set on the bench, sleeping deeply. Why is so surprising ? One had his head on the other’s shoulder, they were head to head, almost tenderly in the realm of dreams… Two stations later, the first one woke up, scared, just a second before the other one did it. I could see in their eyes they didn’t know each other. They were completely stomached; one gave an embarrassing smile and stands up, gets off the train in the middle of the crowd, his brain never stopped to think to the situation. The other one used his phone quite disappointed, took a look around him praying for nothing saw the scene. I crossed his sight so quickly he could imagine I saw it. No judgment from anybody, the proud is safe. It never happened.