In Praise of Cally Rd Tube

So, there’s not much to recommend Caledonian Rd underground station.  It sits just north of half-way up the Cally Rd, more Holloway than it is Islington, opposite an uninteresting block of flats and a recycling/rubbish dump.  The nearest attraction of any real note is the Tennis Centre, and even that isn’t renowned for its bringing in of the punters.

But!  I love the Cally Rd tube station, for a number of reasons:

1.  The continual playing of classical music.  (I’m told that this is only ever really played at stations where it’s considered dangers of violence are high, in the theory that it’s hard to swagger tough when listening to Mozart.)

2.  The fact that, for whatever technical blip as yet unknown, there is a tendency of Piccadilly Line trains pulling into the station to announce their arrivals on the little orange LED panels inside the carriages like so:

The Next Station Is!!

Caledonian Road!

Which if nothing else, adds a certain zinginess to the event.

3.  The announcements at the station itself.  At every London underground station there is a continual display of when the next train is coming, at the bottom of which roll little announcements of the kind like There are delays on the Northern Line.  Please seek alternative routes.

However, at Cally Rd, someone has taken control of the system and now the messages read…

If you find an unattended bag, please report to the nearest member of staff.  Ta.

Amazing the difference a ‘Ta’ can make to proceedings.

4.  Art.  I mean, you may not call it art… but on the other hand, have you ever, in your life ever, seen a service update board that looks anything like this…