6. Waterloo

Sunday 11th February 5pm

The busiest Tube station on the network, attached to one of the unloveliest railway stations imaginable. Perhaps it was more glamorous when Eurostar stopped there but now it's untidy and unloveable. So although it's right behind the National Theatre and all that other stuff on the Southbank I usually find it easy to cross the river and travel from somewhere else.

The problem with the Tube station is that is has a confusing amount of exits, and it doesn't matter which one you pick it's always the wrong one, which I guess is what happens when you try and squeeze too many lines into one station. The Jubilee line section of it is of course magnificent - big and concretey, like the space-age future we were promised but never got. Pop fact: the ABBA song of the same name - key lyric, "I was defeated/you won the war" - is not actually about a commuter trying and failing to get out of the station.

Wikipedia entry here.

5. Southwark

Sunday 10th February 1pm

I don't think I'd ever heard of Southwark until I saw a play called Southwark Fair and realised it's where Tate Modern is. It's not really where the Tube station is though - it's so close to Waterloo there are exits to it from within the station.

It's only a small station but it's a beauty - it's part of the Jubilee line so has than modern metal and concrete look that the whole line has - but instead of being cavernous it's compact and stylish, particularly the big blue wall that greets you when you get to the top of the escalator and head towards the ticket office.

Wikipedia entry here.

4. London Bridge

Sunday 10th February 11.30am

For a long time I didn't even realise London Bridge existed and think I was like the mythic American who mistook it for Tower Bridge. It was only when I went to Brighton by train a couple of years ago that I went through the station for the first time and thought it was too busy and a bit of a dump. That, it turns out, is because it's the sixth busiest Tube station on the network, and because it's been undergoing endless reworking to prepare it for the extra passengers who will use it now the area has been regenerated by the arrival of The Shard (apparently you can get into the Shard directly from the station, but it's not obvious how).

I was being harsh calling it a dump though as half of it is on the Jubilee line, which is spacious, modern and a little bit sexy. Less so the bit that's on the Northern line.

Wikipedia entry here.

3. Piccadilly Circus

Saturday 1st February 11am

Despite giving its name to probably my favourite line it's not one of my favourite stations. I guess that's because above ground Piccadilly Circus is ridiculously busy and it's easier to get out at the previous stop - Leicester Square - and walk. But I'd arranged to meet a friend at the statue of Eros (although it's actually his twin brother Anteros) so I found myself there.

There are no parts of the station above ground, and below ground it has a round ticket hall which would be lovely if it wasn't build from a pale brown marble that manages to be bland and unpleasant at the same. And there are far too many exits, although I seem to remember that you used to be able to get straight into Tower Records from it without going outside, which sounds too fantastic to actually be true. There is a linear clock that looks interesting but I forgot to look for it.

The station appears in the title of a song by the wonderful Tracey Thorn - making her second appearance on this blog, which goes to show how much London is part of her music - which was inspired by a poem about Grand Central Station in New York:

Wikipedia entry here.

2. Victoria

Saturday 12th January, about 5.30pm

For years I never went near Victoria - I had no need to, because apart from two theatres very near the station there's no other reason to be there. But then I knew people who travelled into London by train from the south and I started going there to meet them.

It's the second busiest Tube station, which shouldn't be a surprise if I think about it, and it is always horribly hectic, which isn't helped by the fact that it seems to have been undergoing changes for as long as anyone can remember - much like the roads above it, which have been dug up and covered in cones forever.

It's a shame the station isn't a bit nicer as I have a fondness for the line it takes its name from - it's short, but surprisingly useful, and the blue colour is my second favourite colour for a Tube line (the darker blue of the Piccadilly line being my favourite). Perhaps when all the upgrade work is finished in 2018 I'll love it more?

Wikipedia entry here

1. King's Cross St. Pancras

Saturday 12th January, 9.45am

The first thing that surprised me when I took this photograph is that the station is now called "King's Cross St. Pancras" and, I assume, has been since Eurostar relocated to the rejuvenated St. Pancras a few years ago. But I'd never noticed and habitually call it just "King's Cross".

This is probably the Tube station I have visited the most as, for the last twenty years or so, all trains from my part of Norfolk have terminated at the railway station above it. It's the third busiest Tube station and serves more lines than any other, which is why for a long time I felt no love for it and needed to take a deep breath before throwing myself down those cramped stairs from the departure hall into it.

But things have changed in recent years as they've upgraded it and there are now big wide corridors to get to the trains and the whole thing feels really light and spacious, at least until you get down to the platforms. It's all very grey and concretey, much like the Jubilee line, but instead of looking dull and sad I think it looks modern and almost chic. And more importantly it just works really well (although getting back to the railway station still manages to confuse me).

I guess I like it because arriving there usually means I have something exciting to look forward to or that I'm heading home after a nice day.

Meanwhile upstairs the railway station has been upgraded too and is stunning! It was also the subject of a song by the Pet Shop Boys:

Tracey Thorn also did a version of it (she wants to make an album with them - someone make this happen then I can die a happy man!). They also used it as a location for their video of Rent, which Derek Jarman directed. (I now that has nothing to do with the Tube, but I do like a tangent!)

Wikipedia entry here.

Introduction

There are 270 stations on the London Underground and this is going to be my attempt at recording how many I visit. You can visit them all in one day, and the current world record for doing that is 16 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds, but I'm not going to do that. Instead I just want to add them organically as I travel round London, although I'm sure at some point the middle-aged man in me will want to complete the set and will find an excuse to venture to the furthest ends of the Central line.

For the purpose of this blog "visit" means enter or exit the station from above ground, and arrive or depart from it by Tube. So places where I just wait underground to change lines, or places I just go through don't count.

It was inspired by this week's 150th Anniversary of the opening of the Metropolitan line but is the inevitable outcome of an adult lifetime of loving London, because let's face it nothing that makes you think "London" than the Tube sign does it?

I don't intend this to be factual - that kind of information already exists. Instead this will just be subjective really - just a little bit about what I think of the station, why I was there, and a picture of the station name as proof. Of course I'm sure that along the way I'll inadvertently reveal some stuff about myself, but that's not really what this is about, so it's also an excuse to try writing in a slightly different way.

Anyway, here's some things I like about the Tube:

• The whoosh of air through the platform and station as trains come and go.
• The lovely blue of the Piccadilly line.
• The Oyster card.

Some things about the Tube that puzzle me:

Having been on the subway in New York and Barcelona - he said, showing off - they've got plastic seats and no advertising, yet in London the seats are all padded and there's adverts everywhere. So, two questions: are we so soft that we can't sit on plastic? And is the advertising paying for the trains? If so, how do the others pay for theirs?

But mostly I just love the fact that only a few years after railways were invented someone thought, "wouldn't it be great to put the trains underground?" and lots of people agreed with them and they just made it happen. Those Victorians really were amazing weren't they?

Before we get started here are some things about the Tube you might enjoy:

Wikipedia Underground page

Tube Crush - because every journey deserves one.

London Transport Museum Shop - because nothing makes washing up more fun than a tea towel with a Tube map on it

Ready? Mind the doors, this blog is ready to depart...