Headspace: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department write about a place or space they go to write, read, study or create. [Read all entries.]  [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.]

I did not pick the Northern Line, the black route on the London Underground map, for reading or daydreaming. Moments spent travelling are often moments to be lost. Wisely or not. From home to city (library).

On a blue seat, upholstered, with Big Bens and London Eyes. A pencil held in my right hand to annotate the book, either a novel or literary theory, which I hold in my left. Time-compressed essence. Logic and emotions flow and dance train-wise. Both delay sometimes. Rarely in synch with one another.

A hot summer day. Off-work crowds and poor ventilation. A mild heatstroke. Me-exclusive. Quenching in vain. Eyelids fall as though resting eyes could reduce trapped heat. All gone, the people who avoid eye contact, steal glances, or practise both. I am left alone in my dark subconscious. A utopian hell where memories, unuttered desires and dreams diffused like milk poured in a cup of clear English Breakfast Tea.

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Nicola Chan Oi Ching is a BA graduate in Stylistics and Comparative Literature (Class of 2015). [Click here to read all entries by Nicola.]