What We Talk About When We Talk About The Tube: The District Line

Trains show you a particular version of the urban landscape, the unpolished and undressed rear of buildings. I've always liked that about the view from the train, that you're seeing a town or city as it looks in private, before it's dolled itself up to go out.'How does the driver of the very first Tube train of the day get to work, if he can't get the Tube? As John Lanchester fulfils a long-held ambition to take a trip with a District Line train driver, he considers the secret life of the city, its changing patterns, how we behave when we commute and how the Underground shapes our lives.