This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice.
51. Smile, You Are On The Underground
Smiling at others is rather nice pastime. I heard about something that is going on next Saturday (5th July) and was rather enchanted by it – Underground Smile.
Underground Smile, as the name would suggest to any Londoner (although would possibly baffle others), is a project aimed at getting people to smile and be nice to each other on the tube. The project was the idea of Suzanne Morris, who was in London on 7/7 and noticed how in the face of adversity that day, everybody came together to create a community spirit.
She had to do a project for a development course she was undertaking and decided that she would like to try and recreate the sense of camaraderie that fleetingly existed amongst Londoners after the 7/7 bombings. She teamed up with the Talk on the Tube project and got cracking.
Back in April they did a beta version of what they are going to do on Saturday. So they went out spreading the love, giving out t-shirts and stickers and making people smile on the tubes – and they made a little film about it too.
So next Saturday, the closest Saturday to 7/7, they will be doing it all again. Starting off by making a ‘human smile’ at Liverpool Street at noon, then jumping on the Circle, Hammersmith and City and Piccadilly (the 3 lines affected on 7/7) and doing the do.
For more information on this have a looky at the group on Facebook or join Talk on the Tube.
By Liz Akers
