The DLR comes every five minutes or so. In peak hour it comes regularly, already packed with commuters from the eastern suburbs like Lewisham, Island Gardens, Stratford and Beckton. My regular train is at 08:07 and I always choose the first carriage. This is because it is the closest carriage to the exits at Bank, my interchange station. We pass by towering council flats, hip new container block housing, and the shiny, distinctive shape of the 30 St Mary Axe in the distance, home of the Swiss Re offices and affectionately known as the Gherkin (for obvious reasons). Just after we pass the Shadwell stop, we plunge into underground darkness before arriving at Bank.

A web of tube lines extends out from Bank – it is one of the busiest stops on the London Underground. I usually arrive at about 08:15, and then it’s a short walk up two tube escalators, then down some stairs before I find myself on the Westbound Central line platform.

There is heavy traffic at Bank, so I find myself dodging other commuters and hurrying up the right hand side of the escalators towards the Central line. I needn’t worry, really, because Central line trains come every two minutes – there is one at 08:19, another at 08:21, the next one at 08:23 – but I can’t help trying to keep up with other Londoners.

At St Paul’s and Chancery Lane, the two immediate stops after Bank, the suits and their Blackberries get off. At Holborn, the tourists, bound for the British Museum, alight. At Tottenham Court Road, shopkeepers head for their day’s duties. And finally, four stops after Bank, the train gets to Oxford Circus and I disembark with more than a little relief.

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At rush hour, the Southwest service comes every three to four minutes but each carriage is filled with commuters coming in from Woking, Guildford and Chessington, to name but a few of the outer suburbs. I jump on the 08:14, which will get me to Waterloo by around 08:35, and head for a strategic handhold near the middle of the carriage. At , two stops away, most of these sober, dark suited workers will alight for other Overland trains to other London destinations and sometimes if I’m lucky I manage to snare a seat. It takes almost twenty minutes from Wimbledon to Waterloo, as passengers push, jostle and shove to get off or on the train, so a seat is a rare and treasure thing for sore, aching feet.

After Earlsfield, Clapham Junction, and Vauxhall, the train pulls up to Waterloo. I jump off the train, diving into the mass of humanity that flows out of the station, head out the barriers and down escalators into the bowels of the London Underground.

Here the fun really begins. The Underground station at Waterloo is a mess of neon lights, people, buskers, “travelators”, and escalators. Pick the wrong entrance and you could find yourself wandering around following “This way to the [insert name] line” signs for what feels like ages. I dodge the traffic across Waterloo station, head past the benign, life-size elephant made from chicken wire and go down the escalators towards the closest entrance to the Jubilee Line. This little manoeuvre saves me time threading through the traffic below-ground.

Counter-intuitively, the closet tube stop to Borough Markets is actually not Borough on the Northern Line as many would have expected, but London Bridge. From Waterloo it is only two stops to my destination, a short journey which takes three to four minutes on a good day; five to six if there are delays. My total journey time from the south west to south east takes about half an hour, inclusive of transit times.

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I catch the 08:28 or 08:31 southbound train to Morden, though sometimes if I am running late it might be the train after that. They come about every 3 to 4 minutes, if there are no delays on the tube. If delays occur, the platform is often packed three deep and everyone has to wait while stress levels climb. Unlike trains, commuters don’t usually board a regular carriage – often it is just the one that is least packed, or the one you manage to squeeze on. By the time the Northern Line gets to Angel, it would have passed by high traffic areas like Hampstead, Camden and Kings Cross – so perish the thought of an available seat! We are packed like sardines on as the tube whizzes past Old Street, then Moorgate.

After about seven to ten minutes, the tube stops at Bank station, and the human confluence spills out of the carriage, only to be replaced by a fresh set of elbows, knees and shoulders all squeezed tightly in. Rush hour on the London Underground is not for the fainthearted. I sometimes choose to change for the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) here if the Jubilee Line is experiencing delays. To reach Canary Wharf, I catch the Lewisham bound DLR from Platform 9, which departs every five minutes. The journey to Canary Wharf from Bank takes eleven minutes and is a pleasant ride above ground.

If the Jubilee Line is running smoothly, I stay on the Northern Line until it gets to London Bridge. Here, I change for the eastbound Jubilee Line, which departs every two to three minutes. The Jubilee comes more often than the DLR, and there are also fewer stops along the way, which is why I choose to change at London Bridge rather than catch the DLR from Bank. The Jubilee is London Underground’s newest line, and the only one to interchange with all other tube lines. That’s why it’s always packed to the gills with commuters. It takes only eight minutes on the Jubilee before I am at Canary Wharf, at the end of my daily morning journey.

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