Circle Lines | On the Loop in Chicago

Chicago's L train doesn't actually have a circular line, but a group of lines which come together in a circle line effect in a part of the city called The Loop.

So with a few strategic station changes, it's the next best thing.

I rode around, amid lots of people on their phones, and saw and heard:

• A middle-aged woman speaking into a walkie-talkie: "OK, I'm on!"
• A young Woman pulling on a baseball cap like armour
• A woman pursing her lips and momentarily bopping in her seat twirling her hands around
• Two girls with bright pink coats, with white, blue and red beads braided into their hair.
• "It's going be alright. It is going be all right," says a woman into her phone.
• A boy in a purple hoodie looks derisively at a woman's bright pink phone holder.
• Young woman cheerfully declaring, "I noticed it! I noticed it!"
• A middle-aged lady with resplendent red accessories (shoes, spectacles, handbag and shoulder bag) intently reading the Bloomingdales' catalogue.
• A woman sketches a large drawing with dashed lines and arrows into her sketchbook.
• A doleful man slumped against the train wall while carrying a book of torts and laws.
• A woman wearing a bright peach and yellow blouse chewing and popping luminous green gum
• A cheeky young boy propping his feet up on a seat between two men, both of whom studiously ignore him and his feet.

Circle Lines | Yamanote Line, Tokyo

Sometimes when I'm travelling, I like to simply sit on a train and watch people near me, places passing by. And what better way to do this than on a circular, loop line.

I like to think that a circular line brings you a 360° view of a place (it's not always the case, but it's a nice idea).

This is the first in a semi-regular series of posts on circular travelling -so if there's a circular loop line where I am, I'll get on board!

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Years ago when I visited Tokyo, I spent a few hours travelling around on the Yamanote line.

It's a circular line travelling through most of the major stations in Tokyo, including Ginza, Shibuya and Shinjuku.

As I sat on the train, I took notes of sights I saw and sounds I heard and revelled in the people-watching.

I saw:

• Green stripes on platform to show where to stand
• A girl with purple and gold bag and gold shoes
• The five people opposite me lined up, all asleep
• A chorus of polyphonic music greeted us at every station
• Outside offices, and lots of them
• Huge concrete faceless skyscraper structures at Akihabara
• A MUJI warehouse
• A pyramid covered in sparkling lights at Yurakucho
• Passengers reading books with non-descriptmd plain covers: beige or plain white, some with very simple patterns.
• The station Mamamatsucho pronunced differently in English and Japanese
• The monorail to Haneda airport flying over the metro line 
• A tiny dog in a woman's handbag. She's been on the train for 6 stops ago, before I had noticed
• Nobody else seems to noticed the dog
• A grown man reading a comic, showing the words "Here's the world War 1 flying ace returning to the aerodrome"
• Lots of snorting and sniffing sounds
• At Ebisu station, the man next to me sleeps and slumps against me
• A guy whispering into his phone
• As the train continues around, the dog starts to bark lightly. The woman holds its mouth.
• The man next to me then notices the dog and pets it
• A poster in station declares: "Never stop the explaining!"
• At Osuka station, a man tucks his (dry) umbrella into his trousers. It's half genius, half weird.