If Loserville was a London ‘tube’ line…

…it would surely be the London Overground. The outsider, the newbie, the geeky one that doesn’t quite fit. It goes to all the cool places, all the the edgy places – but when it gets there, it feels somehow out of place.

In particular, the ‘new’ East London Line is a strange beast – airy, shiny, orange for sure… But I do worry that no-one knows that it exists. OK, maybe when term-time comes around it will fill up with wanky arty students and I’ll regret my current feelings, but right now, I just wish that I could share the life-affirming feeling of being able to get from New Cross to Shoreditch in 15 minutes with…well, anyone really.

I guess it’s nice when the decision is less about the number of empty seats you leave between you and the next person, and more about how many carriages, and I suppose I should be grateful for the quiet platforms and the stress-free boarding and alighting.

It’s just not East London though, is it? It should be bustling like Deptford market, there should be vibrancy beyond the orange handrails…  If it’s going to be so empty, they could at least fit a bungee cord and challenge people to run the length of the train.

But maybe that’s what wins the East London Line honorary membership of Loserville. It looks good, it does good, and it wants to be as popular as the other kids in the playground lines on the tube map but, ultimately, it’s a bit of a freak.

With cool orange specs.