I was looking at a map of the tube system this morning when I noticed something: the local station, north Greenwich, and Kilburn, up near my grandmothers house, are on the Jubilee line, and both are marked as accessible. This gave me an idea – what better way to start getting to know the underground system than to go to visit my grandmother? To be honest, having lived it the same city for a year and a half now, going to hers for a ‘drop by’ visit was long overdue. So off I set: to save battery power, I caught the bus to the tube station, then it was on to the train. I’d done this before, but always with a PA by me, so I was sailing in to the unknown.

Getting to Kilburn took a fair while, but the trip was uneventful. I must admit I was a little surprised when the train suddenly whirred into broad daylight; I was even more surprised when, upon reaching my stop, I found there was quite a large step on to the platform. But there was no turning back, and eventually I made it onto the platform, and then the streets of north London.

I’d checked google maps before leaving, and the walk from the station to Yeaya’s looked straightforward enough. my sense of direction wasn’t behaving as well as it usually does, though, and eventually I had to ask for directions. Soon enough, however, the street names started to become ones I know from childhood, and I was able to find my Grandmother’s house without much more difficulty. I had toyed with the idea of getting back and simply turning back, not wanting to trouble Yeaya or cause her to worry; when I reached the house, though, I thought I might as well see if she was in, and I rang the bell.

Yeaya was, of course, quite surprised to see me, but pretty soon I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and being fed apple pies. We had quite a good cha, and she asked me if I wanted to stay for dinner or even spend the night there. But I wanted to get back here before the rain the skies were threatening started to come down in earnest, so I set off back home after about 45 minutes. It was a flying visit I know, but I’m sure now that I’ve done it once, I’ll be going there more often. Other members of the family go there quite frequently, and I’d like to see them too.

Well, I had thought the trip home would be as straightforward as the one there, but it wasn’t to be. There turns out to be two tube stations in Kilburn – Kilburn and Kilburn Park – the latter of which is neither accessible nor on the jubilee line, and you can probably guess which I was directed to. I knew it didn’t look familiar, but the station master put me on a bus to the correct station and eventually I was on my way home, quietly feeling rather pleased with myself, despite that hiccup.

I feel as though I’ve mastered the underground, or at least I’m on my way to doing so. Of course, I can only go to stations marked as accusable, which only a handful seem to be, but, looking at the tube map, I can’t help but feel rather excited about where this endeavour could take me.