Mad about Saffron: How many of you smile at hot people on the tube?

Aug 26 2008 By Saffron Pineger

How many of you smile at hot people on the tube?

I do. And I have been trying to do it more.

With the advent of 'love on the tube' messages services on some of the free London papers, it seems that public transport is steaming ahead when it comes to meeting other single Londoners.

It's the new kind of speed dating - although if you happen to be stuck at Earls Court, you won't be moving far on the train.

But your love life might take a turn for the better. Eyes might meet across a crowded platform - and there's no problem getting up close and personal when your face is pressed against someone's armpit in the rush hour crush.

I have already written about a man on my morning train I had a huge crush on. I used to look forward to seeing him every day - until I eventually heard him speak and was devastated to discover he sounded just like John Major.

And a few years ago, I got chatting with a first-year-university student on my way back from an eighties party.

He managed to overlook my crimped hair and neon leotard and show an interest. We swapped phone numbers but I realised eventually that he must have had seconds thoughts, as I never heard from him again.

I probably should have explained to him that I was in fancy dress - in all the excitement, I forgot, and he must have assumed that they were my normal clothes.

More recently, it's become a hobby for me. While waiting, bored, at Victoria Station, I find myself scanning the platform for hunky men, and taking sly peeks at them.

Sometimes, I find that they are doing the same.

Sadly, as yet, none of them have taken the initiative and actually spoken to me. But I'll let you know when that happens.