Luke, one of the programming team in HFUK, wryly called commuting ‘the most democratic thing about London’, in that public transport is by far the easiest way to make your way around the city. And at first, it seems a democratic space where anyone can potentially temporarily inhabit or move through a train, bus, tube, road or pavement. However, after travelling to an interview from a friend's flat on the outskirts of London, my naivety as to where, when and how labouring bodies occupy such spaces became clear. By 6.03 am, I was at the station at the start of one of the main underground lines into London. This was early for me, but hours later than the first shift of service and domestic workers who had already travelled in to prepare the city for others. I boarded the train, half noticing I was the only women there, then that I was the only person that looked under 50. By the second stop into London, a majority of the seats were already taken by people, again mostly older than me and certainly looking more tired.

As we moved into the zones closer to London, I witnessed each stop populating the carriage with younger and younger passengers, until the carriage was a patchwork of suited bodies of all ages. People bunched together, but usually making sure to do so next to similar bodies, with men's and women's bodies sometimes contorted to make a gap between them, or likewise, women turning towards other women when (more) men piled on at another stop. Occasionally seats were offered to older ‘civilians’ such as tourists, but rarely to fellow ‘suits’.