蜜芽传媒

I have to admit: I love visiting New York 鈥� the city that never sleeps. At 2AM, I find Manhattan intoxicating.

This weekend, London will affirm its status as one of the world鈥檚 sleepless cities when it launches a 24-hour tube service tomorrow night. This means 24/7 movement across London, as the Victoria and Central lines shuttle people from the heart of the Capital鈥檚 entertainment and business hubs, to quiet suburbia.

Transport for London, says this 3-year investment, will provide greater levels of work and play across the City.

So I鈥檓 torn. I鈥檓 keen to experience a mini-Manhattan in London. But I鈥檓 also aware that this is yet another step in the rush towards cultural hyperactivity. When I board my Central line train for a 6-mile ride to the City, there are no seats available at 6.30 AM.

People in Britain already work comparatively long hours and Londoners work well over an average of 48 hours per week.

Of course, there will be many listeners outside London who have no wish to set foot on any overcrowded train at any time of the day, who are still working around the clock.

Overwork is a real problem. Recent research, reminds us that shift workers are especially vulnerable to illnesses. Today, those working on farms from dawn to dusk and beyond in the ancient cycle of harvest, may identify even more than me with wisdom of the Old Testament: 鈥淓ven during the ploughing season and harvest you must rest.鈥�

This isn鈥檛 just religious piety: its practical advice, for human relationships, and economic productivity. For Christians, the idea of rest is an expansive subject, understood ultimately as peace with God. But on the way, it invites us to take time out.

To their credit, London Transport has been trying to do this in creative ways. This year it celebrates 30 years of Poems on the Underground from famous and unknown artists. It鈥檚 an attempt to provide a moment of human encounter in the anonymity of our journey. Stillness in movement. And in this race for rest, Wordsworth鈥檚 romantic description of a London whose 鈥渕ighty heart is lying still鈥� does it for me.

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