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Today I chanced upon a fellow cuber on the London Underground

jiggy

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A tall guy in a beanie sat next to me and pulled out a cube. Of course, it caught my eye immediately, but my excitement was short lived as in the next second I clocked the make of the puzzle - Rubik's brand.

Ok, so this guy was unlikely to be a pro, but still, it's not every day that you happen upon a kindred cuber on the Victoria line. I settled in as my new friend scrambled and watched him solve. As expected, he was using Layer By Layer. An orange cross was already partially formed and this is where he began - Was he a lucky orange cross solver? Or was my friend starting out colour neutral?

Part of me hoped he would continue into F2L, but of course, lone corners were followed by lone edges. Nevertheless, his pace was reasonable and had made no mistakes. I was pleased to see him orientate his cube last layer facing upwards as he moved in to a 2 (or three) look OLL with Sune. A good permutation saw him finish.

Ok, this guy clearly wasn't winning any competitions, but I was very pleased with what I had seen. His cube was wearing with practice and his execution had been reasonably without fault. My stop was next, I had to get off the tube, but I couldn't help myself. As he was starting to re-scramble for another solve I gave him a nudge.

It's the same nudge we've all received. You can tell when someone's been watching you solve. Then they tap you on the shoulder and gawp about this amazing feat they have just witnessed. Of course, this is nothing amazing to you, so you awkwardly thank them and maybe go on to explain that it's really very simple.

Anxious to avoid this kind of encounter and painfully aware that my stop was just a few seconds away, I cut to the chase. Complimenting him on his speed with LBL, I asked him if he had considered moving to Fridrich? (I didn't have time for a discussion on the merits of other speed solving methods.) To my pleasure, he seemed to know what Friedrich was. He knew it was faster but felt it was hard. At least he had done some research around the subject!

I attempted to encourage him, "it's not too difficult", I assured him as my stop arrived. "Look in to F2L and 2 look OLL" I blurted, rising to my feet. He smiled, although I'm still not sure we had an understanding. An awkward wave was topped off with a thumbs up - for extra awkwardness - and I jumped off the train. "And invest in a better cube!" The suggestion came to me too late.

It's a shame that I didn't get to have more of a conversation with him, one of the only other cuber's I've met, but at the same time I'm glad our paths crossed, even briefly. I find it amazing that this puzzle we all love continues to draw eager new minds. I'll probably never know, but I hope he does keep solving and looks in to new, faster, methods. Perhaps he'll even find his way to these forums, which, alas, I never have the time the visit any more.

Regardless, I thought I would share my short encounter with this budding cuber with you guys!

How about you? Ever spotted a random cuber, who you did not know, in a place you never expected to see them?
 
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Are you a writer? The way you told that story was like it was part of a book, of a brilliant writer. I could tell the story would be kinda boring after I read the first sentence, but the way you told it made me read it all the way. My serious intention was to stop reading after the first sentence lol. GJ
 

IRNjuggle28

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Are you a writer? The way you told that story was like it was part of a book, of a brilliant writer.

Yeah, that was my thought as well. Very well done.

How about you? Ever spotted a random cuber, who you did not know, in a place you never expected to see them?

I see cubers at school sometimes. Most are slow beginners method solvers, but the occasional one is decently fast.
 

jiggy

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Are you a writer? The way you told that story was like it was part of a book, of a brilliant writer. I could tell the story would be kinda boring after I read the first sentence, but the way you told it made me read it all the way. My serious intention was to stop reading after the first sentence lol. GJ

Haha! You're too kind! Yeah, a story about two guys basically just sitting next to each other is pretty boring! I should have thrown an action scene or something in the middle...
 

pipkiksass

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Haha! You're too kind! Yeah, a story about two guys basically just sitting next to each other is pretty boring! I should have thrown an action scene or something in the middle...

Or a love interest?

gj tho. I used to cube on the Jubilee line occasionally, using a hybrid LBL method I used to use 'back in the day'.
 

Dene

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On public transport? Maybe you can get away with that kind of thing in your hemisphere, but it's frowned upon in these parts! ;-)

Hang on wut. You saying I can't bang a dude up the backside on a public train in the northern hemisphere? Because that's a rather populous part of the Earth and I was considering moving there.
 

PianoCube

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I once sat on the bus with my weilong and noticed that a guy were looking at me from time to time. Thats not so so strange in it self, but at a bus stop, he rose up to leave and asked the very unexpected question "Is that a weilong?"
I managed to answere "Yeah...?" and two seconds later he were off the bus and I never saw him again. :(
 

Cubeologist

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I was playing video games online and noticed that one of the guys in the room had the name SolvingCubes. I was so excited to talk to him. I live in a very rural place where people only slightly remember "that toy from the 80's that nobody can solve." So, being a little overzealous, I jumped into the conversation, "what kind of cube do you use? what method do you prefer? have you tried higher order cubes or cuboids?!" I was so excited. Then he said that it was an old account from back when his dad had bought him a Rubik's cube and he had never got around to solving it. He just liked the sound of the name.

I hate call of duty.
 

brian724080

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Great story. Apparently I got several 7th grade girls at my school interested in solving, but they're pretty hopeless...
 

pipkiksass

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Hang on wut. You saying I can't bang a dude up the backside on a public train in the northern hemisphere? Because that's a rather populous part of the Earth and I was considering moving there.

Yeah, we have a heavily populated hemisphere and, despite being widely perceived as free-thinking liberals, almost universally frown on public sodomy; even more so when perpetrated on state-funded transportation.

Who said fascism is dead?
 

pipkiksass

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We are of course, a fair nation and frown equally on anybody who decides to do a woman up the wrong 'un on buses, trains or planes. Or even while driving a car.

Although the same can't be said of all our hemispherical neighbours. Russia, for example, are incredibly tolerant of heterosexual public bum play; however their stance on man-on-man bum action is widely known.

Dene - best stay in the antipodes, where at least you can rely on good weather!
 
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