On my tube journey home to Harlesden, I like to play a guessing game.

When the Bakerloo line train starts travelling north of Warwick Avenue, I start guessing which people on the train are going to get off at the next stop. Spoiler alert – it’s based on intuition, shameless stereotyping and racial/demographic profiling. In other words, pure, unadulterated guess work. That said, I’ve been playing this game for years and I’ve got to an advanced, grandmaster level.

You see the tall dark-haired guy in his late forties, wearing the tailor-made suit, who looks French, maybe Italian? Maida Vale.

The twentysomething stylish platinum blonde who looks like she works in media or fashion? Kilburn Park.

As we get to Queens Park, that’s where a big chunk of the well-off get off. I watch as they say bye to their less well-off friends who are heading further north on the Bakerloo line. If you weren’t able to get a seat on the train before, you probably can now. Here they go. The mum in her early thirties in the yoga trousers, cloth bag from farmers market the big rock on her finger with Bugaboo pram. Or there’s the young professional couple that you might normally find in Notting Hill or Ladbroke Grove. Yep, they’re getting off at Queens Park too. Probably renting though.

And how do you guess who’s getting off at Kensal Green? Anyone who’s left that looks like they fit in the same demographic as the above. KG is as far as these NWtenners go, right? Actually, wrong. More recently, my magical powers of intuition and years of experience have begun to fail me.

The thirtysomething English guy with the beard, skinny jeans, sweatshirt and Brompton bike? I was pretty sure he was getting off at Kensal Green. It’s night-time. Maybe he’s missed his stop. Or maybe he’s getting off at Willesden Junction. Might be changing to get off at Clapham. Nope. Wrong again. As the train doors open at Harlesden, this guy steps off onto the platform just like me.

The first time this happened, I convinced myself that he must have been visiting a friend. But I’ve seen this guy on the same train lots of times. And there’s been many other people who fit my ‘Kensal Green’ profiling that are getting off at Harlesden.

I guess I’m going to need to up my game!