Rose Tinted Night Buses

I was on a night bus a few nights ago, heading north from Tooting to Elephant and Castle. To anyone not familiar with London, night buses are just that, buses that run all night. Traditionally they are filled with drunks, some asleep in their seat, some asleep on the floor. One will invariably be a loud mouth keen to suck you in to whatever nightmarish world he's hours from waking up in. The buses are also driven by the lunatic element of the Transport Industry's driver pool. These people break for no one. But judging by some of their clientele this is just good reasoning.

But this one was different. Buses heading north tend to be, as the revellers tend to head south. I was sat warming up looking out the window when I realised London is a pretty great place to be. Even in the dodgy bits, the 'Red Zones' that when driven through actually nullify your car insurance. After all, it's all London. And I like this place. Crap bits too.

I can't remember where I was going with this. But I was walking through London at 6.30am today thinking the same thing. Central London, walking along the Strand and then into Covent Garden, is London at it's best. Particularly when there are no people about. If only you could get a cup of coffee to go with it. I lowered my standards enough to go to Starbucks (that's another post), but even with two minutes to opening time they wouldn't let me in. No leniency. Nothing. It was too cold to hang around, even for two minutes, so I headed to the next one. But the further I went the later the opening times became. Too Kafka for first thing in the morning.

I did start this post with a point, but hell I can't remember it now. Anyway, Code Green today. All fine.