Toot Toot

The joy of public transport

Reading Megan's articles on spending a week with no car in Dayton reminded me of just how much fun I used to have traveling around London on buses and trains.

If you live in town long enough you begin to get a real feel how to hike yourself across the city. I was in Bloomsbury when there was a flood which shut down the tubes. I was alone, the cabs were all full, and it was getting late. But, because of the flood, the buses were free. I rode four of them to take myself across town to where I lived.

Of course you can ride the 3am night bus, if you fancy seeing what the apocalypse is going to look like. I always found it a lot of fun.

The best public transport hitching I ever did was three trains coming back from a gig in Southampton. I'd got on the wrong train, and when I gave the ticket officer my ticket he said, "Oh no son, this train is going to Wales. Don't worry we'll drop you off at the next station. My cousins train is due to go through there in 20 minutes."

"Go through there? Its not a stop?"

"No worries, I'll let him know."

He dropped me off at a deserted station. I stood wondering, where I was, and how much trouble I was in. Then a train trundled in. A guard was hanging out of the door. He waved.

"London, is it?"

"Yeah," I said very relieved.

"We're not going there," he said.

"But we can drop you at the main station, you can pick up the London train from there."

And he did. Three trains later I was home. Still the coolest night's travel I ever had...