Adventures in London Transport

There is almost no way around taking some form of public transportation if you live in London. Few people have cars (and those that do, have to pay a congestion tax to drive into the city) and and taxis do not come cheap so they are for special occasions. The city is big, like really big. The Tube has 6 zones, concentric circles with downtown being zone 1. It takes Andy and I an average of 45 minutes to get to work and we live in zone 2. Like I said, it's a big city. After being here for 6 weeks, we have had our fair share of highs and lows making our way across and around town. I submit to you all some tales from the roads, the tunnels, and the sidewalks.

Tube (also known as the London underground): The first line began running trains in 1863 with a few stations and one track. Now there are 268 stations and almost 250 miles of track. As of March 2007, the city estimated that 3 million people ride the tube every single day. Oh, I can attest to that. It seems that the tube is only just being updated now(maybe the first time ever?) in honor of the upcoming Olympics so stations indiscriminately close on the weekends for work(Emily, Bob, and Emily and Ryan-- you got to experience the joy) and both minor and major delays plague rush hour. Somehow, incredibly, in a city that gets phenomenal rain, the tube also hasn't figured out how keep it together when the track lines are wet... so, like today, the tube is late and uber-crowded and hot from too many people breathing at once and smells like wet dogs from all of the umbrellas and rainboots. But whatever, the tube goes everywhere.... and it's just getting bigger, so there's that.

Bus (double deckers and plain old one-levels): It has to be said that in DC I rode the bus when I saw it coming. Interesting experience and definitely not the same vibe as the Metro. In London, I dunno, I kind of love the bus. If you sit up top it's sort of like a cheap tour of London neighborhoods. Plus you are pretty high up which feels powerful. And shockingly, they run on time. What? So far the bus gets my vote for favourite London transport.

Taxis (black cabs and other cars): I think we have only taken 2 maybe 3 taxis since we have been here. Our first was a Mercedes (two actually, one for Andy and one for me) that took us from Heathrow to our storage unit with our ridiculous number of bags and boxes (hence two cars!). The second one took us from our temporary flat to our current flat and had to use GPS to navigate the city. So, cabs, eh. Expensive.

Walking (at your own risk): This weekend we had two interesting walking experiences. On Saturday we had to hoof it about 2 miles to the UK version of UPS to get a package that the Parcel Post would not leave for us here. The weather was crummy and we had to walk on a sidewalk down a highway for half of it but in the end, we were rewarded with our coffeemaker! (THANK YOU HEATHER! You saved our lives. Nescafe was about to kill us). Then on Sunday, I had a run in with a mini. Andy and I were walking to meet friends for dinner in Notting Hill and well, a car came flying around the corner (serious bat out of hell action) and kind of sort of hit me. My knee was the first thing it hit and then it ran over my shoes before i jumped out of the way (only one tire got my two feet). I was pretty stunned. The driver didn't even look back and by the time I got the words out about what happened it was too late for Andy to chase the car down. Seriously though, it hurt. Miraculously, I walked away slightly dazed with no more than a bump and bruise on my knee. My feet are totally fine so it seems. Thank you Rocket Dog boots! You saved my feet.

Lessons learned? Um, leave early for any tube journey and bring breath mints and patience (plus an ipod and reading materials), look both ways 3 times before crossing the street, don't waste your money on a taxi, take the bus and sit up top when it's available.