Own transport is a bonus...

...when the public transport can't be relied upon. London has been paralysed by a tube strike. It doesn't affect us South Londoners too much seeing as there's not much of a tube network south of the river (we take buses and overland trains). But the buses and overland trains are that much busier, and people are grumpy. Some work colleagues took several hours to get to work and had to leave early to get home at a decent hour. If this is happening in all the London offices, that's a lot of work time gone to waste. People aren't in sympathy with the folk on strike - they get paid more than we do, and our jobs are probably less safe than theirs.

So, here's a blip of part of my journey: the cycle path (across the pavement!) from Covent Garden to Waterloo Bridge. I really like the traffic lights just for bicycles, but they confuse the hell out of the pedestrians when the lights go green and the cyclists ring bells en masse before pedalling into their paths as a group. The pedestrians are in their commuter blinkers and don't see the cycle path (why would they - it's not coloured differently or raised). Waterloo Bridge, as you can see, is crammed with workers making their way to the station on foot.

My cycle journey was also busier than normal due to the schools going back today. I had to resort to pavement cycling for part of the way because I couldn't move passed the static traffic and the parked cars - grrrrr. I'm sure car drivers find me annoying weaving in and out, and trying to not snag myself on their wing mirrors, so the pavement (free of pedestrians; they're all in cars) is far preferable.

Oh, and they've dug up the big hill to lay down new tarmac - yay because it was badly potholed. So I have a bit of a mountain bike track for a while.

I made it up ALL the hills today so I'm expecting multiple badges.