Sing it with me! The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish...

You'd better be singing now.

And if you get that song stuck in your head, I not only take credit, but I laugh maniacally.

Anyway, I am not going to write a full narrative this time but just wanted to say thanks to the bus drivers around here.

On Sunday I went to church in the Stratford ward.  We have an Oyster card that gives us unlimited tube and bus rides, provided we stay in zones 1 and 2.  Most of the time, no problem.  Stratford Ward...is in, what, zone 4?

So it cost 2.30 to take the tube to the Redwhatsit station where we got on a bus to closer to the chapel, which cost more because it's also not in zone 2.  I'd foolishly thought I had enough on my card to get me there and back but hadn't though it would cost 2.30 so one of the fellow ward-goers loaned me a fiver which I payed her back when we got home.

But the bus...

We walked out of church and it was starting to rain.  By the time we got halfway down the block, it was pretty steady and stayed that way.  So people were rushing to the bus when it pulled up (...I may have excluded myself intentionally...).  But the bus driver just waved us on.  So I was very grateful that he spared me the few pounds/pence for that bus fare.

Then there was tonight.

We'd just finished watching the proms concert, lovely stuff.  But we were trying to get back and they'd closed the park so we couldn't take the shortcut through there.  The two girls I was with wanted to take the bus, but that was kind of difficult for me since a) I hadn't brought my Oyster card because it was a 7 day pass that I got last Monday and b) I hadn't brought any money because I thought, since we walked there, we could walk back just as easily.  Again, another loan of a fiver which I paid back at the center.  The bus driver seemed mildly irritated that he had to wait for her to find it.  But we soon realized something...the 52 did go to our stop at Notting Hill, yes, but...that one was on the other side of the road.  By this time, we were most of the way to Victoria Station and the turnaround, so we stayed on, got off, were going to take the tube but it was 4 pounds and I wasn't fond of that idea at all, so we found the 52 going our way.  Lo and behold, same bus driver.  One of our group got on and asked, "Is this the right bus to get to Notting Hill?"  He looked at us...and laughed.  And said yes, it was, and waved me on without charging me another 2.20.

So I'm grateful for bus drivers who take pity on poor lost American girls on occasion, and that the bus system can get us where we need to go.

Round and round, round and round, round and round.  The wheels on the bus go round and round, all around the town....