Waiting time
Page 35
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
We've got it right in the UK, according to my new-found friend Garry Coxall of Toronto. (Garry picked up my point about UK kicking out the moaners.) He tells me this week that not only the New Yorkers think the BL double-deckers are winners but so do others who have visited London and used them. Let an American take up the story.
"I've had quite a bit of double-decker time. In London I stayed at the Milestone Hotel in Kensington that conveniently had a bus stop at the front door. My way of seeing the city was to get on a double-decker, ride to the end of the line, take the next bus back, and then clamber on to another one going a different direction.
"It was cheap sight-seeing and a great way to meet interesting people. I was doing this early one Sunday morning when I found myself on a bus that was not heading back to Milestone. I got off at the next bus stop to wait for the right bus. It happened that an elderly gentleman was waiting. A few minutes passed while the gent sized me up. Apparently satisfied with what he saw, he produced a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label and two small silver mugs and invited me to have a drink.
It seemed as though he had spent a lot of time on that bench and hoisted a few with various people the buses dumped off. He was an interesting old gent who had been all over the world and had done all sorts of things, like the hunt for gold in the Klondike. If New York's double-deckers can bring just one such elderly person in touch with my world, I'd consider the money well spent."
Thanks Garry, that's cheered me up.