The uncertainty over the trains had an impact on our bus and its driver this morning. There were only a few passengers waiting at Worcester when the bus arrived and a few of those did not have reservations and had to buy tickets from the driver. But unbeknown to the driver there were a lot waiting down the road at Cheltenham; enough to fill the bus. Thus unfortunately the driver, by selling tickets to those few without reservations, had overbooked the bus. This seemed to be a big deal to the driver and he talked about the problem off and on for the entire drive to Cheltenham and then paid out of his own pocket for those overbooked passengers to catch a train from Cheltenham to London. Amazing, we thought.

The bus ride was pleasant enough and somewhat interesting to see how the driver handled the large vehicle in the narrow confines of English roads and villages. I was looking for some hints as to how I should handle those same roads and villages in the yellow truck.

The bus route took us through the Notting Hill gate region of London, which to our surprise was jam packed with people, barricades, and police. We soon found out that this weekend was the Notting Hill Festival, which among other things meant crowds of noisy, drunken young people wondering around the streets. Did I mention that the hotel we had chosen was only two blocks from the center of these festivities.

Once settled in our hotel we took a walk through, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, to Buckingham Palace to St James Park, Trafalgar Square and then back to the hotel via a very crowded Tube. It was interesting to revisit some of the well known sights of London and get our London visit off to a good start.