One of the things I love most about London is, no matter how lost I get, no matter where I find myself, I know I can just hop on a bus and eventually I’ll get home. I just got back from quite a crazy afternoon: my initial plan was to just get the tube up to Stratford and have a nice walk around the Olympic park. Once up there, however, I happened upon a stretch of canal which I hadn’t followed before, and temptation soon overcame me.

I followed it and followed it. Pretty  soon I had left the Olympic park, trundling north. It was still fairly early so I wasn’t worried. The canal was pretty, and I was heading through some wonderful little parks. An hour or so later, though, I was beginning to wonder how to get back to Stratford, having suddenly realised that I had absolutely no idea where I was.

I decided to leave the canal and look around for a bus. After all, I couldn’t be too far from Stratford, so there was bound to be a bus which would take me back there. When I found a bus stop though, there was no sign of Stratford on any of the destination lists. And it was then that the afternoon became interesting.

I put my hand out to request the first bus which came. I had no idea where it went, but I reasoned that it would get me back to Stratford somehow. Once aboard, however, I soon realised that the bus was not going anywhere near where I wanted to go: it was headed into central London rather than to Stratford.

I knew that I would get home eventually so I told myself not to panic. After all, the reason I leave my flat every day is to explore the city. The bus was going further and further into London though, and I had no clue how to get home. Of course, some would say that this was a stupid predicament to get myself into, and that I shouldn’t go off on these aimless wanderings all over London. Yet I have found that my trundles are the best way to get to know this wonderful,beguiling labyrinth in all its fascinating diversity. Thus simply retracing my steps seemed too much of a surrender. I thus stayed on the bus until it reached its destination at Wood Green, before getting off and looking for ways to get either to Stratford or somewhere I was familiar with, and from where I knew how to get home.

I looked around for a while. Wood Green seemed like a charming place which I told myself to revisit some time. Unfortunately when I investigated the tube station I found it was completely inaccessible, so getting home that way was out of the question. Luckily outside the station I found a bus stop with one of the buses going down to London Bridge.

Fortune, it seemed, was once again on my side. London Bridge station is on the Jubilee Line, of course, so getting home from there wouldn’t be a problem. The only down side was that I hadn’t realised how long the journey would take, and I then spent about two hours on the bus as it wound its way through central London. Oh well. At least I got to see a bit more of the metropolis, typing this blog entry into my iPad as we went. And at least I now know that, no matter how lost I get, I will always be able to find my way home. The system is far from perfect, but it is only because so much of London’s public transport system is now accessible that I can make such trips, and go out confident that, whatever happens, no matter how lost I get, I will be able to get back in time for dinner.