Those blessed 2012 lanes

I drove into town this evening to pick Nathan up from work, but found myself utterly foiled by these ridiculous Olympic lanes. I got half-way down Woburn Place to discover that the lane I was in had inexplicably become a 2012 lane, and the only other lane was specifically for buses. The lanes, apparently, become active tomorrow, and no doubt there'll be plenty of fines dished out to motorists who inadvertently get stuck in that no win situation. #patheticmoneymakingscheme

It gets even worse however, because at a certain point, whilst panicking about the lanes, you get stuck in a one-way-street, where all the normal exits have been blocked off and one's only option is to cross the Thames, via the Holborn underpass, which weirdly, now goes in the opposite direction! 

If I get a fine for chucking a U-ey instead of crossing the river, I will happily go to prison for not paying it. Such serious changes in road layout should be much more clearly marked. #patheticmoneymakingscheme

On our way out of the City centre, we got stuck at a set of traffic lights on a side street, which, after five minutes, still hadn't changed. A great big camera on the lights was pointing down at the cars below, which, no doubt, at a certain point, would give up waiting, assume the lights were broken, and edge out into the street. Flash flash. #patheticmoneymakingscheme

We then got stranded at a check-point on Russell Square (yes, an actual 1950s communist-style check point), unable to turn right onto Woburn Place and unable to go straight ahead. The bemused Bengali man with a little clip board didn't know how we were going to get out of the situation, so we blindsided him with logic, and steam-rolled him into waving us through. 

Just found out that the people given the honour of carrying the torch for the much-hyped relay only get to keep the torch afterwards if they pay for it! Can someone please tell me what is wrong with this country at the moment?

Thursday 24th July, 1662, and Pepys spent the day prepping his household staff for their journey to the country with Elizabeth. Pepys had moved into a room in his neighbour, Sir William's house, and everything was very much up in the air. He doesn't mention whether it was raining to boot, but he does write that Lord Sandwich had been found safe and well, driven by gales and storms in the English channel, back to France.