I have the FT for information about what my fellow Londoners are doing; in my experience of the last few days, most of my meetings that would have been face to face have moved to Teams and Zoom. This appears to be seconded by data used to analyse the behaviours of Londoners caught by a tube and DLR strike and the capture of taxis by large employers who have the muscle to pre-plan and pre-pay to get professionals in to work.

Anonymised mobile data from O2, often used to estimate population movement and travel patterns, showed there were 16 per cent fewer people in central London on Tuesday lunchtime than a week earlier — although the figures predate the return of some schools last week.

In business districts reliant on the Underground, the drop was sharper: Canary Wharf was down 31 per cent, while the City was 21 per cent lower, and Westminster down 19 per cent.  Even so, businesses reported that people — potentially helped by the lack of rain — were clearly determined to make it in.

In 2008 Halfords gave me the title “London cyclist of the year” and until I was knocked off a Santander bike in November last year, I would not take trains or busses. 5 weeks on a neur0 ward gave me time to consider the dangers of biking (especially in some cycle lanes!)

All the same , the FT’s reporting makes sense to anyone who still believes in face to face and not in sitting at home.

Santander “docking” cycling isn’t quite as attractive as the dock less variety. Look at the map below and recognise that yellow dots are stations “full up”. The weakness of Santander bikes for time-savers is that you may not be able to dock your park near your destination. The dock less bikes from Forrest and  Lime is obvious

Actually walking is a fine thing to do and as the weather turns against cyclists, planning is now turning to how to use trains and busses to get yourself close enough and find the rain jacket that you’ve put away for the summer. I suspect we are moving to shanks’ poetry for a few days, but the FT are right with their headline, the street walker now has a new obstacle, the Lime bike lying in the pavement!

This is not a political blog but those I talk to who are walking, cycling and using alternatives to tubes and DLR are none too sympathetic with tube drivers

Those reading this blog in rural areas may delight as they look at their cars sitting on the drive, but for many of us Londoners they were long since an obsolete encumbrance. We will smugly remind ourselves that for all the dangers and inconveniences of London travelling, we find a leaner greener way one method or another!