London trips

A few observations from the last couple of days of heading in to London for training:

• A good week to be travelling in to London - I suspect that lots of people have taken the last week of August off, enjoying the tail end of the school holidays, plus the bonus of the Bank Holiday Monday. Places were still busy, but far more manageable than usual.
• The Metropolitan Line definitely has the best carriages on the Underground. It'd be great if all of the lines could have stock as good as that.
• If the hoardings are to be believed, Farringdon will be pretty nice when it is finally finished (and hopefully that's not too far away based on Bec's watching of documentaries in the middle of the night).
• London continues to be a fantastic place for people watching as you walk from station to work. Some embrace dress down Friday, but some definitely don't - a few particularly dapper Dans were strutting their stuff this morning, one with three piece suit, gold chain and matching tie pin.
• Beards continue to definitely be 'in', and many were taking the opportunity in the morning sunshine to show of their designer shades, although I remain to be convinced by the suit and sunglasses look.
• I need a belt for my suit trousers.
• On course catering hadn't improved from yesterday to today, and there remained a distinct lack of biscuits. However, one of my colleagues had done a splendid thing and anticipated this, and brought a pack of chocolate cookies from home.
• One of the main benefits of work days in London is being able to read on the train (even if on balance I still prefer my normal commute by car), and I was pleased to see Sandi Toksvig reference my favourite A A Milne quote in her book. In case you're wondering what it is, you can find it in a previous post of mine here.