When I first moved to London I thought the old routemasters were one of the best ideas.. a bit like the trams in San Fran and Melbourne - jump on and jump off where you like. Made complete sense to me. But, I didn't have to try and get a pram on and off one of the things, so I guess they didn't make complete sense for everyone.. Still, when they were scrapped in 2005 it really was a sad day - not just for the traditionalist - now I have to beg grumpy bus drivers (they're not all grumpy, some do let me on..) to open the doors rather than be able to leap - slightly dangerously - on at the traffic lights and I hate the bendy buses - cycling is not fun near one of them. I digress...The point is they're coming back! Happy Days! And they're going to be better than ever - like Bond cars!
Well, not exactly of course but a design by Aston Martin was one of the winners of the competition to make the new greener, more accessible, hop on hop off double deckers which we could get by 2011.
Bozzer's excited - but some people don't think we need them and it's just a bit of a vanity project - see what you think.. Simon Harris is going to be on an old one and showing us the winning designs for the new one.
I would go out and get on a bus myself but I can't move now I've stuffed myself with mince pies (my own fault) and handfuls of Maltesers (Ben's fault for bringing in a bucket of the evil things). I'm not normally such a pig but you I can't help feeling all festive in the office today - a lot of us off for Christmas after tonight's show. A few people have come back in this afternoon looking more than a little rosy after long lunches and Robin's been humming Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas. I digress again - point is a lot of you are finished today for the festive period too - even though Monday, Tuesday and even Christmas Eve are really work days...Glen Goodman's looking into his snowy crystal ball and asking if London's going to be like a ghost town next week. While Nick Wallis is out on the M25 to see everyone's cars packed with pressies trying to whizz off - but more than likely finding themselves in a load of jams tonight.
The delicious James King is here - I don't know why I just called him delicious - I'm not hungry anymore - anyway - he's talking about Twilight, which I've just been explaining to Ben is going to be an absolutely huge movie thanks in no small part to the gorgeous Robert Pattinson, and The Tale of Despereaux - another gorgeous creature - the animation made entirely here in London.
Big Boss just said something about egg nog - now I have a serious craving!
Ben and I will be with you from 6 (for the last time this year - Al and Katie are with you next week!)
Have a great Christmas - See you in 2009.
Alex and Ben.
