"The knowledge"

As I emerged from the platform at Euston this morning, I had 45 minutes to play with to get down to a meeting just south of London Bridge with a potential client. My intention had been to take the tube but the concourse was busy and there was a queue at the top of the escalator down to the Underground. Suddenly, the handful of stops on the northern line* didn't seem terribly attractive. It wasn't just the prospect of the journey itself, it was the thought of turning up on Bermondsy Street looking like I'd worn my suit into a sauna.

So I opted for a taxi. This was clearly going to be a bit more expensive than the tube but, on the other hand, I'd get there in just a few minutes and maybe even have time for a coffee before arriving fresh-faced and raring to go at the meeting. Or so I thought.

The journey down to the river and across Blackfriars Bridge was straightforward enough, if painfully slow due to the amount of traffic, but once we were on Southwark Street, my taxi driver seemed to suffer a sudden crisis of confidence, asking me about the best way to go. This was, I think, mostly down to the roadworks at the end of the road, which would complicate us getting onto Borough High Street. So, suddenly I found that rather than arriving comfortably early, I was in the back of an over-warm taxi, with £20 already on the meter, trying to get a local map up on my 'phone.

In the end we were there ten minutes late. I'd already rung ahead and apologised to the client so I was pretty cool about the whole matter but the taxi driver was terribly agitated, getting out of the cab to apologise - unprecedented in my experience - and even giving me a blank receipt!

*Bank branch, tube fans.