London to Newcastle

Today was my final morning in London. I caught a bus midmorning headed to Newcastle. Since the attempted bombings last week, London had been even more edgy. When I arrived at the bus station and attempted to board the bus with my daypack full of my valuables, I was informed that backpacks of any size were not allowed on the bus "because of what has been going on recently." I asked the driver if he wanted to inspect the backpack and then let me take it on. He said no and said that there were no exceptions. I tried to argue that the rule was ludicrous, but there was no swaying this guy. I finally gave up and pulled out my rain coat, took everything out of my backpack, put it all in the coat pockets, handed the driver the completely empty backpack and walked onto the bus. On the bus I discovered that it was ok to bring briefcases on board and several people had them. I guess there is no chance of a businessman carrying a bomb. Who is going to bomb a bus headed to Newcastle anyway? The ride took about 7.5 hours. I had a copy of the Economist to read though and that kept me busy.