For some reason the office had thought I wasn't available on Friday. Nevertheless, when - at very short notice - a request to return the bus I had collected from Heathrow on Wednesday morning came in, they 'phoned to see if I could do it.

Friday afternoon isn't the most attractive time of the week to try to negotiate the M25 and it was agreed that Saturday morning would be a better option. So, at about 9.00 am. I set off towards Guildford and, from there, having parked my car, it took less than an hour to get to the National Express depot to deliver the bus.

Probably because, the request to do the job had arrived rather late on Friday, it hadn't been possible for a hire-car to be waiting for me. However, the office had negotiated for me to 'walk-in' to a hire-car company's compound at the airport and one of the National Express controllers arranged a lift for me to get from the bus depot to the airport.

Given the choice, I wouldn't choose to try to collect a hire-car from Heathrow airport on a Saturday morning again. Quite simply, there were too many people wanting cars at a time when too few seemed to be available. As a consequence, it took over an hour for a car to be ready for me - that despite the fact that my office had indicated what time I would be arriving.

To add to the delay, traffic on the M25 was practically stationary when I re-joined it. So, I took the earliest opportunity to leave it and I used conventional roads to make my way home - where I had been asked to take the hire-car because I would be needing it to get to a job early on Monday morning.

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