Over the weekend, a hire-car had been delivered to my home and, this morning, I drove it to Harlow in Essex where a rather smart-looking double-decker bus (see photo in New Buses & Coaches section) was waiting for me.

Evidently, it was a bus I had driven on several occasions when it had been a demonstrator vehicle. Subsequently, it had been spruced up in preparation for an ambitiious, overland, trip to Beijing, in China, as part of Mayor Ken Livingstone's plans to publicise the 2012 Olympics in London.

Unfortunately, however, his successor, Boris Johnson, decided that the expense couldn't be justified and the project was abandoned and the bus had been bought by a bus and coach operator in Birmingham - which is where I came into the equation.

It was an especially nice day and, having left Harlow at about 10.30 am. and stopped for a light lunch at the service station on the M6 near Coventry, I arrived at Birmingham at about 2.00 pm. Once again, a hire-car was waiting and I managed to get home just ahead of the evening rush-hour.

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