London is a strange place to drive in. I’ve never actually liked driving there; once inside the M25 ring something happens to other drivers and they turn into the hooligan offspring of White Van Man and Audi Woman.

Now, I imagine there will be a fair few of you who have also driven in London and will be nodding your heads over this observation. Or perhaps you are a seasoned veteran of the capital’s road network and just think “typical northern monkey”. Well, try making the trip in a 44 ton lorry that is 40 feet long and 15’5″ tall and see how many restrictions that there are. Not to mention poor roadsigns. Why is it that the closer you get to the centre, the less information is shown on the signs? I have a map that showed me to follow the A503. It would be nice if the signs would remind me which road that happens to be at the nonsensical junction I have approached. The thought occured to me more than once that a computer game “London rush hour lorry driver” might be a good one for adrenaline junkies. Mind those traffic wardens, cyclists and bus lane cameras.

Finsbury Park is surprisingly a nice place, despite the press it got over That mosque. I can recommend the pubs on the high street and the very friendly chicken/burger bar with the sweaty elephant’s foot of Doner kebab rotating in the window. The flame grilled quarter pounder was especially nice after two hours in a down to Earth pub with a colleague. I didn’t see a terrorist once.