Double Decker Dodge

Tim wanted to call this installment "Day Two", but I thought that was too boring and suggested Double Decker Dodge. What is that, you wonder? It's the national pastime here in London and there are two teams who compete. So far, we have been on Team Footwalkers, and the opposing team is known as the Red Devils.

The rules are simple and painted out for you on the street. As you approach the game field, an ominous message tells you to LOOK RIGHT and they mean it. There are no safety corners, just traffic circles that give the Red Devils an advantage because there is never a reason for them to gently press on the brakes. The Footwalkers gather in mobs at the entrance to the cross walks and wait, wait for it, ready, set, GO. Run, run, run to the base in the center of the road. Slide in if you have to. Don't let your foot come off the median strip or you may lose it! Anything coming from the other direction? Run!

You would think there is safety in numbers. London is the most crowded place I've been, and I've been to Camden Yards back in the good 'ole days of Cal Ripken. But..... the busses never travel alone either. They come at you three or four behind each other so that when they hit you, the first one knocks you over, the second one flattens you down, and the third one knocks your body back out of the bus lane. It is a form of legal homicide and they take it very seriously. Tim saved my life three times today, and I saved his once.

We've decided to get a bus pass on Monday and ride around London on the top deck of the Red Devil, just to see what it's like to play on the winning team.