My brother called this morning to reassure us that he was fine. As the London Tube was shut and buses not in service as police were working to find out who was behind the blasts, quite a lot of people were stranded, my brother included. Being typical Londoners, he and his colleagues decided to go to the pub first before attempting to get home.

So, the following conversation ensued between my brother and his colleagues over drinks:
Bro: I guess our best bet would be to take the river taxi. It should be safe enough.
Boss (with a grave expression on his face, beer in one hand, cigar in the other): No. It could be torpedoed.

Later on, my brother and his colleague decided to leave to go home.
Various colleagues: Bye, see you tomorrow!
Boss: Bye! Remember: torpedoes, torpedoes.

(At this point, I interjected, "well... it's not as if you could jump off the boat if you see anything." My brother responded, "yeah, if they're that well-prepared, the river would probably be full of killer piranhas and after we all abandoned ship, we'd be all 'Oh. Bugger. Ow ow ow ah!!!'" Heh.)

As my brother and his colleague struggled to get to Embankment, which is not at all near his office, they decided to try getting a taxi, but obviously, with the thousands of people stranded, they were unable to get one. Given that, my brother's colleague came up with a rather innovative solution.

So, to all of you bemused stranded Londoners and tourists along Oxford St who saw an excitedly squealing English woman and an embarrassed Chinese man besides her riding in the trishaw heading towards Embankment, yes, that was my brother. Now you know.