Amidst worries of inclement weather on the first full day of the tube strikes, I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a briiiiiight, briiiiiight, sunshiny day! That and a whole bunch of people at the bus-stop. Given the distance I live from the office - 15 miles - it was a bit of a surprise that the strike added on less than half an hour to my overall journey time. It was also extremely heartening to see loads of people still trying to get to their workplaces doing the stiff, upper-lip thing that Londoners do.

Don't get me wrong. I hate tube strikes as much as the next commuter. It was just such a pleasant surprise that it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be! Come to think of it, despite all the newspaper reports that London was paralysed, it would seem that quite a few other people had the same experience I did.

Still, having lived in this country for over 2 1/2 years now, I'm actually really glad I grew up in a place without any proper unions.