While recuperating from a serious accident back in late 1984 I achieved a minor ambition by timing how long it took to make a complete circumnavigation of the Circle Line. A year or so later I was in the crowd alighting at Great Portland Street Station when I heard a young woman say to her partner, "I wonder how long it takes to go all the way round the Circle Line?" I leaned slightly in their direction and purred "Fifty-four minutes" before slipping away into the throng with their titters ringing in my ears.

Ian Mole