Andrew J. Lederer

I was gonna walk the few minutes from Camberwell Green to Elise's place in Peckham -- after all, it saves me 90p. But there was a #12 bus alongside me and I figured I had to take it, seeing as how it's a bendy bus which you can board from the rear; one, therefore, on which you don't have to pay.

Sure, I thought for a second that I might get caught but who was to catch me? The bus started moving and I was home free.

Except for the fact that it was going in the wrong direction.

So, I got off -- farther from Elise's than where I had begun -- and discovered there had been, I don't know, maybe eighteen (maybe more) police officers and Transport for London employees directly across from where I'd cadged my ride, who'd apparently implemented some sort of sting, numbing and killing passengers who had done what I had done, only a few feet away.

Wow, I really dodged a bullet.

So, I happily walked the next couple blocks but -- suddenly -- there was a bus beside me again, this time for sure in the right direction.

I got on in the back.

I didn't pay.

Nobody paid. (The system is designed to make you feel like a schmuck if you do pay.)

Elise texted me to see when I would arrive but my presence provided the answer -- I was there within moments.