Random observations

Things I noticed in London

• I am always impressed by the London Underground.  It's clean, it's well signed, of the more than 30 tube trips we made during the week, we only waited more than three minutes for a train twice, and one of those was about 10:30 at night.  Even then, our wait was only 10 minutes.  And it goes everywhere, at least everywhere we as tourists wanted to go.
• It's a cliche that the English are unflaggingly polite/apologetic, but it's so true.  Our guide in Oxford would say things like "do you mind if we walk in this direction?" when he wanted us to turn onto another street.  Almost everyone who bumped into me apologized, and people were very good about giving up their seat on the tube if I was standing (which I suppose means that I look my age).
• On the other hand, Londoners are not particularly law abiding.  Traffic lights are "advisory" for pedestrians and cyclists.  My theory is that they would drown if they waited till the light turned green at some of these intersections.  Londoners also let their dogs poop on the sidewalk (even when right next to a park or verge where there is actual grass) and leave more trash around (though that could be tourists).
• The most common foreign language I heard people speaking (including English with an American accent) was German.  Germany did have a four day holiday during the time we were thre, it is close by, and Germans are doing well financially, so lots of them can afford London, but I was somewhat surprised to find such a high concentration of them.
• In contrast to most of the places we've gone elsewhere in Europe, London tends to have senior discounts to various attractions (the museums are mostly free -- not the Churchill War Rooms, though).  The few places I have seen senior discounts in continental Europe, you need to be an EU citizen with a retiree ID.