immediate suburbs of London, I found that the
knowledge I had gained on our frequent trips gave me a great advantage
in getting into the city. I was able to avoid the crowded streets and to
select those where traffic was lighter, thus reducing the time of
reaching our hotel fully an hour. There is much difference in the
traffic on the eight bridges which cross the Thames. London Bridge,
which crosses near the Bank of England, is the most congested of all.
There is hardly an hour when it is not a compact mass of slowly moving
vehicles. The bridge by Parliament House is less crowded, but I should
say that Waterloo Bridge furnishes the best route for motorists in
getting across the river. It leads directly into the new boulevard known
as Kingsway, which has just been completed at an expense of many
millions of pounds. This is the broadest street in London and was opened
by wholesale condemnation of private property. It is little used for
heavy traffic and has a fine asphalted surface. It extends from the
Strand to Holborn, the two principal business arteries of London. The
street now presents a rather ragged appearance on account of the
buildings that were torn down to make way for it. However, new
structures of fine architecture are rapidly being built and Kingsway is
destined to become one of the handsomest boulevards in the world.

A little after noon we reached our London hotel, having spent ten weeks
in touring England, Wales and Scotland. We had not confined ourselves to
the highways, but had journeyed a great part of the distance through
less frequented country roads. In fact, many of the most charming places
we had visited could be reached only from the byways and were not
immediately accessible from railway stations. With the exception of the
first two weeks, when we had rain more or less every day, we had been
favored with exceptionally fine weather. During the last seven or eight
weeks of our trip, only light showers had fallen and we were assured
that the season had been an unusual one for England.

The matter of weather is not of great moment to the motorist in Great
Britain. The roads are not affected in the least, so far as traveling
is concerned, and dashing through the open air in a rain is not an
unpleasant experience. A closed top for the car is rarely necessary.
Plenty of waterproof coats and coverings answer the purpose very well
and the open air is much pleasanter than being cooped up in a closed
ve