Nightjar cpb@ wrote:
I
also suspect that the days when I could drive across London faster than
getting there by tube have long gone.

I reckon east/west now takes 3hrs between 7am and 7pm. Probably half
that at 1am. Reverse journey is no quicker. North/south I would expect
to be the same. It can take 3hrs on a bad Sunday on the M25 to do the
same journey. I always found M25 clockwise in the morning, slower than
anticlockwise. Reverse for evenings. At 7am, there is a tendency for
everyone to park sideways on the M25, therefore you must be off it
before then.