Every now and again we ask old grandmother Londonist for a little extra pocket money* so we can take a cab and laugh at all the people struggling with ticket machines as we whiz across the city knocking pedestrians and cyclists asunder like they were infected, cutting up drivers and tipping extra to see the turning circle in use. You've got to get your thrills where you can.
But now we may have to start carrying a gasmask are you my mummy? style as it turns out the back of a cab is not the healthiest spot in the world - and we're not just talking about what's been splashed on the seats the night before:
A team at Imperial College London found taxi travel resulted in more exposure to pollutants than travelling by car or bus, or riding a bike.
And there we were thinking that the biggest irritant to be found on back seats where those rich kids hanging out of the windows of stretch humvees as they go round Piccadilly Circus.
So as usual the bottom line is that we should be walking as much as possible or perhaps moving to Scandinavia where the only gas masks you need are in 'art' films. Then again it wouldn't be London if even the air wasn't trying to kill you.
* she's much more generous since this case hit the headlines
