Routemaster to Robin hood

It is virtually impossible for me to get excited about a london bus, having spent goodness how many hours on them over the past fifteen odd years, but as Jonathan Glancey explains, its as good as it gets with the new version of the Routemaster. (I am slightly confused over the winning design though, as Norman Foster was given the job a few months ago, but Thomas Heatherwick seems to have trumped him, and got the gig.)
Really interesting scene of another iconic landmark, the Tower of London in the (not hugely interesting) Ridley Scott Movie, Robin Hood. Its so hard to imagine the city as a smaller entity than it is today. It is even harder to imagine the Tower surrounded by Woodland, on an unkempt and untamed estuary, but that is how it was in the 12th Century. The Thames is the reason London is where it is, and it is simply not used enough anymore. A few Tate boats aside there is not a lot on it, and with the first Five new Routemaster's costing 7 Million (yes 7 Million) quid i wonder whether the river could be much better utilised, and important again.