David Willis' story was about Los Angeles commuters switching to the tube, if we can call it that, because of the high price of gas.

This week I did something which - in nearly 10 years of living in Los Angeles - I have never, ever done before.

Cue the drum roll: I travelled to work on the subway.

I did it because the figures suggest it is the trend. And (hem hem) being the trend-setter that I am, that is the only excuse I need.

You see - like most people here - I would rather stick pins in my eyeballs than hop on a bus or a train.

That is not because I am a snob, but because America's second largest city is a sprawl. Fifty-two suburbs in search of a city, so the old saying goes.

And the prospect of sitting in grid-locked traffic on one of the labyrinths of freeways, only to pay the equivalent of a small dowry for the right to park, may sound miserable, but given the distances involved, it is still invariably quicker than public transport.

Mind the gap.