hehe ... the direction, and time of day, is significant, but yes, I got the directions reversed.
I much prefer the Washington Beltway terms - Inner/Outer Loop, and I suspect my brain registers the IAD-Alexandria direction better!
Morning/Anti-clockwise/LHR-LGW = OK, Morning/Clockwise/LGW-LHR = BAD
Reverse for the afternoon rush, of course. Apologies for sowing potential confusion.