This is not Boris

This is a lovely old London Routemaster bus which I was delighted to find on my regular cycle-ride to work this morning. I simply had to dismount and snap it!

In case you were unaware, these have now been generally replaced with a more 21st Century design, very sleek but unfortunately named “Boris”, since he happened to be Mayor of London at the time of their introduction. I don't imagine he had much personal input into their design or styling.

As is my way, I have conducted a little research which tells me that the arrangement of characters on the license plate dates the vehicle between 1932 and 1962, hardly surprising then that its hand-cranked destination list is out of sync or that its route number has been patched with sticky-tape.

This vehicle, therefore, has many more service years on its record than Mr Johnson has, and has benefited a larger proportion of the population than he ever will.

Bless it! I hope it has a happy retirement.