London's newest bus L10: Horseguards to Buckingham Palace Location: London central Length of bus journey: ½ mile, 14 minutes The route is relatively straightforward, running from a temporary bus stand at the northern end of Horse Guards Road to a terminus outside the front gates of Buckingham Palace. No other scheduled bus route goes this way so the new L10 offers an exciting way for anyone with a fractured tibia to reach the royal heart of London without hobbling. As is fairly typical with a new route the TfL website provided no information, nor was a timetable provided at bus stops, but the BBC kindly provided a route map enabling tens of thousands of excited enthusiasts to line the route and cheer on the driver and his passengers. You could tell that the intended passengers were true afficionados of bus travel because they arrived in two hi-spec coaches, one a Van Hool the other an Irizar, provided by Ellisons Travel Services of St Helens, Merseyside. Unfortunately both coaches had polarised windows and proceeded to park between two privacy screens so it was not possible to see anyone alight, nor to gain access to the queue preparing to board. There was a brief moment when one of the pony-tailed passengers climbed onto the shoulders of a colleague and waved some silverware around, but it soon became clear that nobody without official clearance would be boarding the inaugural service. on the top deck, which could have got ugly but instead they cheered loudly and exuberantly, and occasionally called to them by name. Unexpectedly the bus departed two minutes early, as if nobody at the bus company had any sense of timing. Unfortunately the traffic was awful, the Band of His Majesty's Royal Marines Portsmouth insisting on proceeding at a walking pace in front of the vehicle, so the L10 crept ever so slowly into the Mall. And ridiculously it was immediately followed by a second service, a vehicle packed out with hangers-on nobody appeared to recognise, but lapping up the adulation all the same. I was not able to track either of the vehicles on any of the apps, which seems an unfortunate oversight. But how typical that when it comes to special buses, you wait for years and then two come along at once. five deep, which isn't normal behaviour on a new bus route, not even Day One on the Superloop. What's more the majority of them appeared to be female and that's very much exceptional for what's essentially a bus-spotting event. Even the passengers on the top deck, grinning with glee at the situation they found themselves in, weren't the usual men the nation used to think of in these circumstances. What was particularly encouraging to see was the number of young people present, easily into the high thousands, all agog to be here and recording reels to share on their socials as is so often the case with new bus launches today. Even with a heavy police presence the open-topped service was making slow progress. It's often said that "you could walk it faster" and on this case I actually did, nipping marginally into St James's Park to avoid a throng increasing in density as the journey proceeded. Some families appeared to have travelled for many miles and all because their youngest child had insisted on dragging them here simply to see a particular bus, as is so often the way. They cheered in collective adoration, they waved flags name-checking an online bank and they screamed adoringly at the excitement of a converted Alexander Dennis Trident (or perhaps at the historic gathering on the open deck, it was hard to be certain). A huge bus shelter had been constructed beneath the Queen Victoria Memorial, ideal for shielding passengers from the elements had there been a return journey. It was so large you could almost imagine Heather Small coming out and singing Proud, the inevitable finale to any significant bus-related gathering. Instead the passengers were brought forward one at a time to relate how the 14 minute trip had made them feel, in one case confessing to crying all the way, and seemingly exhausted from all the waving. The entire nation was impressed by how far they'd come, and as Sweet Caroline boomed out were left dreaming that they might one day make the same journey again. It was a day that generations of fans will never forget. first journey yesterday, and plainly ecstatic at what they saw, confirming that collective endeavour and London buses can always bring the nation together. It may be many years before the same team are back on The Mall with another inspirational success to share, maybe even the men rather than the women next time, but let's hope pride returns to our streets and this becomes a regular service.

020 is the dialling code for London. This is Wikipedia's map of the 020 dialling code area. It forms an approximate circle spreading 20 miles from the centre of London. But London is not circular. Places outside London with an 020 dialling code telephone exchanges outside London. The most populous areas outside London with an 020 dialling code are South Oxhey/Bushey/Borehamwood and Buckhurst Hill/Loughton/Chigwell. Gilwell Park has postcode E4 7QW and telephone number 020 8138 0191. Places in Greater London not in the 020 area telephone exchanges inside London don't have an 020 dialling code. They are... 01322: Crayford, Erith, Slade Green 01689: Orpington, Farnborough, Lodge Hill 01959: Biggin Hill 01737: Downland 01895: West Drayton, Denham, Uxbridge, Harefield, Ruislip 01923: Northwood 01708: Romford, Ingrebourne, Hornchurch, Upminster, Rainham But I believe eight other non-020 dialling codes can also be found in London. 01883: Caterham [for example The Fox, Coulsdon Common - 01883 340737] 01372: Esher [for example The Star, Malden Rushett - 01372 842416] 01932: Weybridge [for example Kempton Steam Museum - 01932 765328] 01784: Staines [for example The Orchard Cafe, Staines Road - 01784 258795] 01753: Slough [for example Airpets, Spout Lane North - 01753 685571] 01707: Welwyn Garden City [for example New Cottage Farm, The Ridgeway - 01707 655026] 01992: Waltham Cross [for example Lea Valley Academy, Bullsmoor Lane - 01992 763666] 01227: Brentwood [for example RJ Skip Hire, Grove Farm - 01277 350775] peripheral postcodes that barely enter London. Greater London thus has 16 geographic dialling codes I don't believe anyone else has ever made a definitive list before.

A tribute to Tom Lehrer (1928-2025)   🔊

The first pillar boxes were introduced in 1853, since when Britain has had seven monarchs. I wanted to track down one postbox from each reign, noting that two of these could prove quite tricky, so I did my research and headed off to Dartford in Kent to try to grab the full set. I eventually succeeded, but I was not expecting Mr Blobby. Queen Victoria (Market Place, Dartford) Edward VII (The Brent, Dartford) E VII R cypher. I missed it at first because it's not outside the Post Office, which since 2018 has been at the back of the local Nisa grocery store. Instead it's outside where the Post Office used to be, a long time back, which is why the slot faces away from the road towards the Woodland Paws dog grooming boutique. The other reason I missed it is that it's not red, it's gold, which is odd because Dartford had no Olympic medal winners in 2012. And therein hangs a tale. On 31st January 2024 residents of the Temple Hill area of Dartford discovered that some of their postboxes had been spray-painted gold overnight. Over the next five nights more followed - a total of 26 gold postboxes altogether - and local police released a CCTV image of a masked suspect they wished to question. A perpetrator was successfully arrested on 13th February, thankfully, but leaving behind a significant cleaning bill estimated at £150 per box. A spokesperson said "This incident has caused Royal Mail to spend a significant amount of time investigating this matter. It will also cost a significant amount of money to rectify the colour of the post boxes to their iconic red"... and I'm intrigued to see that over a year later they still haven't bothered. George V (St Vincents Road, Dartford) painted gold and not repainted red. That's fairly staggering for what's perhaps the most prominent postbox in town. This left me seeking an alternative GR box, which I fortuitously stumbled upon along St Vincents Road while walking between Edward VII and George VI. Annoyingly the owner of the adjacent house had chosen this precise moment to rest a ladder against his front wall and vigorously clean out his guttering. Taking his photo would have been gauche and improper, so instead I waited until he was distracted by moss and managed a discreet shot chopping him off at the legs. See how the George V cypher is the simplest of the royal designs, neither over-twiddly nor encumbered by the need for Roman numerals, nobody at the time expecting there'd ever be a George VI. Edward VIII (Steynton Avenue, Albany Park) This always used to be the hardest of the royal cyphers to find, given that Edward VIII abdicated after less than a year. Research suggests that only 161 E VIII R pillar boxes were installed during his reign, of which about 130 were still intact thirty years later and even fewer survive today. None of these I believe are in Kent. Thankfully in 2015 I wrote a post identifying Edward VIII pillar boxes in the capital, of which three are in Bexley, so I went to the easiest to get to from Dartford which is outside Albany Park station. Specifically it's outside the former Post Office, now a Premier foodmart, just across the road from The Albany pub. photo of this rare royal cypher therefore contains an over-prominent Polo, whereas it might instead have featured the barman at The Albany checking his sauce bottles before the Sunday lunchtime barbecue. Perhaps I'd have had a clearer shot in Blackfen or Foots Cray. George VI (Great Queen Street, Dartford) Elizabeth II (Victoria Road, Dartford) Type K pillar box designed by Tony Gibbs and first introduced to our streets in 1980. Cylindrical and capless it was intended to be the pillar box of the future, but the cast iron hinges proved prone to failure so no more were produced after 2001. It has a wide slot capable of receiving all sorts of mail, and also what's probably the largest royal cypher of all with a particularly whopping E, R and crown. Also as you can see it very much isn't red, or indeed gold, with a slapdash white frontage and (if you look round the back) a pink mess with yellow spots. And all because Dartford's postbox painter wasn't silenced while he was out on bail. On 19th/20th February 2024 four Dartford postboxes were spraypainted to look like Mr Blobby, and another to resemble a Cadbury's Creme Egg. Some of the former gained googly eyes to help increase the resemblance, while the latter looked particularly amateurish because it's hard to write 'Creme Egg' in large purple letters on a curved surface. On 8th March a Swizzels Drumstick appeared. The following day the graffiti sprayer was caught midway through a Union Jack, and Kent Police subsequently found 11 cans of gold paint at his home, 18 other cans and receipts totalling £169. His name was Danny Miskin and in May he was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay £2600 in compensation. It's not clear who painted three more postboxes in August to resemble a Wispa, a Mars and a Twirl, but it is clear that Danny's compensation repaint hasn't yet reached this postbox on Victoria Road. Charles III (Miskin Road, Dartford) And here's the toughest royal cypher to locate. After the Queen died the Royal Mail continued to use up their stocks of E II R postboxes so it wasn't until last July that the first C III R pillar box was installed. It can be found in Cambourne High Street west of Cambridge, and although the King didn't turn up to unveil it the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire did the honours and local school children posted the first letters. The database I've been using includes just 13 subsequent postboxes with a King Charles cypher, and although I could have gone to Brighton, Canterbury, East Wittering, Welshpool or the Isle of Man I chose to go to the nearest to London which is in Dartford. It's a 'lamp box' on the corner of Miskin Road and Penney Close, a short walk from the town centre, and is looking pretty pristine. stuck to the front. This should help make the eventual introduction of W V R cyphers economically painless. The 'Royal Mail' plate is similarly detachable, should they decide to change their name in future, and the aperture below is now very practically sized. But what bemused me was why it was here, given the houses nearby are either Victorian or postwar infill, not modular hutches on fresh streets. I'd also checked Streetview before I arrived, and had been mystified to see a new-ish E II R box in precisely the same spot. Amazingly I do now know precisely what happened because two lovely ladies who live in Penney Close saw me taking photos of the box and stopped to tell me all about it. The original box had a stiff lock, it turns out, so could only be opened with care. Then one week the usual postlady went away on holiday, and in her absence the replacement bloke managed to get the key stuck in the lock and it broke off. The only way to remove the mail inside was to prize the door open, which damaged the box and the Royal Mail took it away. "We expected it'd come back repaired," the ladies said, but instead a brand new box turned up and that's why their obscure street corner now has a rare C III R cypher. I wish I'd asked them how recently the replacement took place - I'm still kicking myself for not asking - but I can tell you that the mail here is usually collected around 12.30pm, not the 9am it says on the front of the box. If you're friendly with your postlady you get to find out all sorts, and occasionally you get to pass the information on to an interested audience. Seven postboxes, seven royal cyphers, six of them in Dartford. I'm not sure anywhere else can beat that.

Euros final liveblog  🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇪🇸 09:00 The day of destiny is here! A nation dares to dream! 11:00 The Lionesses can rewrite history! 12:00 Mentality! Passion! Togetherness! 13:00 England expects a famous victory! 14:00 (Spain are also potential winners) 15:00 One final push to glory! 16:00 Get ready to roar! 17:00 Kick-off. The score is nil nil. 18:00 19:10 I'm having steak and ale pie. 20:48 Off for oranges at half time. 21:05 Back. 21:06 Goal 😢 21:32 Goal 😀 21:46 Goal 😢 21:54 ENGLAND HAVE COME SECOND! 21:55 I'm sure everyone will be very happy with that.-->