This, I think, is the only road sign in the country to reference the A1, the A2, the A3 and the A4. It can be found on Whitechapel High Street heading west, just before you get to the inner ring road. It's probably significant that it's the last directional sign on the A11, a road which arrives from a direction very different to the other four. These A Roads are all at least a mile away (and if you go via the indicated route more like two), but all appear together on this single sign.
I thought I'd risk tweeting a photo and stating that this was the only road sign in the country with all four, despite not knowing 100% if this was the case. Someone immediately called my bluff with a photo of a similar sign on the other side of the road, dammit, except their contradiction turned out to be an old sign removed years ago when the junction was rejigged. There was also debate about roads on the Isle of Man, but this generated nothing better than an A1/A2/A5 combo. So yes, I genuinely think this sign really is the only one to mention the first four A Roads, unless of course you know better.
Saturday was the day of the Lord Mayor's Show, the annual float-ridden shebang returning to the City's streets after 2020's enforced absence. By Sunday morning all the detritus and horse poo had been cleared away and an underling was busy stacking all the gold plastic chairs on the temporary balcony in front of Mansion House. But much more interesting, just around the corner, was the rare sight of the Lord Mayor's Rolls Royce being given a polish by two flunkeys in advance of an official trip to a Remembrance service. And yes, its numberplate really is LM 0, i.e. the highly unusual combination of two letters and a zero. There's abit of a story behind that...
When Sir Rupert de la Bere became Lord Mayor of London in 1952 he acquired the numberplates LM 1 and LM 2 for his cars to commemorate the occasion. But whereas a more civic-minded grandee might have handed the plates on to his successor, Sir Rupert kept them for himself. Then in 1964 the new incumbent Sir James Miller decided that the Lord Mayor's car deserved a personalised plate and, because LM 1 was no longer available, persuaded the authorities to issue LM 0 instead. Other cities around the country have done similar for their dignitaries, especially in Scotland, where Edinburgh's Lord Provost has S 0, Glasgow's has G 0, Aberdeen has RG 0 and Inverclyde has VS 0.
Several commemorative services take place in the City of London on Remembrance Sunday, which these days means the streets are crawling with police. My perambulations took me past several road blocks, a fair few vanfuls and a surprising number of armed officers with very prominent big black rifles. They were particularly in evidence around St Paul's Cathedral - the endpoint of LM 0's official journey - where a queue of unusually well-dressed ladies and gentlemen awaited their turn to pass through security and take their seats inside. My photo shows the outdoor assembly at the Royal Fusiliers War Memorial on Holborn where an army band awaited the arrival of the massed procession lined up inside Holborn Bars, while across the road a unexplained group of at least thirty mods on scooters had gathered separately to pay their respects.
At eleven o'clock I found myself nowhere near a ceremony, nor even by a church, but in the heart of the Barbican estate. Initially I thought it wasn't the best place to be, but as I looked around me at the architectural aftermath of war I realised that loss and sacrifice were especially evident here, and the empty silence perhaps even more evocative.
The sugar content of these nine festive drinks
• Quality Street the Purple One Latte with Light Dairy Swirl: 36g
• After Eight Hot Chocolate with Light Dairy Swirl: 37g
• Quality Street Toffee Penny Latte with Light Dairy Swirl: 41g
• Terry's Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate with Light Dairy Swirl: 45g
n.b. all drinks are medium-sized with semi-skimmed milk
n.b. a normal latte has 15g of sugar at Costa and 16g at Starbucks
n.b. a normal hot chocolate has 35g of sugar at Costa and 28g at Starbucks
n.b. a standard 51g Mars bar has 30g of sugar
Meanwhile Christmas approaches unabated. Somerset House is already in full-on ice rink mode complete with giant tree, cocktail lounge and alpine restaurant. Plenty of families were queuing to sign in, having already missed the first 10 minutes of their designated slot, but buzzing with excitement nevertheless. Two adults can expect to pay £36.95 for a weekend spin, including mandatory transaction fee, whereas après-ski wine & fondue in Jimmy's chalet is somehow £68. Spectating remains free. I also note that the Courtauld Gallery is due to reopen next Sunday, having cunningly timed most of its three year refurbishment for a period when it would have had to be closed anyway.
All the usual Christmas lights are now blazing everywhere else, even in daytime, because it's not Christmas until the Northbank illuminations are lit. Over at Covent Garden Market exactly the same giant baubles and mistletoe are up that have been here every Christmas since 2015, and yet people are still stopping and snapping them excitedly with their phones because for some people they're new and because nobody else has seen them on their feed for ten months. Basically if all you want from a pre-Christmas jolly is pretty lights and Insta-friendly spectacle and somewhere nearby that sells drinks then central London is very much back to normal and waiting for you.
