diamond geezer

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Five years ago PM Boris Johnson addressed the nation from 10 Downing Street and told us "You must stay at home". All sorts of extraordinary restrictions were subsequently introduced, many of which were conveyed to us in signs and stickers slapped across our immediate environment. But many of these have never been removed, despite all restrictions having been withdrawn three years ago, so for today's post I've been collecting examples of such lingering signage. All photos were taken this year.

This a road sign at the Gallions Reach roundabout in the Royal Docks.

It points towards the Nightingale Hospital, a scary morgue-like contingency that was virtually never used. As far as I'm aware all the other road signs pointing to the Nightingale Hospital have been taken down, but not this one.

This is a crumpled poster in a bus shelter in Becontree Heath.

It's from that era when disinfectant, hand sanitiser and ventilation were key to providing confidence to returning passengers. And it really should have been taken down by now.

This is the foot of a totem outside the Priory Retail Park in Colliers Wood. Above Burger King are listed Currys, Aldi, Dunelm and the Kiss Me Hardy pub. Click to embiggen.

It was once appropriate to request that shoppers "maintain a distance of at least 2 metres from anyone", "do not shake hands" and "wash your hands regularly and for at least 20 seconds", but in 2025 it's pointless hectoring.

This is the front of the Lansbury Pharmacy in Poplar. They also have a sign on the pavement outside.

They always seemed overkeen to be a vaccination centre, and I don't think they've ever taken this signage down.

This sign's attached to a gate halfway up the long path down to Sydenham Hill station.

I've long suspected The Dulwich Estate of being behind the times, and here they definitely are.

This sticker lingers on a cycle hire station near the southern entrance to the Rotherhithe Tunnel.

It is arguably still good advice to 'wash your hands before and after you travel', but three years on from Covid now also overtly nannyish.

This is a sign at Islington Museum alongside a normally-handleable water jug and bowl.

It should have been simple for any member of staff to realise this sign was irrelevant, pick it up and remove it - they've had three years - but nobody ever has.

These signs survive in the subway at Bank station and on the pavement in Harold Road, Upton Park.

Erosion has got rid of most of the underfoot stickers and paintjobs urging us to keep 2m apart, but not yet all.

This sign is attached to a fingerpost beside the River Chess in Croxley Green.

The top row includes information now deemed irrelevant, including "do not touch your face", "wipe down equipment before use" and "if the park or play area is busy please come back another time". But the bottom row is evergreen behavioural advice and maybe that's why Three Rivers council have never spent money replacing these signs.

This is a sign beside a shopping parade in Kingsbury.

It's highly evocative of a time of press conferences and podium slogans, but it shouldn't be here.

This Priority Postbox sticker adorns a pillar box in Rush Green near Romford. It was a key part of the hopelessly inadequate Track and Trace system which relied on Royal Mail being selectively competent.

These stickers remain widespread and may be the last evidence of Covid to finally disappear.

This is perhaps my favourite leftover.

It's a bus stop and shelter introduced as part of a temporary bus network to help medical staff at the Nightingale Hospital get to work. This was the terminus of route 3, the last of the four routes to be withdrawn, strategically located outside a couple of hotels at Prince Regent.

It last saw a bus on 13th May 2020 and yet it's still here, ditto the bus stop across the road which was for alighting only. You'd think a superfluous bus shelter could be of more use elsewhere and would have been removed by now, but you'd think wrong.

It is perhaps impressive that after three months of looking this is all I've found. But it's also symptomatic of a system that rushes to put signs up but never notices it should also take them down.

posted 07:00 :