please empty your brain below
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I've not followed the full route for a while - it's interesting to hear how much the Western end has changed.
The Pembury could maybe do with a spruce up on the outside, but it had a recent refurb inside after being taken over by the adjacent brewery (itself named after the junction).
martin | 10.03.20 - 7:00 a.m. | #
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With the 53 & 54 of those milestones respectively overlapping each other for a number of miles, with the 56, it will mark the 4th year in a row that a route has overlapped for some time
Dylan George | 10.03.20 - 7:08 a.m. | #
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Fryers Delight does the best chips, i've ever had.
Chrome | 10.03.20 - 8:05 a.m. | #
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The cinema now a church was a Granada Bingo hall and before that Classic cinema.
John | 10.03.20 - 8:25 a.m. | #
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Many happy returns, DG and thanks for all of your work on your blog. I'm a daily visitor but an infrequent commenter.
Midtown - that's been a glorious marketing success. I'm sure you've earned a good many I-Spy points for noticing a reference to it on your journey.
Martin | 10.03.20 - 8:41 a.m. | #
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A belated happy birthday!
Thank you for continuing to teach me, as a non-native speaker, new English words. Today: "notionally". Here's to many more!
Jochem | 10.03.20 - 9:05 a.m. | #
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1 hour 40 minutes!?! I wonder how long the same journey would have taken on a crew operated bus 30 or 40 years ago.
Tetramesh | Homepage | 10.03.20 - 9:19 a.m. | #
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Belated birthday wishes DG.
In my junior days at my company I did the office friday chip run. Consensus was always split between Fryers Delight and relative newcomer Alen's a few doors up, the former use beef fat in their frying which wasn't to everyone's taste. Alen's turnout was normally OK but could be hit and miss.
I do sometimes take the 55 from work if I have something on in Hackney of an evening. Normally climbing the walls by Shoreditch - the idea of doing the full route fills me with horror.
Nico | 10.03.20 - 9:24 a.m. | #
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Well endured,DG. Hopefully you will have managed to fight off any infections.
As I appear to be developing a cold, I was particularly careful about washing my hands before typing out this message to you. 😉
Jo W | 10.03.20 - 9:51 a.m. | #
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I awoke yesterday thinking 'it must be DG's birthday around now - guess it'll be a bus ride post today'
A day late but never disappointed!
I wonder if 'Dirty' chicken will become a thing of the past if Trump gets his trade deal!
Cornish Cockney | 10.03.20 - 9:55 a.m. | #
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Well you took your life in your hands for that trip. I hope for your - and our - sake this doesn't mean you spend the next three weeks giving us an inch by inch tour of your bedroom as seen through a glass of lemsip. Admire your pluck though.
Milo | 10.03.20 - 10:12 a.m. | #
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Yup, there sure are a lot of building / road works going on. And as soon as one is completed, another starts nearby.
My (cycle) commute from Clapton to the Old St / Barbican area nuzzles up against the 55’s route at several points - I reckon I’ve encountered 5-10 delays / obstructions / road closures / temporary traffic lights every day for a good five years.
I guess cities are never finished, are they ?
CJS | 10.03.20 - 10:17 a.m. | #
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Hi DG, I read your blog every day, its a very good read, and Happy Birthday.
This wil be my first post.
The 'Simply The Best Salon' hasn't actually closed, they have moved a few yards to the East still on Lea Bridge Road and on the other side, still very much in business, I use it regularly.
Colin Frith | 10.03.20 - 10:53 a.m. | #
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You need to start thinking about what you will do in 2047
Martin | 10.03.20 - 11:10 a.m. | #
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Always a good read but even more so when covering areas known to me as I used to drive that route around 30 years ago. Never realised that bit of Mare Street had been pedestriainised though. It seems that the traffic situation is still just as unpredictable as it always was. Some days you'd get stuck for over an hour in Oxford Street alone, others you'd sail through the route even during the peak having to stop occasionally for "regulation" purposes, thus annoying the passengers.
I must make a note to pop down to the end of my road next year to see if I can catch sight of the elusive DG as he starts his 56 journey. (Unless he does it the other way!)
Tim | 10.03.20 - 11:26 a.m. | #
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In 1971 the 55 passing Walthamstow at 06:58 was scheduled to take 48 minutes to Holborn, today the bus departing 06:56 is scheduled to take 1 hour and 35 minutes, then today its a further 10 minutes to reach Oxford Circus.
Still Anon | 10.03.20 - 12:24 p.m. | #
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...i do wish people would stop using the term "boris bus"
Grumpy Anon | 10.03.20 - 1:34 p.m. | #
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This is a remarkable piece of storytelling. Well done to you Sir!
Stuart | 10.03.20 - 6:51 p.m. | #
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I was a driver on route 55 back in the late seventies and worked at Leyton bus garage, its disturbing to think that journey times have doubled over that period of time, a very interesting read DG.
fishislandskin | 10.03.20 - 10:20 p.m. | #
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But what will you do on your 82 birthday?
MK | 11.03.20 - 6:20 a.m. | #
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For your half-birthdays, DG, how about traversing former bus / tram routes sharing the same route number? So for Sep, perhaps follow former west London bus 55. Some of those routes will need changes to complete the trip but will add to the DG compendium.
Also, instead next year of travelling semi-parallel route 56 (substantially the earlier 38A), try an earlier incarnation, which looped round the Isle of Dogs. There was also a south London tram route 56. Plenty of ways of avoiding big duplications.
Belated happy b'day too!
Joel | 11.03.20 - 10:37 a.m. | #
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Happy Birthday DG! Followed this trek with interest as the start of the 55 is my old stomping ground. Members of my family worked for a good while at the Diamond Ladder Works, aka Drew,Clark & Co, who produced high-end quality ladder and step products for worldwide clients, and had three Royal Warrants. The company was sold in 1998 to the Clow Group but has a long history going back to the nineteenth century.
Auntie Doris | 11.03.20 - 12:42 p.m. | #
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