London 5 E Essays— — Essays E that piece every day if the mood arches of its primrose-yellow ceiling (a takes you, like that tragic blonde essay 03 colour chosen specifically for its capacity Top routes to disguise nicotine stains, the by-product — in Vertigo. The scarlet workhorse of a time when smoking was allowed on Route C2: From Kentish Town Freeness and the freedom to Marylebone. In praise of the Routemaster public transport). Every Londoner has Route 9: From Hammersmith that it offers are precious their own bus memory and their own bus to Kensington Palace, the but precarious. Priceless — story to tell; that tartan moquette livery Royal Albert Hall and the paintings presented in stunning The London bus is has accommodated millions of people Somerset House. over the years who have loved, laughed Route 24: From Camden surroundings on show for much more than a way of Town to Victoria Station and even given birth on its seats. via and nothing? That is a delicate illusion getting from A to B. From Every day these two-storey red Westminster Abbey. to maintain day after day, year the original model that billboards unapologetically meander after year. Because who wants to at a snail’s pace through the tangle of still runs in the centre of Johnson not only restored the Routemaster witness this sort of scene: London’s streets. In all a fleet of 8,700 town to the sleek new- serve more than 19,500 bus stops 24 to its former glory but was also behind the generation hybrid that hours a day, seven days a week, digesting call to have the original vehicle redesigned. homer simpson: What do you and ejecting throngs of commuters. A competition was held and in 2011 mean by “suggested donation”? glides far and wide, it is Originally designed in 1954, the British designer museum clerk: Pay any amount both an emblem of the Routemaster came up with a contemporary iteration hasn’t always had of the vehicle that had been part of the you wish, sir. city worldwide and “Every city’s fabric for more than 60 years. homer: And uh, what if I wish to Londoner has an easy ride. In a sight that says to 2005 its future was Although some people worried that a pay... zero? travelling Londoners, their own bus in doubt when, big-name designer would tinker too much clerk: That is up to you. memory; the aside from a single with the original concept, Heatherwick’s homer: Ooh, so it’s up to me, is it? ‘Welcome home.’ Routemaster’s special heritage New Routemaster was a triumph. In its updated form the contemporary clerk: Ye s . tartan moquette service on route 15, it was taken off double-decker is an ode to past homer: I see. And you think that by Alicia Kirby, upholstery has the road and engineering excellence with an aesthetic people are going to pay you $4.50 Monocle accommodated condemned to that nods to a streamlined future. Built even though they don’t have to? millions of bus-garage limbo. for purpose and currently operating on Just out of the goodness of their... people over the Usurped by 11 routes (with more than 800 buses set to be in service by 2016), the diesel- Well, anything you say! Good years who have a growing fleet of bland and electric hybrid is a more voluptuous luck, lady, you’re gonna need it! London’s double-decker bus is an loved, laughed vulgar “bendy version of its older sibling. It has restored international icon and revered as a and even buses” that the wondrous sense of occasion to the So help keep the “free” in freedom masterpiece of British design. Knitting given birth awkwardly London bus ride that a snaking single- and be a dear: make sure you exit together the fabric of the city, the on its seats” navigated through deck bendy bus could never recreate. Routemaster belongs in the pantheon of Heatherwick has been successful in through the gift shop. — (m) city traffic, the industrial greats alongside wide-bodied Routemaster’s planned extinction became capturing the dignity, formality and sense black cabs and red telephone boxes. For a source of outrage as London mourned of wonder that always went hand in hand Londoners, the Routemaster is more its loss. Tapping into a mood of nostalgia, with riding a Routemaster. Londoners than just a mode of transport: the vehicle British politician used the love their double-deckers and, luckily for is part of our civic identity and has the buses as a political ticket to victory in his us, it looks like they are here to stay for ability to tug at our collective heartstrings. 2008 electoral campaign to become a while yet. — (m) Conjuring up memories of carefree . Pledging to reinstate i childhoods, rebellious teenage years and the Routemaster, vehicles that he declared about the writer: Robert Bound is monocle’s i the struggles of our twenties and beyond, the pulsing red arteries of the city, Culture editor and wonders why people queue to pay the Routemaster has always been with about the writer: Alicia Kirby is a monocle for Madame Tussaud’s when they could walk right Johnson triumphed and the double- contributing editor. Having grown up in Tokyo, into the National Gallery for free. Sure, you can’t get us. It was there when we tenderly held deckers began to trundle through the she now lives in London’s Kentish Town and your picture taken with a waxwork dictator but there hands with a first love or illicitly smoked streets once again. commutes to Midori House on the top deck of are quite a few scary popes. cigarettes on its top deck sheltered by the the C2, her favourite double-decker bus route.

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