My father used tell me stories <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of his love for London buses <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And how at the age of eight or nine<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was considered mature enough<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To travel around London on his own<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using either a Twin or Red Rover ticket <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not the London as we know it today<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it was paler and far less threatening<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Homosexuality was a criminal offence <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Punishable by a prison sentence <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the practice was thankfully restricted <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the sordid shadows away from view<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Into that mix a bus mad nine year old<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Could be found travelling around the city<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Searching of the mythical <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Route thirty three<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father felt himself above <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any inherent dangers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if they existed at all <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that was not how the kind folk<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the local bus garage saw things<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As most had lived through the war <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young boy although tall for his age <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Had arrived keen but unannounced<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Distant from Ealing Broadway <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of the clippies took him to the canteen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where he was given tea and an iced bun <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Followed by a tour of the bus garage <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was then arranged by one of the drivers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That he should travel on Route 33 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And be dropped off at a Central Line tube station <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father was also given a number of souvenirs <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To commemorate his visit to Canning Town <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although I am not sure of the exact date of my fathers visit<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would have been after August 1962 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the thirty three began to pass through Canning Town<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And September 1964 when he moved back to Bath <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father returned to London in 1970 and found <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That London had changed beyond his recent memory<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The innocent streets were darker and menacing <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And certain areas were best avoided at night<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another thing he soon noticed was because<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of a change in the law in 1967 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That pederasts had become in emboldened<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And whilst not that common<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Could be seen at mainline railway stations and other haunts <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not something that I would <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have let my nine year old today<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working Copy <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My father used tell me stories Of his love for London buses And how at the age of eight or nine He was considered mature enough To travel around London on his own Using either a Twin or Red Rover ticket This is not the London as we know it today As it was paler […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37192"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37202,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37192\/revisions\/37202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}