Lockdown was a funny old time, wasn't it? Kept apart from society and overdosing on baking and introspection, it was easy to descend into an unusual brand of madness. And, naturally, people presume that this was the unbalanced lull which caused me to purchase this majestically ephemeral London bus poster. But they would be wrong. Not mistaken, but wrong. Because while this was acquired mid-pandemic, I’d have had to be entirely insane not to buy it.
A wonderfully unapologetic example of ephemera, this poster, once cocooned inside a red double-decker - like the 220 emblazoned across it - trumpets the seismic news that, from January 12th 1986, a One Day Bus Pass will be valid all day. And all for a cost of just 60p. Sixty. Pence. In 2025, for a one day bus (and tram) pass, you'd need to hand over a whopping £6.00 - all to sit next to a man eating crisps at 8am or 8pm.
Most people - bless their simplicity - may wonder why I would purchase such an outdated and pointless thing, but they're missing the beautiful truth that it gives us an excellent glimpse into the mid 1980s. Peer closer up, and you can see all the haircuts and fashions of the eras - along with an illuminated Rothmans sign in the background. Personally, I like to imagine the people on the bus coming back from an evening of heavy Christmas shopping, weighed down by bags of VHS tapes and He-Man figures.
The objective of the poster would have been short lived once the new terms of the One Day Bus Pass were established, so this is ephemera at its very best. It's been tucked away in a box for the last five years, but my plan is to get it framed at some point to both delight and confuse anyone who deigns to step foot in my increasingly vintage home. Frankly, I can't think of a better way to live.
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