Hullo, matey.

London. August, 1972.

It takes three years to learn the 25,000 streets which constitute London and the aspiring licensed cab driver will spend that time on a bicycle or scooter learning all of them, when not studying maps at home. Scientists say it’s the most prodigious feat of memory known to man. Indeed, studies by my alma mater, University College, London, have found that during this period the hippocampus, the memory part of the brain, grows substantially in size, presumably to accommodate this fount of knowledge.

Quite how London’s traditional cabs survive in an age of Google Maps beats me but, you know, there will always be an England. This happy member of that elite group – back in the day the cabs were black and drivers were white – was only too happy to say ‘Hullo’.

Leica M3, 50mm Elmar, TriX.

Note for the pedantic: The alphabetic suffix on UK license plates started with the letter ‘A’ in 1965, one letter a year, so you would think that the ‘J’ in the license plate connotes 1974. But this was actually snapped in 1972. Why the difference? Taxi cab plates do not adopt the usual passenger car system!