Driving around London on Christmas Day

[v8jim]

We’d been talking about doing this since July and the week before Christmas we were still debating weather it was a sensible idea or not my friend who was also up for it a pulled out (I think his misses told him he wasn’t allowed lol) but the weather forecast was good and we made the decision to just go do it as you only live once and why the hell not. Christmas Eve we set an alarm for 4:30am with the aim of leaving the house at 5am and went to bed early feeling excited and nervous as it could so easily turn into a really hideously bad day. All went to plan and we actually managed to leave the house on time in a 90 year old pickup truck that I’d only ever driven in the dark once before with very limited tools, no spare parts and no spare wheel but we did have an AA card which we’ve already had our money’s worth out of this year so what could go wrong.

















5 hours of almost constant driving and she didn’t miss a beat, apart from leg ache, back ache, a numb backside and going half deaf the only thing that kind of went wrong was getting stuck behind a bin lorry at 7:30am in central London on Christmas Day!!!

I was expecting it to be much quieter than it was and had plans to just stop in the roads for photos but that wasn’t possible but apart from the it was a great adventure and a Christmas we will never forget

[v8jim]

link

More photos here ☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻

[shampooefficient]

Excellent!

[fogey]

Can't think of a better way to spend Christmas morning

[colnerov]

Hi, I seem to remember Seth did a Christmas morning photoshoot of his Hillman estate a number of years ago.

Colin

[strikey]

Stunning pics of an amazing truck jim...thanks for sharing. In one or two of those it looked like in a timewarp.

[bmcnut]

Quality. Its strange driving anywhere when the roads are really quiet, I imagine it must be a little haunting at times in London, but the world doesn't stop altogether for Christmas like it used too.



I really like this pic, just the right sort of moody, and now my new desktop pic thanks.

[chris y]

Nice thing to do, thanks for sharing pics.

[Seth]

Excellent stuff.

Dec 26, 2019 17:52:50 GMT colnerov said:

Hi, I seem to remember Seth did a Christmas morning photoshoot of his Hillman estate a number of years ago.
Colin

Its been a bit of a tradition since I started driving but not this year (other than a quick return trip to Bloomsbury in a dull car). Its way busier than it used to be 25 years ago but is still the only day without any buses. I have two favourite photos, one from behind the wheel of my Oxford at some lights near the top of Regent Street with not a single person or vehicle in shot. The other is of a rather special '60s Ferrari driving up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, which took on even greater significance for me this year.

[generally01]

I have never managed to do it with my car but I did cycle into Glasgow city centre on new years day a few years ago to see how empty it was. Turns out it was like a ghost town;



Dave

[chris y]

This all makes me think of the famous short movie c'était un rendez-vous. I'm sure most of you know it.

Its so tempting to do something similar, but in the modern camera filled world you are almost guaranteed to end up in court with a huge list of charges.

[Shortcut]

The Covent Garden shot is fantastic. What a great adventure. Bin lorry certainly mysterious, do they really collect on Christmas Day now?

[v8jim]

Dec 27, 2019 17:56:15 GMT Shortcut said:

The Covent Garden shot is fantastic. What a great adventure. Bin lorry certainly mysterious, do they really collect on Christmas Day now?

They do if you’re in London

[totti]

Just perfect!
Getting up early is often worth....