Not sure that I`d willingly swap the mild December we`re having for the cold December of 1981 that I clearly recall - even if it did provide the potential for some nice snow scene pictures......

RML 2619 leading RML 2440 over Ealing Common on Dec 12 1981.

Great picture. Which I remember well. That lasted a week or two that winter.

I think that was more or less when Hanwell's renaissance of smartly refurbished Routemasters, clean, smart, uniform and shiny came to an end.

After that winter, they were never properly cleaned and they started to become permanently grimy and gradually bits started to go missing, usually the triangle badge and the surrounding trim, then the headlight rims.

They were looking tatty long before they should have, but that had almost become a trademark of Hanwell and the comparison in Ealing of Norbiton, Uxbridge and even Alperton RMs magnified this.

I think the 207 has my own observed record for the most single route buses in a line. 11 in Ealing Broadway tailing back to the Mall - all but one bound for Hayes End!!

That was before the conversion to DM and included 882, 2666 and 2760. Somewhere I have a very faded instamatic photograph of that lot.