Saturday 14 June 2008

Ghost signs (2)

This sign in Cedars Road, Clapham is another favourite. I love the way that 'fashionable victorias and landaus' have been overwritten with 'cars bought and sold': a very visual demonstration of changing fashion! Other panels show offers of 'horses and carriages jobbed for any period' being overwritten with 'weddings - theatres - stations' and finally, 'cars for hire'. The technology has moved on from 'carriages rubber tyred' to 'welding, machining'.


They may be faded and monochrome, but these signs bring to mind several generations of transport history. The grandparents, proud of their new-fangled victoria carriage (only introduced to Britain in 1869); the parents, who no longer keep a coachman but still like to travel to the theatre in a carriage drawn by a pair of greys; and the children, roaring around in their motor cars.

Even the garage has gone now: the building has been converted into homes.

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