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You're Not Properly Addressed Without It



This is possibly my favourite piece of graffiti ever. It contains neither the territorial pissing of "Kilroy Was 'Ere" and its ilk, nor the angry sloganeering of "George Davis Is Innocent" (note to self - update graffiti references). No, this urban scribe has taken it upon themselves to correct a postcode from NW10 (Willesden) to NW2 (Cricklewood). How genteel is that? It is like the geo-locational wing of that organisation that goes around Tippexing out rogue apostrophes.

Except this road is definitely in NW10. The border is admittedly only a couple of streets away, and does veer wildly around as though the Royal Mail person drawing it were either drunk or looking to perform Anschluss with Kilburn. Given the quality of the postal service around here either is possible. But this road isn't even a Kaliningrad-esque exclave of NW2 with its own Passport to Pimlico-style customs posts on the North Circular - it's NW10 both sides from one end to the other.

Postcodes are clearly important to some people though. With insurance premiums often based on them there are many campaigns to have one's address associated with a less risky neighbourhood, or just a posher one in the case of Windsor residents who don't wish to be stamped with the SL of Slough. Why anyone would pick NW2 over NW10 is harder to answer though, with neither area likely to rank highly on any hot property guide. Perhaps the writer suffered from dyscalculia and meant to write NW3 (Hampstead), thus instantly transforming the road into an oasis of bohemian chic amongst the suburban semis and light industrial estates.

But for true upward mobility they would need to get their Tippex out:



(For anyone not au fait with London postcodes, W1 covers the priciest Monopoly squares of Mayfair and Park Lane.)

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