311 is a significant number for me. It was the bus route from my rural village to the Market Town where I went to school, and then on to Chelmsford the county town of Essex.

My bus was not jazzy and yellow at the front. I travelled on busses decorated in the Eastern National livery of Tilling Green. The exact colours of the single decker parked beside the jazzy 311. I was 10 when it was considered safe for me to travel alone on these busses and probably 20 when I last caught one.

This bus route is so well known to me that even now I imagine the regular movement and stops would feel comfortably familiar. Although there may have been slight route changes over the years the map above shows the route I am very familiar with . The route that eventually took me away, forever, from the comfort of familiar North East Essex countryside. This is a really strange ponder but whenever I see the number 311, I feel something warm and comforting. North East Essex gave me a great start in life and route 311 gently introduced me to the rest of the world. Quite the journey.