Christmas came early. I spotted an Ontario “B” licence plate.
About ten years ago, when neighbours of ours got a new car, I noticed Ontario had abandoned the old three-number, three-letter (123 ABC) sequence for its licence plates. The plates on Stan’s new van had an ABCD 123 sequence. His actual plate started AA….
In 1999 we got a new plate starting “AD…” and I realized the province was rolling out its plate numbers sequentially. On long driving trips over the next several years, I watched with idle curiosity as the sequence rolled on: AJ, AM, AP, AT, AV. It seemed a couple of new letters were emerging about every six months, and I usually had at least a rough awareness of the new ones to be on the lookout for.
I never intended to become a trainspotter, but last summer when AX and AY plates were commonplace, I was watching carefully for the first AZ. Spotted one on the highway back from Stratford, actually, and that got me on the watch for the first of the Bs.
The other night at a seasonal gathering, someone was talking about the never-too-obscure subjects you can find covered in internet discussion forums. I mentioned, just a little shamefaced, that I had actually looked to see if anyone was covering the Ontario licence plate rollout – and had found nothing. Whereupon another guest said she and her father had been collecting sightings for years. And they had just seen their first B, on Lakeshore highway in Toronto. They too had thought they were the only ones interested. We had an animated discussion for a few minutes before we discovered there really wasn’t much to say about it. Colin is a journalist, however, and wondered if there was a story in it.
I didn’t know whether to be pleased someone else shares my hobby or annoyed I had been beaten to the first sighting in the Bs.
Today as I was parking in front of my house, my neighbour Nancy jumped out what must be a new Land Rover and called out Merry Christmas. And I said, “You have a B licence plate!”
It’s BA no less. One of the very first of the Bs. Checking about, I have found one forum on the topic. Several people on it, with the same surprise that anyone else cares, report having acquired or spotted B plates in December. People are watching.
The historical significance here, and I know I’m stretching to provide one, is how rapidly this province consumes new licence plates, which is largely a function of how quickly we acquire new automobiles, which in turn is the sustenance of our automotive-driven economy. Still, if it has taken a decade to get through the As, we could presumably continue at this present rate for about 250 years.
Suddenly I wonder what the license plates at my funeral will be reading.
