Where it all started

There are many reasons why blogging is a bit sparse at the moment and one of them was a Saturday spent in trying to find where Russian ambassadors stayed in London from 1557 onwards. So far, every known place seems to  have gone. However, in the process I found this in Lombard Street. This is where it all started. Just as Russian writers of the nineteenth century all supposed to have come out of Gogol's Overcoat, so all of us, hacks of whatever persuasion came out of Lloyds Coffee House.