Regular readers will know that August on diamond geezer is local history month. 31 days devoted to some London-related geographic adventure, probably linear in nature, with daily posts reporting back on the sights and sounds along the way. Four years ago I explored famous (and not so famous) places within 15 minutes of my house. Because I live somewhere surprisingly interesting, and most probably more interesting than you. Three years ago I took a long slow walk along Piccadilly, a rather more upmarket location, and found 31 points of interest to tell you about. Two years ago I followed the course of the long-buried River Fleet, from Hampstead Heath to the Thames. I really enjoyed uncovering the tracks of the old river, and it's probably the biggest online project I've ever tackled. And last year, for a fortnight if not the full month, I followed in Betjeman's footsteps from Baker Street out into Metroland. Sir John certainly had a good eye for all things suburban, and it was another fascinating trek.
Regular readers will know that August on diamond geezer is local history month. But not this August. I'm not going on a big all-consuming London safari this month, and I'm not blogging about it here in enormous detail. You may be disappointed, because you look forward each summer to see which eclectic location I've selected for in-depth psychogeographic analysis. Or you may be relieved, because you find all this introspective London stuff mind-bogglingly tedious. Whatever. Not this August. Not 2007.
I'd had quite a few ideas for monstrously big bloggy projects that I could undertake this month. I wondered about following another tube line, or maybe the DLR, but decided against a station-by-station analysis. I wondered about doing a "London alphabet", tracking through some capital locations from A to Z, but that would have run out of steam with 5 days to spare. I wondered about visiting every bridge and tunnel down the Thames, but that's been done elsewhere. I wondered about walking around, or through, my local borough of Tower Hamlets, but you're probably sick of the Olympics and their environs by now. And I wondered about several other things too, but I'm not going to reveal what they are because I'm probably going to do them at some point and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Just not this month.
I've been busy recently, that's why. Not mega-super-busy, but busy enough not be able to commit the semi-extreme amounts of time that such major blog projects require. Instead of exploring some obscure London suburb with my camera I've been standing in a pub having a drink instead, or just out being sociable at some event somewhere. Some would say this is a far better use of my time. I might even agree with them. It won't last, of course, but while it does I've put my normal August online plans on hold.
Don't worry, there'll still be lots of London-y stuff in the future, including those special feature weeks where I spend seven days talking about nothing but some aspect of the capital (and, in the process, annoying several of my readers who couldn't give a damn). But there'll be nothing ultra-big this August. You'll cope. You may even prefer it that way.
