Wed 1: Went to the pub with Work Colleague and discovered he got married quietly earlier in the year. At one point a nearby drinker joined in our conversation, having overheard me talking about Middlesbrough, and he turned out to be a big cheese working for Crossrail. Absolutely inscrutable, couldn't get anything out of him, well played sir. Thu 2: I started writing about Thamesmead, but then ABBA announced their virtual show so the Thamesmead post got put on the backburner for three weeks. Utterly amazed to realise that Benny and Bjorn were giving a press conference half a mile away. Fri 3: Cycle Superhighway 2 through Bow has started to get new signs suggesting it's been rebranded C2, i.e. Cycleway 2, although the paint on the blue lane still says CS2. One day all London's remaining Cycle Superhighways will become Cycleways, as will Quietways (which'll also be renumbered), and I know they're only trying to make the nomenclature simpler but what an unruly mess.
Sat 4: I think it's now safe to reveal that Location Number Three, my favourite Open House visit, was Lansbury Lawrence Primary School in Poplar, built as an architectural showpiece for the Festival of Britain. Gorgeousbuilding, great staff. And a special hello to the reader who went on Sunday rather than Saturday so just missed me. Sun 5: I was walking down Chatsworth Road E5 when TV chef and Great British Menu presenter Andi Oliver wafted past, and she had real presence just crossing the street. Mon 6: Finally got round to contacting my mobile data provider because they were forcing me to choose a new contract, and yay I managed to wangle a new contract for £8 less per month. That should pay for any future extra roaming charges. Tue 7: Some of the leaves on some of the trees in the London Blossom Garden are already turning red, signalling a seriously premature autumn (which is ridiculous when the temperature's just hit 30° again). Wed 8: Two things I failed to do on my trip to Eastbourne - i) make a short pilgrimage to the A2021 (because it was half a mile in the wrong direction) ii) drop into the Towner Gallery (I only admired the rainbow daubed across the exterior).
Thu 9: BestMate is flying abroad for a short European break, and he texted from City Airport to say he was about to take off, so I waved as he flew over the flat because Flightradar is brilliant. Fri 10: The Big Breakfast one-day reboot with an all-black cast of presenters was joyous nostalgic fun with a sharp modern edge. I walked past Lockkeepers Cottages during the second hour and heard yelping from the garden, but couldn't see anything through the gate because two throwback fans were holding court outside. I bet residents of the brand new flats across the canal are glad it's not a permanent return. Sat 11: We've had so many 9/11 anniversary documentaries over the last fortnight that there are none left to debut today. Some of them were damned good though, in a damned sad way. Sun 12: Something I forgot to mention during a year of writing about random City wards is that over half of them start with the letters B or C. Appropriately my first was a C and my last was a B.
Mon 13: A polar bear on a chunk of iceberg, or at least a model of one, has appeared in the river just north of the Bow roundabout. If the intention is to warn us of global warming, all it made me wonder is if the Lea might ever freeze over. Tue 14: It turns out my new mobile contract comes with free Beats headphones, which were unexpectedly delivered this morning, and why couldn't they have decided to send them six months ago when I really needed some rather than now when I have three spare freebies? Wed 15: To get to Peterborough I caught the LNER Leeds train, and although it was busy I had the entire unclassified carriage to myself, which I suspect speaks volumes about the unaffordability of walk-up tickets. Thu 16: I've decided that Wagon Wheels may be my new nemesis, because that's the second time one has made me swear.
Fri 17: I unintentionally timed my walk along the Royal Docks for the precise moment that UEL's graduation ceremony ended. Hundreds of students and their beaming parents flooded out of the marquee and thronged the waterside, so I had to weave my way very carefully to avoid stepping into dozens of once-in-a-lifetime photos. Sat 18: The upgraded staircases either side of Poplar DLR station are now open, only two years late, so I no longer have to spiral down via the platform to cross from one side to the other. Sun 19: Thanks to Ian for pointing out that a Hurricane and Spitfire were about to fly over central London, because that's why I spotted them from Mile End Park and I don't think anyone else even looked up. Mon 20: Outside Battersea Power Station (the power station, not the station) they've put James Bond's Aston Martin from Goldfinger inside a box branded with retro Corgi packaging, which is not a stunt your local cinema can pull.
Tue 21: One of my guilty BBC Sounds pleasures this month is Radio 2's Sounds of the 21st Century, an hour of hits and news snippets from each year from 2000 to 2010. It's a proper memory jogger because even the recent is now retro. It's also reminding me how I gradually fell out of love with popular music over the decade. If that's not your thing then I highly recommend How To Rebuild A City, a Radio 3 documentary on the evolution of Coventry's post war architecture. Wed 22: Confirming how diverse the East End is, today in Maryland I saw a hearse pulled by two feathery-headdressed horses outside a mosque. Thu 23: The downside of this being the anniversary of me moving into my flat is that all the quarterly, half-yearly and annual bills come at once. Fri 24: The news that Russell T Davies is coming back to take over Doctor Who is excellent and finally something to look forward to, even though (checks calendar) (sighs) it's still 26 months away. Sat 25: I-SPY a queue of 30 vehicles outside the Texaco garage in Bow Road (which normally has no queue at all). As for the queue outside the Tesco garage in Bromley-by-Bow, that could be anywhere between 20 and 80 vehicles depending on how many are merely stuck trying to get into or out of the supermarket car park. Sun 26: I-SPY no queue at all... because No Fuel. Mon 27: Highly improbably, of the 16000 photos I've uploaded to Flickr the two most favourited are of the American Embassy in Nine Elms and the escalators at Battersea Power Station station, which are less than half a mile apart.
Tue 28: ABBA Arena Update - the curved roof has now been raised into place (so is a lot higher than it looked like it was going to be). Wed 29: In November 2019 ago my landlord approved a minor cosmetic change to my kitchen. This morning it was finally completed, after five false starts due to a) ah sorry, pandemic [March 2020] b) ah sorry, factory's closed [June 2020] c) ah sorry, serious backlog of orders [October 2020] d) ah sorry, really serious backlog [March 2021] e) ah sorry, looks like we asked for the wrong size [June 2021]. This morning's job took one hour. I'm so glad that's finished. Thu 30:Five things I saw today: a) a historic Greggs, b) a temperance Coffee Palace, c) a famous Aquascutum suit, d) a nightclub named after a scientist, e) the world in a church
