Fri 1: Clare House, the salmon-striped tower block overlooking Victoria Park, has just been declared structurally unsafe by engineers. Its neighbours Antrim House and Cavan House were demolished in 2002. Walking past the foot of the condemned building I spotted TV crews doing interviews and one of the 120 households piling their possessions into the back of a van, never to return. Sat 2: I've started wearing a jacket while I'm out, because it's that time of year again. Sun 3: Popped down to see the early stages of the delayed London Marathon on the quiet streets of Limehouse. Occasionally a wheelchair racer whizzed past, then a handful of elite women in the opposite direction and eventually a handful of elite men. I was wholly unimpressed to see a team of volunteers emptying small bottles of Lucozade into compostable cups to hand to athletes, which isn't going to save any planets. The crowds built steadily the closer I got to Tower Hill, then eased off into the City, where I managed to grab a stonking photo of the eventual winner at the 24 mile marker. Escaped back home before the charity dressing-up parade got anywhere near.
Mon 4: "I'll be round at 2", said the electrician, so he was lucky I was back from the shops when he turned up at 1. By the time he left I had a new fuse box and a brand new light in the bathroom. Apparently it's much safer than the old screw-in light, but I can no longer change the bulb without calling out an electrician. Tue 5: Halfway. At last. Wed 6: Today I made the longest possible train journey entirely within one London fare zone. This is the trek across zone 2 from North Acton to Canning Town (via Shepherd's Bush and Stratford) which is 11½ miles as the crow flies. The Overground detour meant it took 1 hour 23 minutes, but by touching the pink reader at Stratford it cost me just £1.50, which is the furthest you can go for TfL's cheapest fare. Thu 7: Today would have been my parents' diamond wedding anniversary, which might have involved a telegram from the Queen and booking the village hall for a surprise party, or at least a whopping celebration, but best not dwell on what ifs. Fri 8: Today I finally saw my first 71 registration plate, which is very late given they've been out since 1st September. (I've seen loads since, almost like car dealers suddenly turned the taps on, which makes the late start even more baffling). Sat 9: Went to my local library and took some books out, and they were great books because loads have been published in the year since I was last here. But it was also really quiet, despite being a Saturday morning, which makes me fear for future library provision if it's based on post-pandemic user numbers.
Sun 10: Walking through Camden I found myself on a steep narrow street which looked like it'd have a characterful backstory, so I took lots of photos and researched it when I got home, but there was nothing to say over and above what Ian Visits had already written so that's why you never read about it here. Mon 11: Reached to the back of the freezer to extricate some breadcrumbed chicken that's been there for a while (I'm not sure how long because the use-by date didn't have a year) and it made a pretty drab centrepiece to my evening meal. Tue 12: Scarborough has its own blue police box down by the harbour. It looks nothing like a Tardis, mainly because the windows are much too big, but that doesn't seem to stop grinning tourists taking photos in front of it.
Wed 13: Hurrah, Brussels sprouts are finally back in my local supermarket at a price which suggests they've been sourced locally and not flown in from Africa, which I take a sure sign of approaching winter. Thu 14: My documentary of the month on BBC Sounds is A Geochemical History of Life on Earth, a five part study of how life developed on our planet despite repeated cycles of overheating and overcooling. It's engagingly scientific, and towards the end genuinely unsettling as it becomes increasingly apparent we really shouldn't be here. Fri 15: BBC4's repeats of Top of the Pops have reached the moment (30 years ago this month) when DJs were replaced as presenters by grinning toyboys, and it was never quite the same after that. Sat 16: I found a "Representation of the People Act" 50p coin in my change at the newsagents, and apparently it's worth about £1.20 on eBay so I almost made a profit. Sun 17: The best thing about my upstairs neighbours sending their toddler out onto the balcony to scream and scream and scream is that they finally stopped stomping angrily on my ceiling. Mon 18: I think at least one of the trees in the Olympic Park Blossom Garden is dead, but won't know for sure until it does (or doesn't) flower next spring.
Tue 19: Today my Dad finally gave me the Creme Egg he bought to give me at Easter 2020. It's encased in a knitted yellow duck, which I guess you could describe as a Creme Egg cosy. Happy Easter! Wed 20: One of the things we found in my Dad's map drawer was the bespoke guide the AA published for his honeymoon in 1961, detailing how to drive the "scenic route" from Enfield to the North Norfolk coast across several sheets of printed stapled instructions. It must have been tricky reading the strip maps on the back of a scooter, but that's pre-GPS days for you. Thu 21: My journey home from Norfolk cost just £5 thanks to a super-well-timed Greater Anglia offer, but they would only offer me an e-ticket and e-tickets don't open the gates at Stratford, so when I arrived back in the middle of the rush hour that was a right awkward kerfuffle. Fri 22: At the start of the month a multipack of Frazzles cost 99p and there were eight bags inside. Today a multipack still costs 99p but there are only six bags inside, which is effectively a 33% price rise (so I have stopped buying Frazzles). Sat 23: Comic Con is underway at ExCel. Hundreds of attendees mistakenly turned up at the wrong end of the building so were being forced to walk along the dockside, many in costume... Batman... Qbert... a family of pirates... something involving high leather boots... anime characters in puffball skirts with brightly coloured hair... a tiny Spiderman... and I was walking the other way and that was the most joyous five minutes of my weekend.
Sun 24: Abba Arena update: The last panels of the exterior wall are being hoisted into place. Only seven months remain to get the whole of the interior avatar-ready. Mon 25: The lightbulb in my hallway blew, violently enough to trip my new fusebox, so I'm glad I'd remembered to ask the electrician how to reset it. Tue 26: I needed a photo of bins in Islington and found one particular front garden with a full set, so was taking a bit too much interest when the householder arrived home, looked me up and down and asked if I was from the council. Wed 27: Clambered up on the roof of Temple station to see its new artwork which is one of those newly-beloved brightly-coloured geometric surfaces. It's called Back in the Air: A Meditation on Higher Ground and comes complete with matching house. It's not amazing but it is only here because the Garden Bridge isn't, so that's a win.
Thu 28: I was surprised to find four of TfL's £370,000 electric buses in the Olympic Park running the private contract between Stratford and Here East, then remembered routes 507 and 521 are now running less frequently so at least the surplus buses are doing something useful. Fri 29: Bought another £5 Greater Anglia rail ticket (and £5 back), so watch out for that trip next month. Sat 30: My local councillor knocked on the door to say hello, which I think is the first time that's happened in 20 years (or I've always been out, or they've never got past the entryphone system before). Sun 31: Doctor Who is finally back - unusually with a six part single-themed series, but that's Covid production values for you. The first episode combined all sorts of untied threads, mixed new threats with returning villains, threw in a few moments of humour and skirted a fair chunk of Liverpool. I enjoyed it, particularly because it's not meant to make sense yet.
