Now I've written my list I'm going to choose five of them completely at random, and then attempt to write an interesting paragraph about each. The other 45 will remain unblogged.
21)I passed a milestone
I was walking down Red Post Hill in Dulwich, approaching North Dulwich station, when I spotted an incongruous milestone against a brick wall outside a very ordinary house. It was squat and triangular with initially indistinct writing, but if you looked closely there was mention of various central London locations, plus a 4 on one face and a ½ on the other. It seems this location is precisely 4½ miles distant from two places, so it might perhaps be better described as a halfmilestone.
I've checked since and it's genuine, indeed it's listed, and the words say "Miles from the Treasury Whitehall" on one flank and "Miles from the Standard Cornhill" on the other. I've seen photos from 2005 and the lettering was clearer then. Imagine living at number 20 and leaving your bins out beside an 18th century throwback. I like how the official listing has to specify "Number 20 not included."
3)I visited a cemetery
Well this is good, I'm picking all the interesting ones so far. I found myself in West Norwood with a gap between trains so I thought I'd pop into the cemetery, which is one of the Magnificent Seven. There was still snow on the ground and on top of many of the gravestones, although I doubt it lasted many more hours as the thaw set in. Some of the monuments are monumental, as befits Victorian magnificence, and others are small and topply with signs alongside saying "we've got our eye on this one and might remove it for health and safety reasons" (or words to that effect).
One that struck home was the grave of a lady who died on my 19th birthday and who had previously been a government minister in Mauritius, and yet was buried here in a small plot beside the main drive. Near the foot of the steps I found one of the circular plaques marking the passing of the River Effra, with a red arrow spray-painted alongside perhaps to mark the direction of flow. It was quiet in the upper parts of the cemetery because nobody gets cremated on a Sunday, plus it was cold and raining. On my way out I passed one mourner clutching a pot of flowers destined for a relative's plot, and we nodded, and the dead looked silently on.
34)I checked Citymapper
I checked Citymapper quite a lot yesterday because it's still terribly useful when you're out and about on public transport, especially in south London where trains can be half an hour apart. I have to keep remembering that they file the Overground under 'tube' not 'rail' because the app is not designed for pedants. But mainly I use it for buses because you can often dash and catch a bus you'd otherwise have missed at a stop round the corner if you know it's just about to arrive. It told me I was just about to miss a 417, and I did, but I would have missed that 200 back to Wimbledon otherwise. I know a lot of people whinged when the app greedily hid bus journeys behind a paywall, but they still show you what's arriving at nearby stops for free. It's much better than TfL Go if you want to know what's running now, in part because it's not so blinkered locally. Thank you Citymapper for not yet being useless.
35)I took some photos
Well of course I did, I was out and about. But I only took 15 photos yesterday which is well below average, and more than half of them just happen to be of things I've already told you about - the milestone and the cemetery. Of the remainder one's of Bow Church which I showed you last week except with more snow. Two were of a Chinese restaurant in Tooting which I thought might be a bit quirky but on reflection turned out to be dull. Which means I'm going to have to show you this one, which is the best photo I took in Green Dale Fields.
This used to be the Champion Hill Cricket and Lawn Tennis Ground, but it was liberated for the masses and also shrunk because a large proportion of the site is now smothered by an enormous Sainsbury's. Another significant chunk is now Champion Hill, the home ground of National League South mid-tablers Dulwich Hamlet who are London's pinkest football team. I could write reams about their financial history but won't, you can read that elsewhere, so just admire their floodlights in the rear of my photo. I would instead copy some fascinating facts off the information board in the foreground but that's all about flora and fauna, so best just admire the rippling melting snow.
40)I listened to radio
I suppose I had to pick one of the dull ones at the end sorry. Yes, I listened to the radio yesterday, quite a bit of radio in fact because that's Sunday for you. 6Music went on before half past seven and because I left the house mid-breakfast-show I caught up with the end of the Radcliffe & Maconie later. I also caught up with 2001 on Pick of the Pops (intermittently classic, fundamentally banal) and listened to the whole of Sounds of the 70s in case it included any milestone birthday requests (but it didn't). When Argentina scored those penalties I was instead listening to a medley of festive folk, and I also wondered where the new Adil and Lily story is heading in The Archers. Altogether I reckon I listened to at least ten hours of radio yesterday, which is unusual because normally there's more TV in there, plus absolutely nothing they wanted to show me on YouTube looked interesting.
I will not be writing about the other 45. You got lucky there.
