Sun 1: You'd think after all these years I'd be an expert in getting the temperature of my bath just right, but today's was only borderline warm enough when I got in and swiftly cooled to aggravatingly tepid so I had to get out early. I haven't messed up since. Mon 2: If you want another daily online game to add to your repertoire, how about Travle in which they select two countries and you have to name a chain of countries that forms a route inbetween. It turns out my Europe is better than my southeast Asia is better than my Africa is better than my Central America. Tue 3: I walked straight past the bag check at the British Library because I didn't have a bag, but the guard stopped me anyway because his scanner said I had a phone in my pocket. He waved me through when I agreed that I did, but how Big Brotherish are these security checks getting?
Wed 4: Went to an obscure railway-related site in West London and then realised I can't blog about it until January when it'll be specifically relevant, so you'll have to wait a few weeks. Thu 5: Went round to BestMate's for dinner, a regular occurrence, but there was such a ferocious cloudburst on Upper Road that I arrived at his door utterly soaked and bedraggled and had to request an urgent towel and a spare pair of dry trousers. Fri 6: TfL have confirmed, following consultations, that three bus routes will be extinguished early next year. The 414 is being withdrawn and the 45 and 118 are merging, numbered 45, both in February. Also London's least frequent bus, the 347, will alas be running to Ockendon for the last time on Friday 17th January. Expect reports on all three doomed routes in the next couple of months, which is either cause for celebration or please accept my apologies.
Sat 7: The Christmas decorations in Penge High Street read 'Merry Pengemas' and include an animated dinosaur in a Santa hat. Central London really needs to up its game. Sun 8: The biggest tree I can see from my window has been leafless for a few weeks. I was resigned to a lost metallic balloon flapping sadly in its branches all winter but thankfully Storm Darragh blew it away overnight and the silhouette is now natural again. Mon 9: I don't know if you've noticed, but since the Metro newspaper changed its puzzle provider the 'Easy' sudoku is much harder than it used to be. Tue 10: An interesting book I got out of the library:Radio Moments by David Lloyd, an insider's memoir of five decades working across mostly commercial radio. So that's why all the stations merged. If you like this kind of thing you'd also love the collection of 115 chats with radio greats, from Trevor Dann to Graham Torrington, on David's website. Wed 11: I just missed a bus in deepest Lewisham and the next one was 20 minutes away so I started walking. By the time it finally caught up I'd hiked over two miles and was only two stops away from my ultimate destination. Thank you Citymapper for giving me the confidence not to stand still.
Thu 12: Dropped by Paddington station to see HS2's Lego models of their Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street stations (but not Euston because nobody's yet confirmed what that'll look like). I also had a fairly vacuous chat with the member of staff standing alongside. I'm not sure what HS2 were trying to achieve by being here for two days, maybe just 'please like us'. Fri 13: Supermarket update: I don't know what's up with the regular price of an 8-pack of Tunnock's caramel wafers, but in September they were £1.59, in October £1.85 and today suddenly £2.30. I have stopped buying Tunnock's caramel wafers. Sat 14: I've been disappointed by Radio 4's new Friday night comedy, The Naked Week, which has repeatedly managed to be satirical rather than amusing. It's sometimes felt like reading a copy of Private Eye but with the cartoons ripped out. Sun 15: Wrote my Christmas cards tonight, alas two fewer than last year. If you don't live in the BL, CM, CR, DT, E, EX, ME, MK, NE, NR, NN, PO, PR or WD postcode areas you're not getting one, sorry. Mon 16: I tried buying my Christmas stamps in a Dagenham post office. On approaching the rear of the store I was shamed by a waiting pensioner for failing to notice that the lady at the counter was in a mobility scooter so would need significant reversing space. So poor were her reversing skills that she hit the sweet rack seven times, then stopped for a lengthy chat with my castigator and trapped me behind the ice cream cabinet for a couple of minutes. I will not be back.
Tue 17: The daffodils in the Olympic Park are already in full bloom, as they have been every December for the last ten years, although that doesn't make the blaze of yellow any less surprising. Wed 18: The big electronic screen at Euston now shows departure times again, not adverts, and today's the first time I've seen it and I gave a little cheer.
Thu 19: Since July, when Elon Musk really started ballsing up what's left of Twitter, my number of followers has only fallen by 5% but engagement with my tweets is down by about 30%. That's in case you wanted some actual data rather than the hunch X has gone to the dogs. Fri 20: I'd like to thank my auntie for living in the immediate vicinity of the Christmas Eve Purley Oaks air crash site, and for keeping the full folder of heritage information compliled by the Lower End Kingsdown Avenue Residents' Association, and for offering me tea, a bacon sandwich and two mince pies after I'd done my on-the-spot research. Sat 21: This year's special prize crossword is a blank grid of vowelless composers. I've managed to enter eighteen of them, but failed to be engaged by the challenge. Sun 22: I've discovered that I can trigger the light sensor on the landing outside my flat by poking a newspaper marginally underneath my front door. I'm not sure there is any beneficial use for this knowledge. Mon 23: 20 years ago my Christmas train ticket to Norfolk cost £29.50 and this year it was £42.50 (railcard discount applied both times).
Tue 24: The village pub was remarkably full, perhaps because a lot of families were back together for Christmas, perhaps because it's still traditional to pile in for a cheery Christmas Eve booze-up, or perhaps because the once-a-year churchgoers needed an alcoholic buzz before heading to the carol service across the green. Wed 25: Festive telly review (watched later on catch-up): Wallace and Gromit was cracking, with so many in-jokes it merits a rewatch. Doctor Who was clever and cheery if a bit silly, with a perfect payoff. Gavin and Stacey thankfully lived up to all the BBC's excessive pre-publicity and nailed the finale with comic charm. Mrs Brown did not grace our screen. Thu 26: The board games we played on Boxing Day were i)Scotland Yard (the classic game of map-based criminal evasion), ii)Sushi Go! (a quick and clever game of card collecting), iii)Akropolis (classical city building with colourful tiles), iv)Skyjo (card flipping game, occasionally negative, lowest wins), v)One Night (over-dressed werewolf winker), vi)Takenoko (slowburn bamboo plantation challenger). Monopoly stayed in the cupboard. Fri 27: Rode the rail replacement coach across Essex while a small dog watched me from the adjacent seat. I spent the half hour journey listening to Count Binface's Ceefax documentary. Sat 28: A pair of self-important parents had taken their two daughters to the Woolwich Foot Tunnel to practise riding their new bikes, despite byelaws and copious signage prohibiting all cycling. I was particularly pleased when both girls got off halfway claiming they were no longer interested, leaving their parents to carry the bikes away (and then the lift wasn't working).
Sun 29: One of the special measures being used to control crowds gathering to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks is a yellow sign on London Bridge saying 'Fireworks cannot be viewed from this bridge'. This is also true during daylight hours. Mon 30: The three most popular posts on the blog this year, which search engines keep funneling queriers towards, are 1)Where to sit on a Crossrail train (from 2022), 2)Free Parking (my Monopoly board halfway point), 3)Superloop 2 (vague plans from April). I suspect those landing on the second of these are the most disappointed. Tue 31: The second half of the 2020s starts at noon today, not at midnight tonight (thanks to the spacing of leap years).
