I made this graph to show how busy I was yesterday.
It shows freneticism on a scale of 0 to 10 for every hour during the day.
12-1am: In bed preparing to sleep [1] 1-4am: zzzzz [0] 4-5am: No, no need to wake up yet [1] 5-7am: zzzzz [0] 7-8am: Ah there's the alarm, wash, dress, breakfast, pack rucksack [3] 8-9am: Ooh Thames Water are coning off Bus Stop M, I could probably write about that later, buy newspaper, travel to central London terminus, flash my Rail Sale ticket, sit on train. [4] 9-10am: Watch the world go by, looks like I picked a lovely sunny day to go travelling [2]
10-11am: Approaching my destination an argument breaks out at the end of the carriage. A young couple, a beardy boy and a made-up girl, both maybe 17, he insisting he takes her phone, she crying that she didn't delete any messages and he should phone Terry to check, he increasingly suspicious, she increasingly anxious, louder and louder, an underlying vibe of menace/panic. Damn I'm going to have to walk past them to get off the train. The lady who gets to the door first turns to the girl and says "you should leave him", and this triggers the boy to further fury, "what business is that of yours?" Then he turns to me, eyes glinting, "are you her husband cos I'll punch you!" Oh bugger, I think, not again. I agree with the lady that she should leave him but I don't say this, I say "we're not even related", and he turns back to her and the doors open and the argument continues just as angrily as I head down the platform, shaken. [8]
11am-12: I've done the shopping centre, the viewpoint and the A road, now onwards on my chosen walk past the rescue centre, the sewage works and the over-regimented housing estate [6] 12-1pm: It's a lot quieter out here, take the high route, take the low route, properly remote now, lovely, this is why I came [5] 1-2pm: I only allowed myself five hours for this walk, I should get to the station on time, I need to get to the station in time, it's tough underfoot, keep walking [6] 2-3pm: Might have to speed up, will have to speed up, no time to dawdle, just time for a quick dash up the best staircase in town, my feet are complaining now, 12½ miles, phew [8]
3-4pm: Slump onto my appointed train, nice and empty, pour a cuppa from my thermos, look out at all I just walked, do the crossword. [2] 4-5pm: It always gets busier later, sigh, the guy in the seat in front is making phone calls then watching naff videos with the sound up, I daren't say something, the bloke opposite eventually says something. [3]
5-6pm: London's much busier now, hordes and streams flooding home, big crowds on the tube platform. A woman with a smart coat and a bag of gifts dashes for the train and her phone tumbles out onto the track below, a passer-by has to point it out, she's very grateful then absolutely aghast. Don't worry they have grabber things these days says her companion, he goes off to find a member of staff, she stands there utterly lost, even more so when he returns with bad news. She retrieves a card from her bag which says 'Happy 30th birthday' on the front, poor lass, her big day ruined. My second train is absolutely rammed, rush-hour crowding, Saturdays are the new peak time, long gaps in service aren't helping, I expect the sniffling student I'm scrunched up against will have gifted me some winter bug. Canary Wharf is ridiculously busy, huge crowds come to see the Winter Lights, the queue to see the big one in the dock oppressively long, seething walkways, thousands walking round like sheep, where's the fun in this, a sparse selection of artworks this year too, an increasingly blatant attempt to lure suburban families into local restaurants, stuff this I'm off home. [10]
6-7pm: DLR is busy, Bus Stop M is still coned off. Cup of tea, oven on, chicken and a lot of pasta in a mushroom sauce. [4] 7-11pm: Feet up, it's OK I know what I'm writing about tonight, tap away. [2] 11pm-12: Mug of hot milk, head to bed, I shall sleep well tonight. [1]
