I wondered if there was any mileage in further 'Random' blog series.
Random grid reference: TQ269722 Springfield Park Wandsworth SW17
Technically the precise spot is a block of flats just over the wall, but I was in Springfield Park just last week and blogged all about it so there's no point in going back again.
Random Haringey Park Wood Green Common N22
After generating my random number I headed straight there, just down the road from Alexandra Palace station, but it was closed. This was annoying because according to Haringey's website "Works to improve Wood Green Common were completed in June 2025", but they very much aren't. The new Multi Use Games Area and outdoor gym remain sealed off behind metal barriers while workmen tweak poles and paving, and a lot of grass people could be using for recreation is out of commission for parking white vans.
Admittedly the small children's play area is open but best not wander in there unaccompanied, also Barratt Gardens is unaffected but the wisteria on the pergola has already done its thing. Works were supposed to take 22 weeks which seems very precise, but they're very much not over yet and might not even be ready before schools go back. Bad timing.
Random London bus route 169 Claybury - Barking
The first number the generator threw up was 347 which hasn't been a London bus route for the last six months, then 446 but that hasn't run since 1996. Third time lucky I got the 169 because that actually exists, but I wasn't convinced anyone wanted to read a road trip across Redbridge whose commentary would mostly have been "and then more shops".
Random diamond geezer comment number 51857, 5th December 2011
There are now over 180,000 diamond geezer comments, which is damned impressive thanks, and to trawl back to the 51857th I had to scroll down to 5th December 2011. This was on a post about Ben Pedroche's book Do Not Alight Here in which I followed his route to disused stations round Bow, Stepney and Limehouse. Mid-afternoon one of you commented...
Shame the old Bow Station was demolished. What a magnificent building! CornishCockney 5 Dec 2011 - 4:15 p.m
...and how exciting that Cornish Cockney also left the 184817th comment only yesterday!
My random number generator picked a very high number this time, and photo 18637 turns out to be from the very start of this year when I went to Lancing to walk the road of the year. This is the roundabout at the northern end of the A2025, and excitingly it's never appeared on the blog before.
If a list exists, a random item can be identified. In this case the 71212th postbox in the database can be found in the Norfolk village of Southrepps, not far from Cromer. It's an E2R lamp box, probably the 1970s design, with a 9am collection time. It used to sit proudly outside the Post Office but that closed in January 2024 due to the resignation of the postmaster and is now a private home. I could schlepp up to Southrepps to take a photo but why bother when Google StreetView exists, other than perhaps enjoying a beer at the VernonArms afterwards.
Random London pub Little Windsor Sutton SM1
There is no official list of London's pubs but there was once courtesy of CAMRA, back in 2019, so I used that and hoped that pub number 2598 hadn't closed post-pandemic. It hadn't, but I had no idea where it was because I've never been to Greyhound Road in Sutton before. The Little Windsor looks like a decent local with a teensy front patio, formerly Fullers but they've recently withdrawn. Alas their website no longer exists but on Facebook they claim to be "a traditional cosey pub providing excellent real ales and food", plus they host occasional gigs by solo singers. I reckon Random London Pub might actually work as a feature on someone beer-friendly's blog, but I would very much run out of stuff to say after admiring the green wainscotting and noting the availability of Mini Cheddars.
I was hoping to delve back into my early years but instead we go back just three years to a rare Bank Holiday Thursday. It was the first day of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, and after a breakfast of porridge and a nice walk round Hampstead Heath I headed to the Olympic Park to watch the flypast. Wow!
I headed home to eat bacon sandwiches while fast-forwarding through Trooping The Colour, then stuck a turkey joint in the oven. Charles and Camilla appeared on EastEnders, almost acting properly, and my most successful tweet of all time passed three quarters of a million views, which would never happen nowadays.
I went multiply random here. First I picked a random year during the lifespan of the UK Singles chart (1982), then a random month (June), then a random week and got the Top 40 announced by Paul Burnett on 8th June 1982. It was the day Adam Ant toppled Madness from the chart summit if you remember. Finally I picked a random position in that Top 40 chart and got number 5 which was Tight Fit's follow up to The Lion Sleeps Tonight, the much superior Fantasy Island. A bit cheesy perhaps, but you can see where Steps got a lot of their ideas from. Retro Charts Radio is the perfect place to hear random Top 40 hits these days.
Random London station Bexley (zone 6)
By the time I'd been to Wood Green there wasn't time to go to Bexley, plus Bexley's a dull station in an interesting place so I'd have spent more time writing about the village instead. You can always read the Wikipedia page where you'll discover the station car park has 259 spaces, or perhaps wait for someone to add their own thrilling anecdote to the comments.
n.b. I reserve the right to come back and do Random Station: Bexley at some point in the future, should it ever come up again.
Random grid reference: TQ414890
North Circular Redbridge IG4
This is mid-dual-carriageway on the A406 just north of the Redbridge roundabout, so you can only really get to it with a car. There is a footpath alongside by the river Roding, and if only it had been TQ415890 that'd have been Roding Well Pumping Station, but TQ414890 is alas off-limits Ballardian beltway. Some ideas only work once, and the magic rarely works a second or even third time, sorry.
