Tue 1: Thanks for your 57 comments on Unblogged June, even if they were predominantly about smoke alarms. I have now sorted the issue, thanks (and the replacement will itself need to be replaced in ten years' time). Wed 2: In surprising news, as of this afternoon we are now closer to 2050 than 2000. Thu 3: The Metropolitan Arcade outside Liverpool Street station, once home to sandwich shops and dry cleaners for bankers, is now a Boxpark offshoot called Boxhall City. Its "curated mix of global cuisines" includes Eggslut, Old Chang Kee, Gaucho and Inamo Sukoshi, also a "rotating chef-led kitchen" which just goes to show how important it is to get your hyphen in the right place.
Fri 4: A new online game has emerged - Primesweeper - which is like Minesweeper but you have to clear the grid while avoiding the 17 prime numbers. My top tip is to remove the even numbers and multiples of 3 first. My best score is 100% cleared in 163 seconds (which is a prime number, ha!) Sat 5: Since I last visited my Dad his telephone's been switched over to Digital Voice, the non-landline service. It also means his wifi password has changed so I had to type a very long alphanumeric into my phone, then my laptop, then my Dad's tablet, then his smart TV so they'd work again. We still can't get the wi-fi extender to log back in so that's effectively bricked. Sun 6: There are three cafes in my Dad's village and until today I'd only been to one of them. Today we visited the largest one (for pie and chips) followed by the newest one (for tea and cake) and it was a new experience all round. Mon 7: The blog had a spike of 10000 extra visitors today, all via a Liquid Web server in the Far East. This phenomenon has never happened before (or since), and I suspect was some company scraping my blog for AI purposes one post at a time. Tue 8: I blew up a yellow balloon for my birthday back in March, and it's been deflating ever so slowly ever since. It's now down to 'shrivelled stomach' size so I decided it was finally time to burst it. Four months though, that's not bad.
Wed 9: Today I discovered why some Overground train doors have spiky yellow 'sharks teeth'. It's because "the doors on Class 710s don't automatically reopen when something jams them", and I reckon if TfL told passengers that rather than just warning TAKE CARE CLOSING DOORS, people might take more notice and try not to get their limbs trapped. Thu 10: You can tell some of Londonist's writers have left the capital because their articles often now have a Kent/Sussex slant, including Things To Do In Sevenoaks, Things To Do In Lewes, 8 Charming And Historic Castles To Visit In Sussex and Why You Should Go To... Hastings. Fri 11: On a bus shelter in Tooting I saw an advert for a 30th anniversary limited edition can of Hooch, and it cannot be that long since alcoholic lemonade was my first choice in Bedford's pubs. Sat 12: I've been on Instagram for ten years and today they suddenly chucked me off the platform, claiming my account was 'unverified' and might thus breach their Community Standards for integrity. I learned this via an email saying "We are suspending your Instagram account, you have until January to appeal." I immediately appealed and they let me back on four minutes later, but this is why letting algorithms run things is so dangerous. Sun 13: I'd like to go back in time and nudge myself to start buying 50p jars of sliced pickled beetroot because I've been missing out.
Mon 14: I got lucky in the Radio 4 ticket raffle so trotted down to Shepherd's Bush this afternoon to watch the recording of this year's edition of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme. Some years he just does funny sketches and some years he goes all high-concept thematic, and this year there's a sketch in which he takes the mickey out of that. I laughed a lot, as did the cast awaiting their turn at the microphone, and I can heartily recommend a listen when it's broadcast over the August bank holiday weekend. Tue 15: While I was taking lots of photos of Hatton Cross station they played the "if you see anything suspicious..." announcement at least three times, and I'd like to thank staff and fellow passengers for not paying any attention whatsoever. Wed 16: There were a heck of a lot of police around Old Ford Lock this morning, looking down at a narrow boat resting at an alarming angle in the water, but I decided not to stay and watch alongside the other rubberneckers. Thu 17: Thank you for your email. It was much appreciated but it was just beyond the limit of something easy to reply to immediately so I didn't. Also you asked three questions that deserved a decent answer and I still haven't got round to answering them yet and I feel guilty about that, but thankyou for your email. Fri 18: To answer your question, Stephen, Blue House Yard in Wood Green isn't 'a bit weedy and boarded up'. You can still get your bike fixed, attach permanent welded jewellery or quaff IPA on a painted bus, and this is why you should never base your opinion of the capital on what you see on Streetview.
Sat 19: Adrian got in touch to say he'd tried to view this blog while travelling aboard an Irish Rail train, but it was blocked due to content filtering because "this site has been categorized as Pornography". Balls. Sun 20: The most annoying thing about my 'Random London grid reference' post, in which I explored the Railway Children in Grove Park, is that I'd been 100m away just two days earlier and had to go all the way back again. Mon 21: In January 2020 I wrote a very brief blogpost about Twentyman Close in Woodford Green, and how a large country house called Monkhams had been sold off for housing by a man called James Twentyman. In February 2024 Judi Porter left a lovely (belated) comment saying James was her grandfather and her father had been born in the big house. Today the manager of Redbridge Museum & Heritage Centre left a comment saying "Hi Judi, we would love to see the photographs you have and hear about your grandparents' stories about Monkhams." There is not a hope in hell that Judi will ever read that last comment, but in case she ever reads this do please get in touch via email. Tue 22: When I mentioned that the cost of Oyster photocards was increasing I failed to mention that the price of a new Oyster card has also increased by 43%. Used to be £5 refundable, then in 2022 changed to £7 unrefundable and as of this week is now £10 you will never get back. They keep these things very quiet.
Wed 23: "When I see it's another of your 'Squares' posts I don't tend to read those, sorry," they said, and these are the things you discover over a fried breakfast in a Coulsdon cafe. Thu 24: Three BBC Sounds shows you might enjoy: i)Alternative Sounds of the 00s with Dermot O'Leary (Radio 2's first venture into millennial nostalgia), ii)Derailed: The story of HS2 (a 10-part serious dig into the decision-makers and project-breakers behind the much-maligned railway), iii)Reach Out and Touch Faith (a 30 minute Radio 4 documentary on "the unlikely journey of Depeche Mode's world domination"). Fri 25: I had a hilarious idea for a satirical post about the Online Safety Act, placing the blog behind a temporary protected firewall, but I didn't risk it in case some joyless algorithm assumed it was serious and blacklisted me for real. Sat 26: Today's the very last time that Royal Mail intend to deliver 2nd class mail on a Saturday, and they celebrated by sending me an electricity bill and a pension fund report. Sun 27: Rather than rewatch the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony again, this year I played the Isles of Wonder double album CDs instead. One of the most evocative £10s I have ever spent.
Mon 28: Ian Visits alerts us that East Midlands Railway are running a ticket sale for journeys between 4th August and 7th September. They normally have some of the most exorbitant long distance fares out of London so here's an opportunity to hit the East Midlands for less, assuming the limited availability hasn't run out. I have mine booked for next week, hurrah. Tue 29: Of the ten library books I've read this month, my favourites were Jonathan Coe's The Proof of My Innocence, Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shroud and Alan Hollinghurst's Our Evenings. I couldn't finish the Jasper Fforde and I wish I hadn't finished Georgina Moore. Wed 30: Today was the Central line's 125th birthday - it opened between Shepherd's Bush and Bank on 30th July 1900. Today was also the 15th birthday of sponsored bike hire in the capital. You can probably guess which of the two TfL chose to promote across social media and which they ignored. I'd like to apologise to the Mayor that my tweet pointing this out got 1200 likes and his only got 47. Brand-obsessed, I tell you. Thu 31: My Swithinometer is now up to 16 days of recording the weather, and so far the dead saint is doing really well. It rained on 15th July and it's rained on 12 days since. Where did the summer go?
