Fri 1: I ummed and ahhed about doing another month-long series about the River Fleet, because maybe it's best to only do things once, but once I was stalking through the woods at the top of Hampstead Heath hunting for muddy rivulets it all felt worthwhile. Sat 2: I didn't blog about my walk across Richmond Park so I've had nowhere to put this photo of the flower beds near Pembroke Lodge. Sadly my shot of the deer and the bike came out blurry.
Sun 3: In Richmond Park yesterday I saw an unusual red spotty butterfly and wondered what it was. I wasn't expecting to hear the answer on the 6.30am radio news - it's a Jersey Tiger, one of the exotic species wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation are urging people to spot for their annual butterfly count. Also it's a moth. Mon 4: The gloriously down-to-earth Blackmans shoe shop off Brick Lane closed two years ago and the business went online. Its replacements are a designer menswear boutique and a creative hair agency, such is the driving thrust of gentrification hereabouts, and let's just say that for the price of a houndstooth cardigan you could have bought 23 pairs of plimsolls. Tue 5: The elderly lady sitting beside me in Mansfield bus station got very agitated when the bus arrived and I didn't board first. She'd assumed there was a queue and I was at the front of it, I knew if there was a queue I wasn't at the front of it, and the lad who got on the bus first never even considered that the disparate rabble was a queue at all. She tutted to another waiting pensioner, hoping for support, and I recognised her as one of the miseries who go through life picking fault in other people. Daily Mail reader, obviously.
Wed 6: I was thrilled when I switched on my TV and got an on-screen message saying that "Viewing on this TV is being measured" by BARB, the independent ratings agency. That's what media dreams are made of. Then I did an online search and discovered this had happened to loads of other people over the last few weeks so I was nothing special after all, dammit. Thu 7: I see TfL are still prominently displaying their "Please carry water with you in hot weather" posters on days nobody would describe as hot. Fri 8: Ten dull things I did today: microwaved a croissant, got 90p off a Pukka pie, took the binbag out, squeezed past two bikes on a train, found a newspaper in Ruislip Manor, passed the Cricklewood sheep, pointed at a bad map, watered a bay tree, cropped a miner, sang along with the Wombles on Top of the Pops. Sat 9: I thought Royal Mail had ended Saturday deliveries but today I received a bank statement and a Tesco Clubcard voucher. It's also the first post I've received in two weeks, so maybe they're only doing Saturday deliveries now. Sun 10: My Dad rang and the phone came up with his real number for the first time in years, rather than 'Withheld'. Previously I've always known it was him because nobody else with a withheld number calls.
Mon 11: Seen on a rack outside a gift shop at Piccadilly Circus - really crappy tote bags, £12.99 each or two for £20. I guess some overseas fools must buy them. Tue 12: I was pleased when the gladiolus on my balcony pushed up three shoots this year (last year two, previously one). Alas none of them have brought forth any flowers (2023 was my only previous floral failure). Wed 13: Started watching Destination X, then remembered they're doing two episodes a week and I hadn't seen last Thursday's. By the time I'd fired up iPlayer they'd summarised last week's show and completely spoilt the "where are we?" surprise. Thu 14: There are numerous posters across the transport network for an upcoming cinema release starring Joaquin Phoenix. It's a western called Eddington, and I bet that works fine with American audiences but I can't stop thinking it's a shootout between PM Jim Hacker and Jerry from the Good Life.
Fri 15: That's the first time I've ever seen a parakeet from my window. I've seen them around London for many years but it's my first sighting here in Bow. Sat 16: Another Saturday mail delivery. It included a gas bill (posted 10 days ago) and a greetings card (posted five days ago, 1st class!), so the mail round here is screwed. Sun 17: There's a barber shop in Kingston with a sign in the window that says "your beard is your identity". I guess for a heck of a lot of men it is, but I can't grow one so I fear that makes me a non-entity. Mon 18: Paid my gas bill. Meanwhile British Gas posted "a gentle reminder to pay your gas bill". It'll arrive in 10 days time.
Tue 19: Just down the road from Harold Wood station is a small undistinguished garden, supposedly of Asian plants, added as part of Havering council's legacy offering for the 2012 Olympics. I very nearly blogged about it but could find no further information online, so you got lucky there. Wed 20: At Tesco Express on Bow Road a man appeared to be humping the cashpoint out front. He looked straight at me as if to say "yes I am humping a cashpoint, what of it?", and I walked swiftly on. Thu 21: Visited a different library to usual and picked up the latest copy of Michael Palin's diaries. It's both fascinating and reassuring, although I should perhaps have started with the 1969-1979 volume rather than launching straight into 1999-2009. Fri 22: Six things seen through my Dad's window: a bright red butterfly on the rudbeckias, a hot air balloon, a man on the roof of the cottage opposite bashing the chimney to pieces, jackdaw, wild rabbit, nextdoor's son riding the family tractor.
Sat 23: The celebrant at my niece's wedding finished off with the wise words "Life is what you make it, but love is what makes it worth living". Everyone else smiled because a happy married life lay ahead, but I sat there thinking "dammit, I guess I've completely wasted my life". Sun 24: Why is it so hard to make a good cup of tea in an unfamiliar kitchen? Kettles all boil water, milk is milk and I brought a teabag with me specially, but the end result was still dire. Mon 25: Just after leaving Ipswich the train driver suddenly announced "If you look out of the window on the left you should be able to see a polar bear", and he was right. Tue 26: I laid back in the bath and enjoyed this year's episode of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme. I'd heard all the sketches before because I was in the audience last month, but still laughed along. They record it twice so I wonder how much I actually witnessed.
Wed 27: The TJ Jones in New Malden (formerly WH Smith) has a handwritten sign on both doors saying "WE DO NOT SELL POKÉMON HERE". I doubt that any of this improves customer footfall. Thu 28: Received an email from a Guinness World Record Holder saying "Just found this daily puzzle - tubedoku.com. Perhaps you've seen it already but thought it would be right up your street." He was right, I've added it to my daily regime, and it might be up your street too. Fri 29: Ooh, you can walk across the central span of Hammersmith Bridge again, also cycle across it, that's much nicer than squeezing along the edges. [Quick check, ah, you've been able to do that since April]
Sat 30: I got a spare set of keys cut because when you live by yourself the potential jeopardy of getting locked out is huge. Gosh replacement fobs are expensive. Also the locksmith winked at me on the way out, and I wonder if he thought I was up to no good. Sun 31: For completeness' sake here's the wet/dry weather for the last week of August following on from my St Swithin's Day report. Not good if you were out and about, but we got very lucky with the bank holiday.
