Mon 1: What I've learned about using my 60+ Oyster card is that it'll let you exit a station and go straight back in, or enter and go straight back out, but it won't let you go out/in/out or in/out/in. Tue 2: I saw an e-unicyclist today, and I don't believe they're anywhere near as common as TfL's endless announcements suggest, so I'm going to count how many days it is before I see another one. Wed 3: The new Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London novel, Stone and Sky, was on the shelf in the library today in hardback form. It's characteristically excellent and I enjoyed the Aberdeen focus of it all, and who's to say all that spooky stuff doesn't go on in the oil industry? Thu 4: BestMate's been discussing his downstairs neighbour for years but I'd never seen him until today, and I wasn't expecting the manbun.
Fri 5: It was disappointing and unnerving to see St George's crosses painted across a zebra crossing in Rainham, seemingly patriotic but with a nasty undertone of fukkoffgohome. Sat 6: Before I walked the Seven Sisters again I wondered if I'd still be up to the punishing sequence of chalk ascents, but I powered through the 10 mile walk as capably as ever so I'm chuffed that even at 60 I can still easily do it. Sun 7: Platform 2 at Woolwich Arsenal station still has a sign directing passengers towards Firepower, a museum which closed in July 2016. Someone's taped over the sign on the westbound, but not the eastbound.
Mon 8: I mentioned today that blog comments were lower than they used to be, and Oliver emailed to say he can't see the link any more so can't read them, let alone leave one. To the right of "posted 07:00 : " he now sees nothing rather than "comments (n)", and I wondered if anyone else can't see them either. You'll have to email... Tue 9: I bought a gypsy tart from a bakery in Bexley that still bakes and sells gypsy tarts. Mmm. Wed 10: A consultation launched today which presumes Hammersmith Bridge may never see a bus service again. It proposes withdrawing the 533 and replacing it with an extended 209 along much the same route. It also makes the 378 dawdlier and sends the 485 to Barnes rather than Castelnau. If implemented, that's the last of the 500-and-something buses dead and buried. Thu 11: You used to be worth following but my word you've got abrasively exaggeratingly negative of late, so perhaps chill out a bit #subtweet Fri 12: Left the house wearing double denim, for which I apologise.
Sat 13: On the way to my first Open House property I passed half a dozen emboldened men in England flags, a tophatted gent in a Union Jack waistcoat on a penny farthing and a leery bloke in a white van who looked out of his window and hoped I'd join in with his dubious chant. They were off to the Tommy Robinson-led protest, and I have rarely felt more uncomfortable in the capital. Sun 14: For the first time ever I blogged about an Open House tour and the person running it left a comment saying "I think that was me..." :) Mon 15: While exiting Alexandra Palace station, I was desperately impressed by the guide dog leading their owner up the stairs, pausing briefly and patiently on every landing to allow him to catch up. Tue 16: I went back to add a comment to my Flickr photo of the Big Brother Chair 2013 and noticed that Mike Skinner (the actual Mike Skinner of The Streets) favourited it twelve years ago. I was well chuffed. Wed 17: Today was the first entirely overcast day since 15th May, in case you mistakenly thought London hadn't been that sunny this summer.
Thu 18: Today I met the hawk at Crystal Palace which is occasionally paraded to try to scare away all the pigeons. Judging by the white deposits on the very long staircase it needs to be brought out more often. Fri 19: I went to Feltham to see the Freddie Mercury memorialgarden before it opened. A volunteer from the Friends of Feltham Common was keeping people outside the barriers, and also having a moan with a passer-by about language he likes to use that's no longer acceptable. "Of course you can't say that any more," he complained, despite the fact he was in fact saying it. Sat 20: A new segregated cycleway has fully opened today - the Royal Docks Corridor. It's 2 miles long and swooshes through Silvertown before coming to an abrupt halt at the edge of City Airport. As well as safer cycling and pretty verges it also boasts "better crossings", although as a pedestrian I've mostly been frustrated at how much harder it now is to cross the road.
Sun 21: Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White have started a podcast called Through The Square Window about the TV of decades gone by, and their first episode is about shows that started in September 1975 like Angels, Fawlty Towers and Space 1999. Mon 22: Meanwhile Michael Gove and Spectator journalist Madeline Grant have started a politics podcast which is being advertised vigorously across the tube network, especially at Sloane Square station. They've called it 'Quite Right', which I admit is a brilliant name even if I'd never dream of listening. Tue 23: Ooh, I've actually read one of the books on this year's Booker Prize shortlist. The Land In Winter is set during the freezing winter of 1963, claustrophobically so, and I loved the character focus in the first part but felt things watered down when a more substantial plot kicked in towards the end. Wed 24: I loved the story on Radio 4's More Or Less saying that, according to Hansard, 601 speeches in the House of Commons this year have started with the Americanism "I rise to speak". It was only 131 in the same period last year, which researchers say is very likely because MPs have handed over their speechwriting to AI services like ChatGPT. Thu 25: Four blue laminated signs have appeared in the ticket hall at Bow Road station to nudge passengers towards Bow Church station. [Exit Station, Turn Right, Walk 5 Minutes]. Maybe they'll be successful where all previous signage has somehow fallen short.
Fri 26: The Blackheath fireworks are coming back, hurrah, after Greenwich and then Lewisham councils decided they couldn't afford them. But the return will be privately-funded and fenced-off so tickets cost £16, this because you're also paying for five hours of DJs, bands, comedy, food, karaoke and a funfair, even if all you want is the 15 minutes of fireworks. I might go and watch from outside the cordon. Sat 27: Eek, that's the most I've weighed since May 2020. I should probably cut back on the Club biscuits. Sun 28: While the official Nine Elms Sunday Market is open, a separate well-dodgy gathering of traders occupies the pavement alongside Nine Elms station selling trainers, cigarettes and general unregulated trash. And it probably shouldn't. Mon 29: The Central line's status has been "Minor delays due to train cancellations" all day, which has been happening a lot lately, and I fear this much-beleaguered much vandalised under-maintained line is in serious inevitable long-term decline. Tue 30: Still no e-unicyclists, so that's four weeks so far.
