Sat 1: Spotted a doomed pillarbox in Beckenham High Street wrapped in plastic film, ready to be updated to one of those new solar-powered automated boxes. I wonder what they do with the boxes that get replaced. Sun 2: The sheer irony of a narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal, clearly Reform-friendly, flying a 'Stop the Boats' flag.
Mon 3: Celebrity spotting: On Bow Road I passed former Poldark-scyther Aidan Turner, which shouldn't have been surprising because we both live on the same street. Tue 4: Celebrity spotting: Outside Finsbury Park station I passed someone famous I couldn't place ("oh I know that face, who is that?"). Eventually I worked out it was Ru Paul's Drag Race champion Ginger Johnson, but not in full make-up. Wed 5: The top end of Crystal Palace Park is a vast sealed-off mess at present as the Italian Terrace undergoes a full makeover to make it more appealing and accessible. Should be great eventually, but don't visit soon.
Thu 6: On 2nd September I saw an e-unicyclist and said I was going to count how many days it was before I saw another one. I finally saw another today so it took 65 days, that's how rare these beasts are. Perhaps TfL could stop making regular announcements about a form of transport that barely exists, thanks. Fri 7: OK, maybe the lampposts between Crayford and Erith are London's flaggiest. Sat 8: I attended the very first Lady Mayor's Show, the previous 700-odd all having been Lord Mayor's Shows. The parade's always a slightly surreal combination of portly men in gowns waving from trucks, youthful pipe bands from the Home Counties and a miltary invasion of the City by the Armed Forces. The most surreal participants were a steam locomotive called Fenchurch, a huge yellow pea harvester and a full contingent of Pearlies. The money shot was Donald Campbell's Bluebird passing St Paul's Cathedral.
Sun 9: Perhaps the secret to Donald Trump versus the BBC is to apologise, shut up and rely on the fact he's bound to forget about suing you. Mon 10: One of the leaflets you can pick up at my local Tesco is a 64-page booklet detailing what's on at Norwich theatres (Jul 2025-Sep 2026). They are indeed excellent venues and my Dad attends regularly, but I can't imagine anyone from Bow ever deciding to travel 100 miles for a matinee. Tue 11: The most questionably bizarre Remembrance tribute I've seen this year is this knitted poppyman in the centre of Chesham. He's holding a white dove, he's called Percy and this is his fifth year on the bench.
Wed 12: I think that's the greatest number of deer I've ever seen, just over a brick wall in Bushy Park. A safari enjoyed from the top deck of the Superloop! Thu 13: My youngest nephew's not often in London so I took him out to dinner and was delighted to discover that my 15 year-old loyalty card still works. I've now got seven stamps, and another two should mean a free pancake.
Fri 14: Since I last reported on Footpath 47, the waterside strip has been fairly brutally de-vegetated and fenced off as Barking Riverside hurtles towards its residential destiny. Sat 15: While in Whyteleafe I was thrilled to see my favourite advert, now somewhat faded, on a municipal noticeboard. I assume the council bought a job lot because I last saw it posted up near the start of London Loop section 5, but that sadly disappeared about ten years ago. Sun 16: As well as an arrest, I can confirm that my visit to Brixton's Windrush Square also included the obligatory background smell of weed.
Mon 17: The thing about Epping Forest Museum (now open Mondays) is that it's a bit motley and not as good as it could be, but still better than anything else in Waltham Abbey's high street. I would love to have found out more about the wall of 500 year-old wood panelling, "one of the most important treasures in the museum", but all the background information was on an interactive touchscreen and this had broken. Tue 18: I boarded the DLR in the one part of the train a primary school class hadn't occupied, only for a third primary school class to board one stop later. They couldn't all have been going to the Natural History Museum. Wed 19: The place to wash clothes on Bow Road has reopened after a refit, and now manages to describe itself as both a LAUNDERETTE (old sign) and LAUNDRETTE (new sign).
Thu 20: I was despatched to the shops to buy a pack of silver Rizlas and, after much bafflement at the counter, managed to return with the wrong-sized papers. I think that's the first time I've bought anything smoking-related since spending my pocket money on packs of chocolate cigarettes in the 1970s. Fri 21: I needed to confirm my identity to set up a GOV.UK One Login account. I had hoped that four emails and three six-digit codes would be sufficient but no, they then asked me to take a QR code to a designated Post Office. It took the postmistress about 20 attempts to scan my passport on her tablet, after which she had to step out from behind the counter and take my photograph. I have never been more relieved, and surprised, that there was no queue waiting.
Sat 22: I really should start making a list of Pimlico Plumbers numberplates I've spotted. Sun 23: A dozen other things I saw on my Brighton to Newhaven walk: a ridiculous hat shop, an avenue of elms, the end of a racecourse, whatever the chalky equivalent of mud is, an occupied Saxon church, a whopping windmill, a soggy leaflet dispenser, frothy 'snow' blowing up onto the clifftop, an isolated 186-step staircase, an estate of no-longer-mobile mobile homes, National Coastwatch tower with invite to come on up, properly downtrodden high street.
Mon 24: Speaking of libraries, my local is brilliant because you can walk in and pick up two new bestsellers for nothing. I enjoyed Kathy Burke's autobiography, which is bitty but frank, blunt and insightful. I sort-of enjoyed the Map Men's tribute to dodgy cartography, This Way Up, which was very entertainingly written but too many chapters were buried beneath a humorous pastiche and some felt a bit thin underneath. Tue 25: Comedian Richard Herring has now published his Warming up blog every day for 23 years. In today's anniversary post he writes "as far as I know, no one has yet blogged every day for 25 years - there is one person who might have blogged every day for over 23 years, though I keep forgetting his name and haven't checked his website for a while. Hopefully he has died by now and I will be the longest consecutive blogger in the world." In case that was me, I can assure Richard that I took a week off in 2006.
Wed 26:Mike Hall is the designer of 32 gorgeous retro London borough maps, originally inspired by this blog's 'jamjar' series (2004-2012). Now he and Londonist editor Matt Brown have published a chunky hardback called 'The Boroughs of London' (£30, all good bookshops) in which retro London maps feature very heavily, suitably annotated. It's very good. To promote the book Mike foolishly agreed to visit one borough and nip round all ten of its places of interest in a day, and it's partly my fault that the crowdsourced choice was Sutton ("London's least interesting borough?"). He then documented his whistlestop tour in a lengthy thread on Bluesky, and if you expand it all the way down to Hackbridge at dusk then maybe Mike would be more convinced it really was worth the effort. Thu 27: Started the day thinking we might go and see a 7th century church on the Dengie Peninsula but actually ended up meeting Hodge, Southwark Cathedral's resident cat.
Fri 28: I was shocked to see a box of Creme Eggs on sale at my local newsagent, given it's still November. I didn't dare ask how much they cost. They also had a box of new Cadbury's Biscoff chocolate eggs (the same size but filled with crunchy Lotus biscuit pieces & Biscoff spread). Sat 29: I went to the cinema tonight, and I might start going more often because nobody scanned our QR code tickets, we just walked in. I was also appalled that 'popcorn and a drink' now costs 50% more than seeing the film.
Sun 30: Don't worry, I've stopped my Christmas Countdown at the end of November, but rest assured I could have carried on for another 24 days. Answers to the puzzles were as follows...
Tuesday: The missing word was XMAS (ensuring every letter of the alphabet appeared at least once). Wednesday: There were a lot of possible solutions, including 418 + 5907 = 6325 and 935 + 1806 = 2741. Thursday: Victoria, Euston, Barking, Aldgate and Stockwell end in ANGEL (itself a Christmassy station). Friday: 9 first class stamps (£15.30) and 10 second class stamps (£8.70). Saturday: All the consonant-less carols are now in the comments box. Sunday: For the four Advent-Calendar-splitting solutions, click here.
