Sun 1: I have bought an air fryer. I am still getting used to how long it takes too cook things, trying to find the balance between undercooking the chicken breast and shrivelling the oven chips to a crisp. Mon 2: Vegetable of the day.
Tue 3: Scaffolding has goneup outside Bromley-by-Bow station, suggesting TfL are finally getting round to repairing the glass roundel smashed over two years ago. [n.b. as of 2nd April, no further action] Wed 4: Took BestMate on the Brockley Three Peaks walk and unexpectedly hit the emotional jackpot ("ooh this is where I was christened..." "they never had artisan cheese shops here in my day..." "hang on, this is where my grandparents are buried...") Thu 5: The reason why the quiz Counterpoint no longer has a studio audience was explained on Radio 4's Feedback. It's because "Counterpoint is recorded with all the contestants in the studio for production flexibility." It is now, anyway. Fri 6: There's a new tube station guessing game in town - Mind The Map. It names a station and you have to click in the right place on a geographical map, up to 272 times. It took ages but I managed to get to the top of the leader board before six other people overtook, generally thwarted by how long it takes to scroll the map, not my tube knowledge. Sat 7: I was very nearly thrown down the stairs on the number 32 bus because the driver braked unexpectedly, and thankfully I was holding on tightly enough but that could have been life-wrecking.
Sun 8: This month's dubious car numberplate is OH 61RTH (on a Mercedes in Seven Kings). This month's impressive numberplate is THE 60S (on a mini in Hyde Park). Mon 9: I wasn't expecting my air fryer would keep setting off the smoke alarm (for no readily obvious reason). Tue 10: My Christmas-gift hyacinth is now shrivelling and I'm wondering, can I keep the bulb for next year, could I plant it in a pot outdoors or was it a one-off and I should just bin it? Wed 11: I received my TfL renewal email saying "You've now had your 60+ London Oyster photocard for a year". It confirmed that to continue using it I had to provide proof of a London address and pay a £18 address check fee. I tried, but the website refused to let me pay claiming the address on my payment card didn't match the address on my TfL account. I tried over 10 times, and the helpful bloke on the helpline tried two more, but no luck. In the end I had to wait 10 days for a letter to arrive and take it to the Post Office. Thu 12: I counted how many times Angela Scanlon looked down at her iPad during tonight's post-Apprentice recording of Unfinished Business and it was 51. This is one reason why visualised podcasts make dreadful TV. (Another is limp forced bonhomie, and maybe just kill the show off)
Fri 13: It feels like bad form to decorate the new electric charging station on Edgware Road with giant petrol pumps. Sat 14: I'm not usually a fan of What 3 Words, but I do like that Pine Walk Allotments in Bromley display their location on the gates as ///bought.dream.fork. Sun 15: In Bethnal Green a tall white truck attempted to drive under a railway viaduct, perhaps not realising that 11'6" only applied to the centre of the arch. I watched as fine particles showered from the brickwork, then more open-mouthed as the driver ignored the noise, ploughed on and ended up getting lodged under the bridge. There are so many scrape-lines in the ceiling that I guess this is a fairly regular occurrence. Mon 16: On the R8 to Biggin Hill, along some ridiculously narrow lanes, oncoming traffic is generally expected to manoeuvre out of the way of the bus. But our driver was almost scuppered by meeting the Bromley dustcart coming the other way. Fortunately we'd just reached the first decent passing place, otherwise a public-service stand-off could have ensued and we might still be stuck there.
Tue 17: The platforms at Berrylands are seriously shonky, skewwhiff and worryingly insubstantial, so I'm not surprised the station will be closing for four months from 11th May for a complete replacement. Wed 18: Today I blogged about my failed interview 40 years ago, and belated congratulations to the (just) one reader who correctly guessed in the comments who/what it was for. If you'd left an email address I'd have congratulated you directly. Thu 19: Hello to the woman who walked off a train a Baker Street without looking and hit me in the leg with her fold-up bicycle. Ouch. I may however have exaggerated my limp as I hobbled off. Fri 20: I enjoyed three hours of Comic Relief, or at least enough of it to make watching worthwhile. But I was amazed its viewing figures were only 2m this year, accelerating a longstanding downward trend (2025 2.6m, 2024 3.7m, 2023 2.9m, 2022 3.5m, 2021 4.5m, 2019 5.8m, 2017 6.3m, 2015 8.4m, 2013 10.3m). Sat 21: After five years with my 'new' electric cooker I switched from using the front right hob to the back left hob. I presumed they were identical but blimey back left heats up so much quicker, and if I'd experimented previously I could have had years of quicker dinners.
Sun 22: I went for a farewell walk along Footpath 47 at Barking Riverside, all along the waterfront as far as the section they haven't strimmed to death yet. It'll never be quite so undeveloped again. Mon 23 Supermarket update: The latest price shock is for a 500g pack of own-brand sultanas. Six months ago £1.05, start of the year £1.15, last week £1.29, this week £1.49. Tue 24: In the latest edition of Westcombe News, available in the SE3 area and online, I learned that the bee-specific count in Vanbrugh Pits is exceptionally high and that Sam Mendes has been filming for his quartet of Beatles movies outside 82 Beaconsfield Road. A cracking local focus. Wed 25: Back in January we mused on what might be the oldest year of establishment on the front of a London Tesco. I proposed it might be 'Bishopsgate Est 1988', today I spotted Whitton Est 1965', but the winner still appears to be 'Victoria Est 1960'.
Thu 26: Every year there's a 'leaf week' when trees collectively switch from bare branches to small green leaves and in 2026 I reckon this week is that week. It's definitely normally in April. Fri 27: London's longest business name may be Supermegahyperdupermarketmetroexpress, a tiny creative bazaar in a container outside North Acton station. Apparently it's only open on Fridays, but it wasn't. Sat 28: The latest daily word game I'm playing is Cadgy, where you try to make 20 words by picking one letter from each of five columns (and 40 words on Saturdays). Sun 29: The guest on Lev Parikian's Six Things podcast this month is Matt Brown from Londonist. His six things he really enjoys include Tube Station Smells, Parakeets, Wetherspoons Carpets, Wazzbaffles and... oooh, thanks Matt! Mon 30: If you use the Journey Planner at nationalrail.co.uk, it now opens your search in a new window and displays a list of local hotels, even if you're only going one stop from Hendon to Cricklewood. To avoid this abhorrent commercial hijack you have to untick the booking.com box before searching, and so much for a nationalised railway. Tue 31: Since 1st January I've ridden on 50% of London bus routes and been to 80% of tube stations, so I'm taking it slowly this year. Wed 1: No of course TfL aren't publishing new bus maps, the very idea of it. Check the date.
