Tuesday, August 04, 2020
August on diamond geezer is traditionally Local History Month. I sometimes interpret the title somewhat broadly, but generally the idea is to come up with an all-consuming safari, researched in slightly excessive detail, and then impose this on you as the month progresses. Here's what LHM has involved thus far...
» August 2003: Where I live (famous places within 15 minutes of my house)
» August 2004: Piccadilly (a walk down Mayfair's most famous street)
» August 2005: the River Fleet (tracking the subterranean river) [photos]
» August 2006: Betjeman's Metro-land (Baker Street to Verney Junction) [photos]
» August 2007: Walk London (following bits of London's six strategic walks) [photos]
» August 2008: High Street 2012 (the Olympic highway from Aldgate to Stratford) [photos]
» August 2009: Walking the Lea Valley (50 miles from Luton to Leamouth) [photos]
» August 2010: Not-London 2012 (Exploring Olympic venues outside the capital) [photos]
» July/August 2012: The Olympic Games (at the end of my street) (obviously) [photos]
» September 2013: Walking the New River (a 400th birthday stroll) [photos]
» August 2014: London Borough Tops (the highest point in 33 boroughs) [photos]
» August 2015: Round Tower (a walk round the edge of Tower Hamlets) [photos]
» August 2018: 51½°N (crossing London on a line of latitude) [photos]
» August 2019: Ten false starts (a clutch of single-post series)
But I don't always indulge, I took 2011, 2016 and 2017 off, and I'm minded to do the same again this year. I've been focusing on my immediate local area for the last four months, courtesy of the current 'situation', so the last thing you need is another month drilling down in finer detail. I also shouldn't be constraining my horizons now that non-essential travel is permissible, not that I'm currently planning on taking advantage but I don't need another self-imposed limiting factor.
The bicentenary of the Regent's Canal could have been the perfect excuse for a blow by blow walk along its towpath, except I did that in 2005 and have kept returning to it ever since. The 150th anniversary of the Victoria Embankment would be another repeat, and the 50th anniversary of the Westway alas isn't local enough. Other interesting historic routes are readily available, but better suited to a single week than a full-on month.
I do have a couple of excellent ideas for potential LHM themes, but now is not the time. One involves travel across East London but relies on interesting places being open, which they're currently not. The other would be so relentlessly local it'd have you switching off in droves, so I'll save that in case lockdown gets more severe in the winter months and I'm desperate for content.
Rest assured that if a great idea does crop up I'll leap on it, but for now best assume August 2020 will be historically local enough.
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