Tue 1: The first struts of Pudding Mill Lane's new temporary theatre have been erected, opposite the station, on hardstanding unused since the Olympics. It's running several months behind schedule but is due to become a 25m-high hexagonal auditorium with seating for 1500, offering eight shows a week, at least until July 2024 when it all has to be taken down again.
Wed 2: Left London for the first time in nine months (even if it was less than a mile into Essex), at the end of my first paid-for bus ride in 15 months (aboard London's least frequent service). I'm merely nudging boundaries at this stage. Thu 3: Finally managed to log back into my Amazon account, after it got stroppy when I changed my email address last year, and thus confirmed that I haven't bought anything from them since October 2007. Fri 4: Dear lorry driver, thanks, but I would actually far prefer to let you pass and cross behind you than accept your kind offer to walk in front. Sat 5: The price of my Saturday newspaper has gone up, so it's now a pound more than 7 years ago and twice as much as 12 years ago. Still, at least they're still publishing a paper, which may not be the case in 12 years' time. Sun 6: Made a special visit to Southwark Bridge on its 100th birthday (or at least the 100th anniversary of the most recent span being opened by King George V and Queen Mary). No celebrations were evident and it was all a bit quiet.
Mon 7: Tried to explain to a dog owner in Victoria Park that it's not Dalmatians I don't like, it's large unpredictable dogs inadequately supervised by their owners. Tue 8: The heat means today is going to be my annual Singling-the-duvet Day, which if nothing else makes it easier to change the cover. Wed 9: Strode across Wanstead Flats listening to the Popmaster documentary on BBC Sounds, which was fascinating, but they never explained the really important thing which is why all the questions are worth a multiple of three points. Thu 10: Went to Argos to buy a bread bin, and it was so early in the morning I got to be customer 007. Fri 11: Up in Norfolk one of the first things I helped my Dad with was buying a new microwave, more specifically getting it off the shelf in the shop and carrying it to the car. It felt really odd unplugging the family's 20th century microwave, which my Mum would have used repeatedly, and dumping it unceremoniously on the floor of the garage. Sat 12: I was jolted to discover that my Dad's teabags are decaffeinated, so not technically teabags (and Yorkshire decaffeinated at that, which was a double whammy). Sun 13: I have really missed being in a house where you can watch the sun set (and, a few hours later, actually see the stars).
Mon 14: Another much-delayed task was sorting through the parental CD collection and extracting my Mum's selection of easy listening modern crooners. Many's the Christmas or birthday I'd have bought her the new Michael Ball album, Il Divo compilation or something from the latest group of good-looking tenors, and now here I was packing them all off to a charity shop. The very last such CD, however, I keep back at home... wrapped but never opened. Tue 15: On my last morning in Norfolk I heard, and then spotted, the silhouette of a Typhoon flying over the village. Beats going to an airshow. Wed 16: It's June weather tipping-point day. Before today 13 days over 24°C, after today none. Before today one fully overcast day, after today eight. Before today one wet day, after today well over a monthsworth of rainfall. Today is where summer vanishes. Thu 17: Thrilled to discover I'm mentioned several times in the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, specifically for 'cop' ("great if you like trees and shrubs but not much cop if you prefer flowers"), 'pop', 'a tough act to follow', 'billy-o', 'have your eye on' and 'and no mistake'. Fri 18: The McDonalds at the Bow Roundabout has reopened after its refurb and now has a special door for McDelivery moped drivers with an Argos-style collection display. Sometimes it's busier than the main walk-in section.
Sat 19: I managed to be walking past London City Airport's runway as a plane took off, which is shockingly infrequent these days, although the number of Saturday departures has recently doubled... to two. Sun 20: Walking down Bow Road a slightly bleary couple stopped and asked what day it was, and I said the 20th, and they said it's Saturday isn't it, and I said no Sunday, and they looked really quite surprised. Mon 21: So far I've spotted several hireable e-scooters parked outside Tower Hamlets stations but as yet none on the roads. At Island Gardens one Lime scooter had been parked outside the official zone, so the geofencing can't be that tight. Tue 22: There are lots of cut-out Moomins across the Walthamstow Wetlands as part of a summer-long thing called
The Woman Who Fell In Love With An Island, a celebration of Tove Jansson. I didn't visit the upstairs exhibition or collect a trail leaflet because I didn't know about those at the time, plus all the free tickets appear to have 'sold out', but I did find a Moomin up a ladder at the top of the Coppermill Tower.
Wed 23: Among the many delights of Crews Hill are the showroom of the Fake Grass Company, London's highest concentration of greenhouses, the Enfield Bird Centre, a long row of ten different styles of hot tub chalet, Jane's Woolworks, a specialist reptile shed, Marble Fantasy, a bank of Amazon lockers plonked immediately outside the station and an oversized rooster. Thu 24: For the last eight months I've had some unfinished building work at home, and today the contractor finally came back. He promised to arrive between 8 and 9 but then turned up at 7.15, the bastard. He'd said the work would take two days but it only took four hours. And he mismeasured something last year so the door he brought didn't fit so he's got to come back again later. My money's on 2022. Fri 25: Walking down the Greenway at 7pm I was awed by a large white cloud bubbling up, actually growing visibly while I watched it, somewhere to the east. This turned out to be the 'explosive convection' which led to the Barkingtornado that touched down near Hulse Avenue, so I wish I'd taken a photo. Sat 26: The soles of my trusty Reeboks have very nearly fallen apart, which perhaps isn't surprising given I've walked at least 2000 miles in them since last summer, but none of my other trainers are quite so kind to my feet so I shall sorely miss wearing them.
Sun 27: There's some serious filming going on down Cornhill today, with a swarm of crew, a ton of equipment and some really high value cars parked outside the Royal Exchange. The black cabs have green headlights and all the cars have numberplates with dotty patterns, not letters and numbers, so I suspect this'll be some sci-fi/superhero caper. If you spot this taxi on Netflix or the big screen in the future, do come back and tell me what it was all for. Mon 28: Most appearances in The Archers so far this year - Alice, Kirsty, Brian, Chris and Jazzer. No appearances this year - Pat, Jill, Jolene, Debbie and Hannah. Tue 29: Spent a couple of hours rearranging boxes of stuff, now the builder's gone, most of which time was spent getting nostalgic about their contents. Chucked away several old Christmas cards (but not the first one my nephew scribbled or the last one my favourite English teacher sent). Wed 30: I finally went upstairs to talk to my neighbours about the noise they keep making, and we kept it polite, and I now know what they're doing to cause it and they now know how frustratingly annoying it sounds, but it remains to be seen whether they tone it down.
