Thu 1: A new coffee shop has opened just inside the gateline at Whitechapel station (or at least I assumed it was new because it didn't have a name displayed anywhere, whereas apparently it opened in June). It turns out they're called Yellow Ladder Coffee and their lattes cost 3.7 (unless you order them online where it seems they can do prices properly). Fri 2: The boundary stone between Herts and Middlesex on Bushey High Road is topped by a crusty bread roll (which I suspect may be temporary).
Sat 3: Tonight BBC4 repeated an edition of Noel's House Party from 1994, and it's amazing everyone used to watch this like it was the best show ever, but perhaps we forget how innovative its interactive elements (like NTV and Grab a Grand) were at the time. Sun 4: Dammit, I had to turn my lights on before 9pm for the first time since midsummer (and by the end of the month it'll be 8pm, sigh) Mon 5: In my alphabetical odyssey through classic authors at my local library, I was enlightened by VS Naipul's Booker-winning In A Free State, wished I hadn't bothered with Ben Okri and was astonished how Edgar Allan Poe managed to invent the modern detective story in the first half of the 19th century. The locked room mystery in The Murders In The Rue Morgue has a proper Jonathan Creek vibe, right down to the gobsmackingly unlikely simian reveal. Tue 6: The member of staff sat outside the Upside Down House at Lakeside shopping centre looked very very bored. Intriguingly admission to Lakeside's Upside Down House is £1 cheaper than an identical UDH in Bournemouth and £2 cheaper than Liverpool, Shepherd's Bush and Brighton, but £1.45 more expensive than the UDH in Clacton. There's market forces for you.
Wed 7: In Stoke Newington I stumbled across the Princess May Road Community Parklet, which is essentially a former parking space replaced by decking and a few planters. Originally it also had wooden benches and without them it feels less of a social focus (indeed the space might have been more useful as another cycle store). Thu 8: As part of Newham History Month (which is long finished) I spotted a self-guided walk called ‘A Mile of Memories: Life, Work and Leisure in Stratford’ which links Angel Lane to Sugar House Island and includes old photos and audio. Fri 9:Bluesky would be better if it wasn't awash with puritans repeatedly sermonising about the other place. Sat 10: If you ever visit the 13th century church of St Margaret The Queen in Buxted, East Sussex, not only does the chancel arch have semi-octagonal responds with a double-chamfered head but they also sell a very good range of jams and pickles.
Sun 11: Britain's Olympic medal performance has been deemed unsatisfactory because although we got tons of medals (the third highest total) we didn't get 'enough' golds so only came 7th overall, and some people are never happy but that's sport for you,, so much emphasis on winning that anything less is considered a disappointing failure. See also 'being the FA Cup runner up'. Mon 12: My savagely-pruned rosebush has produced two more deep ruby blooms, which is a nice surprise a couple of months after the first minor display. Tue 13: The official advice in Richmond Park is to stay at least 50m away from the deer at all times, but I suspect most people encountering antlered clusters have no idea precisely how far that is. I'm sure I got too close. Wed 14: I received an unusual email from a civil engineering company asking if I had any photos of the Croydon Canal in Betts Park during the installation of rock baskets, and I replied saying no obviously not, but then I checked and amazingly I had four photos taken during the right few weeks in 2017 and it turned out these were exactly what they wanted.
Thu 15: I thought I spotted Amol Rajan on the Piccadilly line heading home from the Today studio, but he got off at the wrong stop and his watch wasn't expensive enough and he didn't have an earring and it turned out it was Justin Webb and Emma Barnett on duty this morning anyway. Fri 16: I've enjoyed reading Walking the Bones of Britain by Christopher Somerville, a highly descriptive account of a twisty walk from the (very old) Isle of Lewis to the (very young) Thames Estuary focusing throughout on the influence of the underlying geology. Sat 17: My quiet carriage on the train to Havant was invaded at East Croydon by a bunch of boisterous middle-aged Luton fans, all effin and jeffin and base chatter. When they displayed a total inability to work out if they were in the right half of the train I snapped back condescendingly, which surprised me and peeved them, but they were at least a bit quieter after that. By a terrible coincidence they'd booked the same train home so I very nearly ran into them again at the station but sensibly dodged into another carriage, leaving them to empty an entire multipack of Stella and several packets of Wotsits. Instead I found myself sitting beside some of their shaven-headed Luton mates, who proceeded to slag the bastards off and I felt much better after that.
Sun 18: Manchester-based Mill Media have joined forces with a south London substack called The Wimble to create a weekly newsletter for residents of SW19 or thereabouts. It's all put together by a journalist called Zak, and it's a bit like hyperlocal blogging used to be but in a smarter typeface and emailable. Mon 19: FFS there is nothing special about a 'blue supermoon', it looks no different to an ordinary supermoon, which isn't especially rare and exciting either, especially when if you'd bothered to check the weather forecast there was no chance of anyone seeing it anyway. Tue 20:Posters at c2c stations are advertising "London to Southend by train for £9.20", which sounds great but if you read the small print that's from West Ham, not from Fenchurch Street (and if you want to come back again it's £18.40). Wed 21: In Mostyn Gardens NW10 is a fibreglass bear looking up at a cockerel on a pole, which is a mighty strange thing to find on an ordinary suburban pavement. I think it's part of Brent's pandemic-aborted year as Borough of Culture.
Thu 22: If you remember that old tumbledown warehouse on the Grand Union towpath in Brentford (part of Capital Ring section 7) alas it's been demolished and a slew of new housing is encroaching outwards from the bus depot. Apparently phase 3 of the development will includes the sanitised struts of the warehouse, pretentiously elevated. Fri 23: Sheila, who's been working for Tesco since 1983, is retiring next month, so I made a special point of thanking her at the checkout, which I doubt they'll bother opening early on a Friday any more after she's gone. Sat 24: St Swithin's Day was exceptionally wet this year, but 40 days later my annual folklore check confirms that only 14 of the subsequent days were wet, so dead 9th century bishops know nothing. Sun 25: While I was at Theobalds Grove I diverted up to Cheshunt to see my grandparents, both of whom have spent the best part of 50 years in a leafy corner of the cemetery watched over by an Enfield Highway Cooperative Society headstone. The plot beside them is still empty but umpteen other grandparents have slowly encroached, including one whose epitaph is all lower case and references egg sandwiches and "milkey tea". Mon 26: I do not recommend spending your Bank Holiday Monday in Poyle (especially when the next is 25 weeks away). However on the way back I did get this rather nice photo of Hounslow West, one of only two seven-sided tube stations.
Tue 27: In the latest edition of the South East Walker I read... "At their last meeting TfL's Leisure Walking Plan Delivery Group committed to the creation of two more walking routes by the end of 2027, adding to the Green Link Walk unveiled in March. One of these will be the Forgotten Rivers Walk that is planned to run from the London Loop at Borehamwood down to Blackfriars. This journey will take in the Silk Stream at Burnt Oak, the Dollis Brook in Barnet and the hidden River Fleet rising on Hampstead Heath." The second route (which is still to be finally decided) will include parts of south London and may follow alongside less well-known rivers like the Quaggy. Wed 28: The Lioness line sign at Kensal Green has indeed been covered over by another vinyl, because the official unveiling isn't for four more weeks, but I see someone naughty's already started peeling off one corner. Thu 29: Sometimes you get an email that utterly unexpectedly realises a dream, thanks. Fri 30: Sometimes you get a text message that reminds you of the unpredictable fragility of life, dammit. Sat 31: A new coffee shop/juice bar called Posted opened a few months ago in the former betting shop on Stroudley Walk. I'm glad they finally cleared the pigeons out. It's quite smart for this end of E3, but in a cool rather than pretentious way. I've never seen it busy until this week when a flock of e-bike delivery riders descended and hung out. I tell you all this because today I held a gate open for a random woman on the street and afterwards she urged me to go to Posted and to tell everyone about it. I have done one of these things.
