please empty your brain below
If relevant, please start your comment with a number from 1 to 28.

(questions will not be answered)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.03.21 - 12:00 a.m. | #

9) my experience is that Royal Mail been alright, post-Christmas post meltdown - most of my mail has been arriving in the day or two that you'd expect.

23) and people wonder why councils are introducing measures to reduce though traffic on residential roads

27) what a rare treat (and a great photo)

28) if you're including the tube, for me it's 220 days / 124 and counting. I suspect I'll not beat my previous record.

martin | 01.03.21 - 5:53 a.m. | #

9) Thanks for reminding me to kick ass today, probably Royal Mail not the distributors as I have yet to receive my copy of the Radio Times for this week.

J. | 01.03.21 - 7:19 a.m. | #

25. 25-minute queue for my jab on Saturday morning. A neighbour whose appointment was at lunchtime said he queued for 70 minutes. Being in close (well, 2m) proximity to two strangers for over an hour is not good.

28. Now 199 days for me - and 370 days since I've been on a bus, main line train or tube.

timbo | 01.03.21 - 7:37 a.m. | #

2 + 22 - and so we move closer to the day that the word hanami enters common usage.
23 - to me Maryland still means cookies or a US state, rather than London. I will rectify this by exploration when permitted.

Frank F | 01.03.21 - 7:45 a.m. | #

2) Hmmm. The chap from the National Trust promoting this scheme on radio 4 sold it as bringing green to grey natureless neighbourhoods.

Dan | 01.03.21 - 7:47 a.m. | #

28) I haven't been on the tube for nearly a year (last time used March 12th), which is hard to believe for this Londoner. The 3 train journeys I have taken during this pandemic (when allowed) were to Liverpool St solely to walk around the quiet city, each time feeling like an escape.

Jayne | 01.03.21 - 7:53 a.m. | #

5) At least in Battersea the Standard is being delivered door to door in the residential streets, presumably to maintain readership and keep up the advertising sales. Quite appreciate it actually. It's been a tough time to be a free commuter newspaper.

David | Homepage | 01.03.21 - 7:53 a.m. | #

28) 89 days since I last went on public transport. That day I managed to go on the tube, train AND bus

25) As people have to choose to select the ExCel for their vaccine, if not called by their GP etc, it will only get busy when GP practices aren't able to cope with priority groups and younger people. I had mine yesterday at my GP practice - in and out in 10 minutes - so a happy Feb 28th memory!

Mikey C | 01.03.21 - 8:12 a.m. | #

6. I know you have a birthday next week,DG,but I didn't think you were that old! Still,it gave me a chuckle with my tea this morning,always welcome on these grey miserable days!

Jo W | 01.03.21 - 8:35 a.m. | #

25. I had my vaccination on Friday at Excel. Most of the queuing is done inside. I arrived at 11am and was on my way out at 12.01. Only half the stations for vaccinations were in use and only a small part of the queuing space was needed while I was there. They are obviously expecting to be vaccination greater numbers of people in the coming weeks.

Paul Draper | 01.03.21 - 8:38 a.m. | #

5. I had the Standard delivered through my letterbox a couple of times. I have no idea if Metro still exists in paper form.

10. I have been treating myself to old episodes of Harry Hill's TV Burb and lifetime's worth of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue on Youtube.

11. I always think I'd disappear without trace if I fell into a canal and always forget how unfeasibly shallow they actually are.

14. My last valentines card was about 12 years ago with a picture of Stone Henge with my then mate retrospectively asking if I'd fall for someone as ancient as him.

24. It's a year and 2 weeks since I last went in a car, and about the same for buses.

NickW | 01.03.21 - 8:38 a.m. | #

23) reminds me of a colleague who remarked (after kids had tried to ram-raid our building again to nick computers) that ram-raiders mustn't half nick a lot, otherwise it wouldn't be worth it given the damage they were doing to their car...

mark addy | 01.03.21 - 8:46 a.m. | #

5. I don’t like to tell the guy who delivers a Standard every day that he would save me some trouble if he put it direct into the recycling bin.

Bryn Davies | 01.03.21 - 8:55 a.m. | #

23) - I cycle past that house most days when I drop my son at nursery. I assumed the tape and road closures that morning were Low Traffic Neighbourhood related... then spotted the car, still embedded in the side of the house...

Steve Q | Homepage | 01.03.21 - 9:00 a.m. | #

15+19) Spoiler: Unblogged March will kick off with two kingfishers.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.03.21 - 9:25 a.m. | #

8: So many firms now make us search for things on the internet ourselves. Putting an obvious link on the front page is too much effort for them apparently.

11: The canal bed might originally have been flatter, a lack of dredging and the effect of passing boats generally towards the middle resulting in the profile you now see. The Heras fencing along the edge is amusing; falling into an empty canal will be deemed more dangerous than when it's empty as there's nothing to cushion your fall.

13: That man had probably been there asking the same question of everyone who passed for the last week in the hope of eventually meeting DG.

Andrew S | 01.03.21 - 9:45 a.m. | #

25. Paul Draper and DG

Better to go to the Francis Crick Institute rather than the Excel Centre. You still have to queue for an hour but most of it is outside and socially distanced. Probably not as pleasant but safer.

Pedantic of Purley | 01.03.21 - 10:15 a.m. | #

25. Well, why wouldn't I go to Excel when it's a 45 minute walk from me? To get to the Frances Crick Institute I would have had to use public transport so negating any presumed safety advantages. The queues at Excel were orderly and socially distanced, with everyone masked of course, and the halls there are so large and well ventilated that it was hardly like being indoors.

Paul Draper | 01.03.21 - 10:41 a.m. | #

3 - I'll happily pay above the usual for good bread and ingredients, but holy moly £6.50 for a bacon sarnie? Or maybe it's just that Leather Lane and Berwick St are cheap(er) for such things.

Chz | 01.03.21 - 10:43 a.m. | #

5) Paper Metros are still available on buses

Cornish Monkey | 01.03.21 - 10:46 a.m. | #

23 - Since Covid I've noticed a lot more speeding vehicles, especially late at night when cycling home from work.

25 - I don't understand all the need for queuing, especially if you've booked an appointment. Mine was booked (online following a link from my GP surgery) for a set time; I turned up 5 minutes prior and was whisked through with minimal waiting.

Tim | 01.03.21 - 11:06 a.m. | #

17. The bus stops with the words ‘BUS STOP’ across the roundel bar are actually the newer ones. They originally had a black bar lettered in white from the 1930s, then changed to an unlettered all-red roundel, with the words BUS STOP below in black, around 1980. The reversion to a lettered bar (albeit a red one) was supposedly brought about by Leon Daniels.

Kim | 01.03.21 - 11:12 a.m. | #

28) I last used any form of public transport on 6th June 2020.#DoingMYBit

Andrew Jarman | 01.03.21 - 11:14 a.m. | #

2 & 22: Lovely

11: Canal with water - they assume you won't go in.
Canal without water - they assume you will!

14: I'm married and it must be that long since we last exchanged Valentines cards too!

27: Stunning

Cornish Cockney | 01.03.21 - 11:19 a.m. | #

13 - large guffaw here at this one.

R2 | 01.03.21 - 11:58 a.m. | #

1 - we should appreciate these updates while we can, TfL must be looking to cut costs even harder as we approach a year of pandemic-level travel.

4 - I was a little peeved that National Trust made no effort to extend membership when the pandemic significantly reduced the worth of my annual subscription. Not so much as an apology email received. I decided not to resubscribe while travel is so uncertain, and may not renew even when we can travel again.

7 - I miss the Barbican

16 - hilarious use of quotation marks on their website: Lady Click Services, we are the "Actual" team that are genuinely interested in training

TomH | 01.03.21 - 12:11 p.m. | #

27. Thanks to a previous post, I didthis very interesting and not obvious walk, Canada Water circular. I am grateful for the tip and recommend it to all.

international reader | 01.03.21 - 12:23 p.m. | #

3) the queue for the bread float is not a downside of incomplete gentrification - the same bakery serves Angel and Highbury. Modern people actually think it’s quaintly retro to queue 40 minutes for (admittedly good) bread.

snurk | 01.03.21 - 1:56 p.m. | #

15 - following yet another fruitless walk along our lovely local chalk stream, my kingfisher envy continues to grow.

Frank F | 01.03.21 - 2:24 p.m. | #

11 - Never realised how shallow the grand union canal is. I presume the other ones such as the Regents Canal are similar.

PVR | 01.03.21 - 3:12 p.m. | #

27. It's a Prince Charles Magic Mirror: the reflections of Ontario Point, the Shard and the Walkie Talkie have all been airbrushed out.

Gerry | 01.03.21 - 3:56 p.m. | #

25. Robert Elms had his at Crick Institute and enjoyed the experience very much

Johnny Campbell | 01.03.21 - 5:33 p.m. | #

25. "Where did you go for your vaccination?" is going to be the new "Where did you go on holiday this year?" ...I fear accompanied by a subtext of 'my jab experience was better than your jab experience'.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.03.21 - 5:37 p.m. | #

14 -- are Valentines cards by any chance the Mystery Count??

James Webber | 01.03.21 - 6:51 p.m. | #

11) I knew about the canal because I watched a youtube video by some local mudlarks. Strange what we enjoy watching when we can't go anywhere.

ileen | 01.03.21 - 10:05 p.m. | #

21: Good for her! :)

RG | 01.03.21 - 11:34 p.m. | #

Days which have not inspired comment:
12 18 20 26

(but the vast majority have, cheers!)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.03.21 - 11:59 p.m. | #

12, 26: These two illustrate the unpredictability of Spring pretty well. What you feel can be vastly different from what your thermometer tells you to expect.

Patrickov | 02.03.21 - 1:19 a.m. | #

20: I haven't looked into the plans in great detail to see what is staying and what is going, but I expect Ivy's cafe won't survive, which would be a shame - one of the few places still serving faggots, saveloys and pease pudding (if that's your cup of tea!).

James Matcham | 02.03.21 - 10:39 a.m. | #

20. Also on the subject of redevelopment a load of information has been displayed in the window of the former police station in the carpenters Estate in the last couple of weeks showing what I assume to be the revised plans, worth a dander over for a read.

Sooz | 02.03.21 - 10:22 p.m. | #

18. For the sake of completeness ..... we also noticed this riverside promenade whilst waiting for the Ferry after a recent lockdown walk through the Woolwich foot tunnel.

H SE18 | 03.03.21 - 9:34 a.m. | #

22. There was a piece on the London TV news, this morning (24/05/2021), about the planting of a new group of trees in the QEOP, in commemoration of the suffering caused by Covid-19.
There are apparently 33 of them, to represent each of London's boroughs. Sadiq Khan was at the planting, which seems to have been a low key ceremony

dg writes: I’m standing there at the moment. All the chairs are laid out, but nobody’s turned up to open it yet.

RogerW | 24.05.21 - 9:34 a.m. | #











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