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 | 02.03.26 - 12:00 a.m. | #

12) Yes
24 and 25) I presume that is the Bosch Air Fryer then. I picked mine up on Thursday and found the skewers and grill set were missing. It was impossible to contact Argos by any sensible means. Phoned Bosch and a lovely helpful lady told me they were extras (despite them being referenced multiple times in the instructions and no mention of this). It seems you don't need them anyway. You lost out on a bargain but saved having a frustrating time trying to work out exactly what you had bought.

Pedantic of Purley | 02.03.26 - 7:40 a.m. | #

12. Perhaps it is a special typeface called Train Alphabet.
23. I bought a three year one, so will have to wait till 2028 to see if a reminder turns up.
26. I see no apostrophe on that fascia.

Man of Kent | 02.03.26 - 7:42 a.m. | #

18) a) Long-term closure of that part of Amhurst Rd preceded the reopening with new traffic filter, so new routes have already been learnt.
b) Seeing it was reopened, drove along it last Friday. Hoping they're still at the 'warning letter' stage...

dg zooms in:

Gordon | 02.03.26 - 7:47 a.m. | #

12. Like you can’t imagine. But I think the tide is against us. Logic suggests: bus station so train station. But no, just no.

David B | 02.03.26 - 7:55 a.m. | #

17. Busatlas looks great but a random dip in on the area where I once lived found a route on the map that no longer runs to most of the destinations indicated. Great idea but such resources are worse than useless if not kept up to date.

dg quotes: 'Bus routes are constantly changing, much more than when this project was conceived in 2019. Each map is a record of the bus routes as at the date shown at the bottom of the map. New fully-updated versions are being uploaded when time permits.'

David B | 02.03.26 - 8:00 a.m. | #

Mon 2nd : Last time I walked the river Crane past the factory site, they were building the village having demolished most of the factory, but the smell of coffee was strong in the air. I wonder if the smell is still there.

SimonP | 02.03.26 - 8:06 a.m. | #

1. You saw it - it looks you you may have said it, but I do wonder if it was sorted.

NickW | 02.03.26 - 8:25 a.m. | #

9 don't bank on it most cars in supermarket car parks ignore directional arrows and speed over pedestrian crossings. Its as if they consider the rules of the road do not apply

12 yes [Facebook moaning post]

peewit | 02.03.26 - 8:32 a.m. | #

3: The Enfield Dispatch and the rest are dreadfully right-leaning attack platforms so anything on them should be taken with a pinch of salt.

10: Same, same - especially annoying as I pay for my Pro mambership with a debit card - which is one of the ways to verify age for some sites.

13. ... and you've just reminded me I'll be 81 (if I'm still here) the next time it happens. And you think your Senior Railcard reminder makes one feel old...

Steve | 02.03.26 - 8:36 a.m. | #

06) Love a Wimpy quarter pounder with cheese. Return to Watney Market for one most times I am in London. Far superior to the two leading brands widely available in my opinion.

scrumpy | 02.03.26 - 8:45 a.m. | #

12) Yes
17) Excellent! Ideal for planning a Berwick on Tweed - Lands End bus pass jaunt. Thanks for that.

Mr Peloton | 02.03.26 - 8:49 a.m. | #

10) Interesting. They've not asked me to verify my age. However, I'm not a Pro User so they probably don't know I'm in the UK.

Agent X | 02.03.26 - 8:59 a.m. | #

1 - what's the staff member supposed to do, do you hold the doors open whilst you alert the staff member, or press the emergency stop and delay the whole service.

5 - but ghosts would be more interesting.

6 - do you think it contains Sarson's vinegar.

9 - its still a good idea to look.

10 - also many of the age verification services are based in the USA and aren't covered by the GDPR, sadly we have joined China in the need to get a VPN to avoid government restrictions.

27 - too many Tories have defected to a party called Reform.

Still Anon | 02.03.26 - 9:22 a.m. | #

12. Yes, it does.

26. In previous series, each week the winning team got some sort of treat. Now they are just sent back to the house without any reward. Why?

Alan S | 02.03.26 - 9:22 a.m. | #

No.8 Maybe the 467 in Ewell village? Geese and swans crossing the end of Chessington Road between the Horse Pond and the Upper Mill Pond. Sometimes ducks join in with females being chased by a group of males.

No.12 Yes.

Mike | 02.03.26 - 9:29 a.m. | #

17 - That's really useful, thanks for this!

WoodfordWanderer | 02.03.26 - 9:47 a.m. | #

2) Used to work in Hayes and got off at Hayes and Harlington. Haven't been back since 2007 so just took a half hour trip down memory lane.
9) 16 years too late for me after that cyclist bundled into me crossing there.

QuentinX | 02.03.26 - 10:03 a.m. | #

12) "Train station" does not bother me one bit - sorry!

Daniel C | 02.03.26 - 10:04 a.m. | #

6) Did we know that dg doesn't like eggs?

MikeK | 02.03.26 - 10:13 a.m. | #

12) Yes

kev | 02.03.26 - 10:18 a.m. | #

24 & 25 - We were gifted an air fryer xmas 2024... it's brand new, still boxed & unused... it's yours for free if you want it? 🤔

Kevin Too | 02.03.26 - 10:27 a.m. | #

3. I find the Barnet Post fine, it's not a "right-leaning attack platform"

12. I find it a bit annoying too, and somewhat non standard. Weird though that I hadn't noticed that before (I last used Potters Bar a couple of weeks ago)

16. With the big delays to the 2024 tube stock as well, and the hopelessly slow 1992 CLIP programme, things aren't going well at TfL.

Mikey C | 02.03.26 - 10:41 a.m. | #

19. True, but The Only Way Is Essex was partly filmed in Gants Hill.

James Matcham | 02.03.26 - 10:50 a.m. | #

4. As I lived near by in the early to mid 70s, my friends and I used to play on the big pile of rubble and waste that the Branch Hill estate building work created.

As I remember, it was further down the hill adjoining the remains of a large semi-detached house.

As it was the height of the Cold War, the games were based around us few kids surviving after a global thermonuclear war.

Alex4D | 02.03.26 - 11:01 a.m. | #

8. Where I live there is a pair of Egyptian Geese which regularly hold up two bus routes. Technically not geese I suppose.

Tom | 02.03.26 - 11:10 a.m. | #

12. Yes, particularly as some railway stations have trams or at least the potential to. Wimbledon immediately springs to mind.

daveid76 | 02.03.26 - 11:29 a.m. | #

20. Never risk a Nobody

Stephen H | 02.03.26 - 11:44 a.m. | #

4 Spedan? That name is part of the history of the John Lewis partnership (a middle name of a key Lewis), I wonder what the connection is to this estate?

24 If you have a combination microwave with a convection oven feature, then you nearly have an air fryer already, just buy a inexpensive round mesh basket (or basket stack) and tray off eBay or similar and save the counter space (tested in my Panasonic mid size combi, I can recommend that brand). Slightly higher electric consumption but not by much. Metal kebab skewer rack (horizon or vertical) also works well, including sausages. Might also work if the combi just has the grill but temperature control will be more manual and need experimentation.

MilesT | 02.03.26 - 11:49 a.m. | #

23. You didn't go for the three year option and save a few pounds.
Don't forget to renew your 60+ pass.

mclm | 02.03.26 - 11:59 a.m. | #

1. : ( I would have immediately reported to 61016 so that potentially staff could be alerted that way, there's no way I'd find a staff member on the routes I travel. Plus they'll reply to you in real-time, so you're not alone.

6. As a former local, I find it sad that whilst Wimpy's has survived in Watney Market, Percy Ingle didn't. I still dream of their chocolate flake gateaux and butter-icing fairy cakes.
As for liking eggs, I could be wrong but don't believe we knew, clearly we have been bamboozled by all the mentions of crème eggs over the decades. Knowing this makes me look at DG in a whole new light which is a minor miracle after reading for decades!

20. Not the theatre itself but Clacton was and is a popular destination for daytrips for school and community groups from Tower Hamlets, I was one of these groups back in the 80s. Golden sand after years of the pebbles/shingle of Southend, Chalkwell and Shoeburyness was an eye-opener as a child.

21. 4 years? No way, seems like only a couple of years ago since reading your post about its imminent closure.

24. What are chances a reader can pinpoint which one you most likely opted for?! Only on this blog.

26. I noticed the lack of treat too, along with the change to a visualised podcast-style for the You've Been Fired after show, I'm thinking they've tightened their purse strings. I didn't think I'd miss You've Been Fired but I really do.

anon (but ickyed) | 02.03.26 - 12:10 p.m. | #

7. Much as I like Streetmap, crowdfunding is not a sustainable long-term funding model. Google Ads and its competitors aren't even difficult to set up.
12. Almost no-one under 50 cares about "train station" or even uses "railway station".
28. Londonist seems to have returned to being a gem, after its more clickbaity period.

Youth | 02.03.26 - 12:50 p.m. | #

18) As a local resident to this new scheme (and maybe crucially: not a car owner), I'm a pretty big fan! Makes it much easier to get across to the shops

Felix | 02.03.26 - 1:04 p.m. | #

4. Connection Spedan/John Lewis clue here.
Also - immediately downnhill from Branch Hill Estate/Spedan Close is Oaktree House; it can be seen from the path to Redington Gardens. I lived there, it has been converted into flats by the council.

IR | 02.03.26 - 1:49 p.m. | #

3. Link to Haringey Community Press is broken and takes you to a gambling site, sorry. Correct link here

dg writes: fixed, sorry

Ted | 02.03.26 - 1:54 p.m. | #

4. The invented and inverted name "Spedan" = Ann Speed, the aunt who raised the orphaned John Lewis. Much later he lived at a house in Hampstead he called "Spedan Towers", which was bought by Camden council decades after his death and redeveloped into the estate. More here and here.

Andrew | 02.03.26 - 2:48 p.m. | #

8 Canada Geese regularly cross the road at Mitcham between the Three King's Pond and the part of the common called Three King's Piece. In winter there can be up to 40 strung out in a long line.

Alan JS | 02.03.26 - 3:06 p.m. | #

Also 25: hope you're ok. Your last 'bugger' was a health scare, I think?

Wendy C | 02.03.26 - 3:40 p.m. | #

17. This is tremendous, thank you. Coupled with Bustimes.org and Google as necessary to verify currency / find times, it helps to make public transport that bit easier to plan and navigate (other than my homeland West Yorkshire currently though doubtless that will be rectified in the very near future!). Also useful for Londoners at the periphery, particularly TfL rail extremities such as Reading for those of us with Freedom Passes. Hats off to the developer (and of course Ian Armstrong for London).

A map is worth a thousand words!

Strabismus | 02.03.26 - 4:22 p.m. | #

12. It annoys me too, but probably in a different way to you. "To the trains" would suffice on an entrance from the area containing the 'railway station' bus stops.
14. I've read and enjoyed all the others, but not Clown Town.
28. I've largely given up on Londonist but this is useful. Thanks.

Frank F | 02.03.26 - 6:40 p.m. | #

8) If the answer to the question is not the 380 then it is not the only route to be blocked occasionally by geese. They have learnt to use the zebra crossing on Blackheath by the Princess of Wales.

Chris | 02.03.26 - 7:04 p.m. | #

7. I don’t understand the love for Streetmap. What is better in Streetmap than in Google Maps or Organic Map ?

Luc | 02.03.26 - 7:55 p.m. | #

7. Streetmap's greatest benefit to me is its simplicity. No faffing around with accounts, logging in or downloading the map you want. It's all there and can be printed if necessary in seconds. For me, its urban street maps are clearer than anything else I've found online - Google maps are awful, the roads are so faint and I find it impossible to distinguish many roads from buildings. And on Streetmap you can enlarge 1:25,000 OS maps beyond their true scale - very helpful when trying to pinpoint somewhere in the countryside.

Alan S | 02.03.26 - 8:26 p.m. | #

23. After a number of annual renewals of my Senior Railcard I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for the discounted 3-year option this time
17. And now that my Freedom Pass has kicked in giving free travel on buses throughout England and Wales these maps are just what I need. Thankyou.

kewman | 02.03.26 - 10:04 p.m. | #

1. How about a gentle nudge and the comment "The garage door is open" and if the guy didn't twig, tell him quietly to adjust his trousers. No need for a song and dance about it.

J. | 02.03.26 - 10:25 p.m. | #

19th.

This number plate tells me so much more about the owner than I really need to know.

David | 02.03.26 - 10:38 p.m. | #

Days that haven't attracted comment:
11 15 22

(but the vast majority have, thanks)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.03.26 - 11:55 p.m. | #

10th

This came up on a photography forum I frequent. It seems if you pay by credit card you're accepted as over 18, but not if you pay by debit card.

MartinL | 03.03.26 - 1:11 a.m. | #

12: My complaint is that it looks like one set of doors is there to access Potters Bar and the other to access the station (be that train or railway).

Neil | 03.03.26 - 7:30 a.m. | #

12 - YES!

John U.K. | 03.03.26 - 10:20 a.m. | #

dg writes: editorial policy - every use of '@' for the last five years has been removed.

anon | 03.03.26 - 11:34 a.m. | #

12 - To reply to comments here, I believe that 'train station' is a Midlands (maybe West Midlands) thing. I grew up with 'train station.

Wendy C | 04.03.26 - 9:44 a.m. | #

18. "Hoping they're still at the 'warning letter' stage...". They are.
Thanks for the zoom, dg.

Gordon | 05.03.26 - 12:36 p.m. | #











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