please empty your brain below
If relevant, please start your comment with a number from 1 to 31.

(questions will not be answered)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.11.21 - 12:00 a.m. | #

20. I was describing to my son only recently the personalised route instructions that the AA would create for its members. If I recall correctly, you had to send off for them by post well in advance of your intended trip.

Nigel | 01.11.21 - 7:23 a.m. | #

23. I well remember the first time I came across Comic Con on an unrelated DLR journey. They make a huge effort and take it all very seriously. Brightened my day.

scrumpy | 01.11.21 - 7:29 a.m. | #

10. Yes Ian did indeed write about this. But I don't like his use of English, punctuation and grammar. Not to mention Ads by Google. I would rather read what you write.

dg writes: Bad luck.

mizzry | 01.11.21 - 7:30 a.m. | #

12. I don't think the Tardis has a drainpipe running down the outside of it either.

Barry | 01.11.21 - 7:42 a.m. | #

26. Presumably this one is why you say no answers. Oops, that's a question too.

J. | 01.11.21 - 7:58 a.m. | #

4 - perhaps the landlord has to comply with some new rule about light fittings in bathrooms, and we need to make it safe for you, another bit of agency removed, a simple task is turned into a complicated one.

14 - there are quite a few random chance events that resulted in life on earth, humans look at it and think that there are TOO MANY of them, but if space really is infinate then there is no such thing as too many random events.

28 - the buses are earmarked for Walthamstow (W15?).

31 - OMG its the biggest threat EVER (since the last one).

Still Anon | 01.11.21 - 8:07 a.m. | #

19) Happy Easter to you too! Less than two months before they're back in the shops
26) probably easier to just say yes and move on in such a situation
28) for a while they had the ex-507/521s with very few seats, and for a while last year some double deckers to give the few passengers even more space. I wonder where they charge the current ones given how far their garage is.

martin | 01.11.21 - 8:11 a.m. | #

23. When my kids were younger (they are now all in their 20s) we used regularly to go down to Comic Con. Such a complete joy, even the character filled journey on the DLR. It always struck me that it was full of young people, who were probably bullied at school for being different, enjoying their moment in the sun. Such ingenuity and inventiveness in the costumes and props.

Joan | 01.11.21 - 8:16 a.m. | #

1. A very close relative of Ronan Point
5. What a tease! Not that i'll spend time trying to work it out.
23. I like how one spots participants in further flung places on the way or way back.
31. Now that I'm reconciled with ever higher shark jumping and kitchen sinks being thrown in by the skip load, I rather enjoyed it too. Mainly because the dog character looked endearingly like a person in a hired costume.

NickW | 01.11.21 - 8:22 a.m. | #

22. Same trick this morning with own brand choc ices. Last month £1 for 8. This month £1 for 6.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.11.21 - 8:45 a.m. | #

14. Thanks for the heads up. I will seek this out immediately.

daveid76 | 01.11.21 - 8:49 a.m. | #

27 Well, the Temple station roof is very colourful. I quite like it.

Leuconoe | 01.11.21 - 8:56 a.m. | #

23. Canning Town station can be quite entertaining when ComicCon coincides with Secret Cinema.

paul draper | 01.11.21 - 9:21 a.m. | #

Mon 4 -Apparently it's much safer than the old screw-in light, but I can no longer change the bulb without calling out an electrician.

A number of issues here. Does it actually contain a bulb or is it (more likely) a composite light complete with fitting that has a COB (chip on board) LED that will probably last longer than the surrounding case?

It no longer makes sense to refer to the 'bulb'.

Much better not to have people changing bulbs when practical - especially in bathrooms where changing it can often be awkward.

Personally, I don't know why we persist with separate 'bulbs' or lamps nowadays. If starting from scratch I don't think we would do this.

I had a floodlight put in at the top of our gable whilst scaffolding was present. The window cleaner went to great lengths to explain that it would be really difficult to replace the bulb. I tried to explain to him that the light would probably last as long has the house.

Pedantic of Purley | 01.11.21 - 9:39 a.m. | #

9 - Given how many "like-minded" people come here regularly, I'd enjoy an occasional Books Special - where you and your commentators could share interesting reading choices. Not in the Richard + Judy commercial sense of course.

14 - thanks, I will seek out and listen. A precedent already exists for the sharing interesting stuff (see comment above).

1 to 31 - I really look forward to these monthly summary posts. Thank you.

Frank F | 01.11.21 - 9:47 a.m. | #

22 I've noticed that some brands have 6 packs that are almost always 5 packs in some stores but 6 in others. To complicate things further, many savoury snack multipacks in our local pound shop now cost £1.25.

ap | 01.11.21 - 10:35 a.m. | #

9 - It's been great. Lots of new books to go at, some not that newly published but they came out when the libraries were shut. My local has also moved all the shelves round which sounds like a pain but it's meant I've stumbled on books I wouldn't have done otherwise

Anders | 01.11.21 - 10:40 a.m. | #

7. It’s a card in the post, not a telegram, these days. And someone has to be organised and ask for it, providing suitable documentary evidence, but in my experience worth it for those concerned.

miker | 01.11.21 - 10:50 a.m. | #

20. My father had similar instructions from the RAC when we drove from London to Zakopane in southern Poland in 1970. They took us across what was then Czechoslovakia, which was more a little depressing as it was just two years after the tanks had been in, and you could see where they'd been.

Chris P | 01.11.21 - 11:15 a.m. | #

9. I typically used to borrow around 50 books a year, although it was declining pre-Covid. Still haven't been back, even though my local library has been fully open for several months now. What's worse, is that I don't seem to be missing it at all.

Man of Kent | 01.11.21 - 11:49 a.m. | #

3. Grrr! Don't get me started on bottled water! What's wrong with dispensing from large urns filled with water from the tap? Worked fine for sports of all kinds for decades before bottled water became a thing.

5. Are you living on a prayer?

7. Did this for my parent's 60th a couple of months ago. Nice card, but totally overpriced frame to mount it in.

9. Glad my favourite authors spent their 2020 lockdown productively!!

13. Mmmmm! Brussels - best part of the Christmas Dinner!

17. Roll on nursery school!!

Cornish Cockney | 01.11.21 - 11:52 a.m. | #

22. This is a common ploy by food and sweet manufacturers to keep the headline price of the product the same, but reduce the quantity you get. A good example is the family size tub of Quality Street (and similar brands). It wasn't so long ago that the tub contained a full kilogram (1000g) of chocolates, but this was then reduced to 900g and these days is hovering somewhere around the 700g mark. Also, the container used to be a tin, but is now made of plastic.

Carllo | 01.11.21 - 12:39 p.m. | #

9. I only realised recently that many books are available from my local Library in electronic form. I have downloaded some to my computer, so I'm making use of the Library without going to it. I think I prefer to read a 'proper' book rather than a screen though.

JohnC | 01.11.21 - 1:12 p.m. | #

22. I've noticed quite a few multi-packs of crisps have gone from 6 down to 5 in a packet too. Not a welcome change!

Jon Combe | 01.11.21 - 1:24 p.m. | #

4. I fitted a new led light outside the kitchen door in July 2019. The lamp is an integral part of the unit. It is now flickering or coming on dimly. Whole new unit needed. Progress?

scrumpy | 01.11.21 - 3:31 p.m. | #

8. New car sales / registrations are way lower than previous years due to all vehicle manufacturers being desperately short of chips. Modern cars (even budget models) being stuffed full of chips for everything from engine management software through to fancy on board entertainment systems (not even cheap and chearful Dacia offer anything as simple as just a radio.)
Walk into a Range Rover dealership and try to buy a new model and you are likely to be quoted a 12 month wait. Not quite as bad with other manufacturers but they are all struggling with this.

IslandDweller | 01.11.21 - 3:32 p.m. | #

26. I'd like to think that you looked him square in the eye and said. "I am and I will be noting this in my report", then did a silly walk off into the distance.

Steven | 01.11.21 - 5:04 p.m. | #

23. I was travelling on the DLR that weekend and spotted two Alice in Wonderlands, a Cheshire Cat and a White Rabbit. I had no idea where they were going, but I now presume that they were off to Comic Con (of which I'd not previously heard).

Alan S | 01.11.21 - 5:43 p.m. | #

14 - now listened to a couple; interesting stuff and I enjoyed Justin Rowlatt's presentational style. His recent TV chat with Prince Charles was notable for the lack of deferential forelock-tugging, and all the better for it.

Frank F | 01.11.21 - 6:06 p.m. | #

28. Reminds of the Christmas Eve a few years ago when I looked out of my window to see a guy delivering Amazon parcels from the back of a van with.TfL Santander cycle hire on the side.

finlay | 01.11.21 - 6:13 p.m. | #

4. Yes – LEDs are hopefully indeed more durable on average, but they're still definitively not immune to failure. So far I've had to replace two bulbs for failing prematurely, and another one has been relegated to being put into storage as a spare because it turned out to emit a faint, but still noticeable (and annoying) buzzing.

As it was, I merely had to buy a replacement bulb and simply exchange it – having to replace the whole lamp fixture would have been much more annoying.

Jan | 01.11.21 - 8:09 p.m. | #

14th. Thank you for pointing us to this World Service series. We have just listened to all of the five programmes end-on-end. They put our gradual origins and current precarious state over very well, how civilisation is truly on the brink. Why buried on World Service? It’s prime TV frightener material. Time everyone was very fully aware.
Oh, I forgot… it’s science.

Herbof | 01.11.21 - 9:26 p.m. | #

Days which have not inspired comment:
2 6 11 15 16 18 24 25 29 30

(but the majority have, cheers!)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.11.21 - 11:59 p.m. | #

29. I'm guessing it'll be somewhere like Braintree or North Walsham which aren't named in your Tour of Britain although that hasn't been updated for three years.

milliem | 02.11.21 - 1:20 p.m. | #

15. Interesting use of the word "toyboys" - unless you know more about their private lives than you ought.

BarryD | 02.11.21 - 3:34 p.m. | #

22. Those choc ices are now £1.30 for 6, which is a ridiculous 72% price rise over the course of eighteen months.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 20.01.23 - 8:48 p.m. | #











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