please empty your brain below
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Unbonked is a great word. I'll endeavour to use it more often.
I should really tick off visiting the other boroughs. My daughter had been to all of them by the time she turned 1, but I still haven't.
martin | 24.09.22 - 7:19 a.m. | #
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A couple of achievable (in principle) ones would be to run/walk every parkrun in London and less healthily drink a pint of every beer brewed in London.
But, knowing your preference on beer and your commitment to walking not running, the challenge may not be one for you.
Having managed Heathrow recently how are you with the full set of current or ex airports or airfields in London? I suspect Northolt might be hard, but could there be mileage in the likes of Hornchurch, Fairlop and Croydon?
Robert Butlin | 24.09.22 - 7:31 a.m. | #
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Enjoyable piece. I’ve done all the boroughs - the only one I haven’t been to again since lockdown ended is Havering. I’ve also been to all the cities you haven’t - I’ve never considered doing this as a project, so I’m not sure which ones I’m missing. And I’ve been to Northern Ireland several times.
A friend is trying to have a pint in a pub in every London postal district - although to take your point about definitions, I’m not sure whether that includes “non-London” postcodes (EN, BR, KT etc) in London boroughs. That seems a more feasible pub-based challenge.
Anyway, I’m glad I’m not the only mildly obsessive person in the city.
Baldassaro | 24.09.22 - 7:35 a.m. | #
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Another great post, thank you.
I’ve been ticking off all the stations on the TfL rail and tube map that I can visit with my older person’s freedom pass. I estimate there are about 600. I exit, take a photo of the station, walk in a new (for me) park if there is one then enter. Only one in a day. Six years so far. My next is North Wembley, and if I get there today I’ll be boasting that I beat dg to it.
Vee Jay Em | 24.09.22 - 7:37 a.m. | #
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I love a tickylist too! Completed the 'English City' list in 2017 in the year when I was between jobs and had a superb time doing it.
Maybe you could visit every bus station in London? Or catch a train from every platform at London's mainline termini? Visit every Santander Cycle Hire docking station? Visit every council waste tip in London? Libraries?
Whatever you end up doing, I very much look forward to reading all about it!
JP | 24.09.22 - 7:44 a.m. | #
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Ah parkrun. Here's a few lists.
dg writes: sorry, you may have mistaken me for someone else there
Running_Correspondent | 24.09.22 - 7:50 a.m. | #
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Food - eat the food (from cafe/restaurant/food truck etc) from every country in the world (UN recognised)
CoE - visit a parish church in every parish in the City, or in every London borough
Religious - visit a place of worship of every religion listed on the last census
Nick B | 24.09.22 - 8:00 a.m. | #
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Religions included in the last census include Wiccan, Heathen, Pagan, Druid, Heavy Metal, Jedi and Satanist, and I'm not sure their places of worship are widely advertised.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 24.09.22 - 8:06 a.m. | #
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Your failure to complete the station tickylist indeed surprised me greatly.
The 92 list keeps changing too, although at a slower pace, through new grounds and relegation. My score is around 50 depending on the rules one applies - does a non league game at a ground that's now a league ground count? Does an international game or friendly count? Can I still tick off a club if they've got a new ground?
Sadly, as an emigrant, I don't think it's going to improve much any more
Ian | 24.09.22 - 8:27 a.m. | #
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After twelve years of lurking, my first ever comment with some ideas:
How about every green space in London that is officially designated as a ‘Park’ by the relevant Borough? That seems more doable (and more defined) than every type of green space - so you wouldn’t include ‘Recreation Ground’ for example.
Or perhaps every ‘Site of Importance for Nature Conservation’ in London - dataset here.
Or every municipally owned cemetery in London, as they often have different styles.
Or every ‘locally listed’ non designated heritage asset in Tower Hamlets. This seems a doable number.
Matt | 24.09.22 - 8:52 a.m. | #
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Every first and last postcode for each area eg. TW1 1AA, TW1 9ZZ...TW2 1AA etc
Simon G | 24.09.22 - 9:01 a.m. | #
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I would have thought you were doing well on visiting museums in London
Parks ( without the run) would be interesting. During lockdown I walked the dog in every park/ public open space within 10 min drive (which at one stage was the supposed limit you were allowed) and I was shocked and pleased how many there were within that area - well over 25. Discovered some great places that I now revisit.
Brian | 24.09.22 - 9:02 a.m. | #
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Trainspotting must have been one of the first examples of people doing a tickylist (made much easier by the arrival of the Ian Allan ABC 'spotters' guides). Londoners could perhaps, instead, tick off each individual London bus they have seen (of which there are many thousands). An easier challenge would be to simply tick off one of each different type of bus.
Carllo | 24.09.22 - 9:07 a.m. | #
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Visit every London street with the words "High Street"/"High Road" in the name.
LS | 24.09.22 - 9:07 a.m. | #
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3 reasons to visit NI soonish
1, There is absolutely loads to see and do
2, You are still relatively sprightly and can enjoy the walking
3, It might not exist in 20 years time
Scientist | 24.09.22 - 9:10 a.m. | #
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What about visiting every Grade I listed building in London? Or at least getting close enough to see them. According to Wikipedia that's a list of 589 buildings, but I guess you will already have ticked off most of the list already.
Richard | 24.09.22 - 9:30 a.m. | #
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Every town hall (principal borough office) in Greater London maybe. Good range of impressive buildings and the mundane (especially since some of the impressive ones have been sold off and replaced by mundane utilitarian)
Every county hall across the UK likewise.
With your travels and photo collection to date I suspect you may already be at least 50% on both.
On the culinary side: maybe sample every cheese made in Britain? (Made in UK with UK sourced milk, which will include a lot of artisan cheese although a little repetitive). Partnered with every wine grown & vinified in the UK
MilesT | 24.09.22 - 9:51 a.m. | #
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Completing every Wetherspoons in London (if not the country) is a realistic thing to tick off, there's even a website Spoonstracker to log your visits!
I'd not been tracking ceremonial counties, but am within 3 so that's something to aim for. I'm slowly doing the 92, without really actively trying to complete it...
The London LOOP walk is a very good way to visit the outer London boroughs. My completist tendencies at the moment are satisfied with completing longer distance walks.
Mikey C | 24.09.22 - 10:06 a.m. | #
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Recently popped into Carlisle on the way North. Has been added to the list of places to linger a while…
Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 24.09.22 - 10:06 a.m. | #
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Apart from those extremely attractive or have to make a living out of it, it seems odd to see someone seeing "getting laid in every London borough" as an achievable objective (at one time at least).
Patrickov | 24.09.22 - 10:10 a.m. | #
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Northern ireland is lovely, have family over there. So been loads of times, I think you would like it
Rachel | 24.09.22 - 10:11 a.m. | #
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All the hats.
The Hat Man | 24.09.22 - 10:11 a.m. | #
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Touring the world’s countries by eating at restaurants in London. You have to make your own list.
Bryn Davies | 24.09.22 - 10:15 a.m. | #
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I was going to suggest that "every preserved / heritage railway in the UK" would be a reasonable sized list and pretty on-brand. UK not GB would even give you an excuse to head to NI! But then I remembered how hard some of them are to reach without a car...
Maybe "every mainline-connected preserved / heritage railway in the UK" would work?
Sadly though, from a quick check of wikipedia, there only NI ones aren't connected to the main rail network so that wouldn't give you the excuse to pop across
Nick B | 24.09.22 - 10:15 a.m. | #
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Current and former town halls is a good one. There’s an old English Heritage book that describes all those in London, and I’m slowly working through a project to photograph them all.
Baldassaro | 24.09.22 - 10:18 a.m. | #
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I can’t be the only one surprised by the wide geographic spread of dg’s sexual activity. Think I might have ticked off 3 boroughs at most.
Andrew S | 24.09.22 - 10:23 a.m. | #
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One of your un-completed tickylists reminds me of a favourite Jake Thackray song, "Isobel makes love upon national Monuments". Available on Spotify, lyrics here.
Mike | 24.09.22 - 10:52 a.m. | #
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Inspired by you, am going to try for what should be a manageable tickylist of visiting all of the City of London owned parks, forests and commons - pockets of land owned by "London" but not in London which has always intrigued!
andy c | 24.09.22 - 11:08 a.m. | #
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+1 for Northern Ireland. Very pretty coast and Belfast is certainly 'interesting', worth a trip.
Kevin | 24.09.22 - 11:09 a.m. | #
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You exceed me on all lists save one - that of the Football League grounds. Depending on whether your definition includes sites no longer in use, I equal or exceed you, having attended three and seven respectively.
cau1khead | 24.09.22 - 11:11 a.m. | #
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Another vote for NI. Lovely place with, er, a fascinating history.
Chris | 24.09.22 - 11:28 a.m. | #
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My tickylists would be Parkrun in London ("Londone") where I am over halfway and also European countries where I have done 26 so far with a 27th next month. Unlikely to ever complete this as although I've done Russia (does it count when it was part of USSR?), Belarus, Ukraine and some of the Balkans may be a bit tricky.
Tim | 24.09.22 - 11:41 a.m. | #
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Apart from Sunderland, you're not missing much with those largest towns.
Scott | Homepage | 24.09.22 - 11:54 a.m. | #
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Visiting every public library and seeing if they stock a particular book or even just a single author.
J. | 24.09.22 - 1:20 p.m. | #
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A quick scan of my OS maps app gives 79 street names with the word "Diamond" featured. I expect the challenge of reaching Diamond Vault alone (among many other reasons) would preclude this tickylist, but I do hope you will continue to find varied and interesting challenges to complete and report on.
dg says: see February 2012
All historic drinking fountains in London? Anyone have a list? Seems to be the kind of thing at the intersection of history and civic pride which could form the basis of a formidable long-term challenge.
Michael T | 24.09.22 - 3:18 p.m. | #
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My former colleague has been doing all the horse-racing courses in the UK since he's retired. He's about halfway through now, but COVID delayed things.
Adrian | 24.09.22 - 3:27 p.m. | #
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A cemetery in every London borough maybe, as their 'occupants' are often a rich source of interesting stories. I'm guessing you'll have already done the magnificent seven.
I also really like the suggestion of visiting all the High Streets/High Roads, as I'd particularly enjoy the social history this would highlight. I have no idea whether this is a plausible challenge by number, but if there are too many then maybe a visit to each Crescent or other minor designation (Walk, Mews, etc.) may be doable.
Frank F | 24.09.22 - 3:40 p.m. | #
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Did you ever finish all the London Rivers?
That'd be my choice and I've already ticked off the Brent (including all tributaries), the Pinn and the Yeading Brook/River Crane from source (or nearest accessible point via TfL) to Thames.
Cornish Cockney | 24.09.22 - 4:31 p.m. | #
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Over, under and across. All possibilities the full length of The Thames.
ap | 24.09.22 - 4:40 p.m. | #
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The main thing I took away from this is an expectation of Sunderland posts, perhaps next time there's a big rail fares sale.
stevekeiretsu | Homepage | 24.09.22 - 6:32 p.m. | #
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As a kid I loved the i-SPY books. They led me to become an obsessive lister and lover of all types of sorting: lists, arrays, grids, networks, topologies...
Pete_LL | 24.09.22 - 6:50 p.m. | #
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I've been ticky-listing the pubs of Dublin - thankfully a much smaller city results in 'only' about a thousand, and a restrictive licencing regime means there's a monthly updated list to work to.
The new King stated that he wanted to visit every county in Ireland - something that very few people I know have even done. Half a decade as a field engineer meant that I often got to all of them within a few weeks!
Cian | Homepage | 24.09.22 - 6:52 p.m. | #
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Sorry, life offers enough challenge without looking for a role surfeited with more duties and tangles.
Keep it simple, become deeply centred, focus like a laser on the right job needing attention, and never give up.
Noel | 24.09.22 - 7:18 p.m. | #
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Done all 33 London boroughs in my lifetime [TICK]
Andrew Jarman | 24.09.22 - 8:28 p.m. | #
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The mention of B-roads stands out, not just for stopping at 26, but because you chose to do them in sequence. So in computing terms, that is perhaps the only tickylist in the post, because all the others are tickybags (where there is either no natural order for the items, or where there is but you disregard it for ticking purposes).
Malcolm of Kent | 24.09.22 - 8:42 p.m. | #
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Lancaster is well worth a visit if you can arrange it.
Bob L-S | 24.09.22 - 9:04 p.m. | #
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The problem is this, as the first person to have set foot in every 1km x 1km in Greater London, what is there that is 'more', success can be a bummer.
Still Anon | 24.09.22 - 9:12 p.m. | #
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Belated chapeaux on your grid tickage.
ICYMI this tickylister caught a fish in every London borough (not including the City of London).
tops | 24.09.22 - 10:39 p.m. | #
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I have an excellent tickylist, which is to visit all 86 towns which gave their names to Grand Union motor boats.
Less impressively, I have only managed to visit two of them so far knowingly and for the specific purpose of writing about it (Saltaire and Bath), with another 30 or so having been visited or passed through accidentally or incidentally over the past fifty years, which doesn't count. Which leaves an awful lot of places I haven't been, some of which I couldn't even find on a map.
Sarah | Homepage | 25.09.22 - 10:31 a.m. | #
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My wife and I were very pleased to complete a challenge to drink in a pub in every London postcode (E1,SW9,N22,W4 etc, not possible postcode -we'd die) last year. We'd already ticked off the BN postcodes on 6 and 12 years of living in Brighton and now we have moved to Liverpool we are embarking on L and CH.
Mark | 25.09.22 - 10:56 a.m. | #
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A look at the website of the Long Distance Walkers Association come up with a reasonable list of possibilities in London. How about the London Parks Way? I daresay you've already ticked off many of the parks...
dg writes: all of them.
Paul B | 25.09.22 - 1:54 p.m. | #
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Every Telephone exchange in London--there will be some interesting architecture although a few will have to be at a distance. Samknows website is where to start for a list.
Why? We are at peak telephone exchange, with Openreach looking to exit a lot by 2030 and unlikely to build any (net) new ones. Openreach is publishing lists countrywide of analogue switchoff priority which is an indication of an exchange exit.
MilesT | 25.09.22 - 2:06 p.m. | #
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Readers are warned that I've been out today trying ten of your tickylist suggestions. I can confirm they vary somewhat in likely interest.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 25.09.22 - 3:16 p.m. | #
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Oh hang on, I have been to North Wembley station, I went on 16th February 2013.
But I'm pretty sure I've never been to Eastcote.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 27.09.22 - 4:07 p.m. | #
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I'm on 83 of the 92 (see link on my name) so hoping to tick those off in the next season or two.
Also I think Chesham is the only station I've not been through.
I need to look at a map and see about boroughs visited. (Only "humped" in....5, I think?)
Phil J | Homepage | 27.09.22 - 11:46 p.m. | #
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We never did find out what will be your new ticky box challenge.
Simon G | 30.09.22 - 6:46 p.m. | #
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You could try to walk every public right of way in the City, visit every church in the City, locate all the bits of subterranean rivers (e.g. Fleet) still visible, go to all the disused stations, visit all the above ground Victorian water infrastructure, visit all City of London-owned green spaces.
Tom L | 04.10.22 - 9:28 p.m. | #
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Drink in every Good Beer Guide pub is doable - some people manage every GBG pub in the UK (over many years) and tracking the differences is not so hard.
I think a mash-up of visiting a cemetery in every postcode and sex in every postcode would be fun for some.
Or maybe it's time to move to another city and start again.
Walks between Tube Stops could be a theme. What you miss when you take a tube 1 stop...
Sykobee | 24.10.22 - 12:28 p.m. | #
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