please empty your brain below
Bits of paper with days, months & years and voilà, "Classic Posts From the Past" lucky dip utilising the old London boroughs jam jar.

mclm | 04.04.20 - 7:10 a.m. | #

Thank you! Your blog is still the first thing I turn to each day, followed by the BBC

Thomas | 04.04.20 - 7:12 a.m. | #

Hi DG,

Whilst in coronavirus quarantine, why not browse London from a different perspective - View from a skateboard

View from a skateboard | Homepage | 04.04.20 - 7:19 a.m. | #

Please keep going - you're doing really well and it's nice to have some normality amidst all this strangeness.

Nick | Homepage | 04.04.20 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Indeed - very much appreciated by this reader at least. I look forward to us all becoming non resident experts on the vicinity of Bus Stop M. The wonders of the internet and especially Google Street View’s date feature allow some interesting virtual safaris - and DG’s snippets and pointers to where to find out more always add value.

David | 04.04.20 - 7:32 a.m. | #

As I may have said before, DG, if you'll keep blogging, I'll keep reading. 😉

Jo W | 04.04.20 - 7:37 a.m. | #

Holed up as I am in South London, the prospect of multiple posts about the Olympic Park now feels exotic and compelling. Keep it up DG.

Becky | 04.04.20 - 8:08 a.m. | #

Thumbs up to your positivity.

Thank you.

Neesi | 04.04.20 - 8:17 a.m. | #

I'm so old I can remember when Westfield was an engine shed.
How about a series of then and now photos?

VV | 04.04.20 - 8:17 a.m. | #

Although road traffic is quiet, there was a noticeable increase in pedestrians on Thursday, especially those with dogs and/or children.

My local supermarket had pasta on Wednesday - but no queues, and they were flogging off the stuff from the delicatessen (which has been closed) at bargain prices.

It's a very odd crisis, plenty of people will have their financial health destroyed whilst their physical health is untouched, but one will ultimately impact on the other, and for those who have options, after compulsory furloughing, I wonder how many will want to go back to their previous lifestyles.

Still Anon | 04.04.20 - 8:27 a.m. | #

Your daily creative efforts are much appreciated, no matter how much is reproduced, re-imagined or re-interpreted.

RosemaryT | 04.04.20 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Thanks for keeping going, DG. Nice to have a slice of normality to read amongst all the daily doom and gloom.

JJ | 04.04.20 - 8:54 a.m. | #

Milk still being delivered...taps still running...rubbish still being collected...post being delivered...Today programme still broadcasting...DG still blogging daily...It's a walk in the park. If any of these go down, we know we are really in trouble.

Much appreciated.

south london lad | 04.04.20 - 8:56 a.m. | #

Thanks for keeping going

You could do a sort of retrospective...what was the most commented post, the most popular, what has changed in Bow since 2002?

Simon G | 04.04.20 - 9:20 a.m. | #

Thanks for the daily dose of positivity. Please keep it going for as long as necessary.

Dave | 04.04.20 - 9:24 a.m. | #

Thanks, DG, for continuing to provide my breakfast reading...

Steve | 04.04.20 - 9:25 a.m. | #

Thank you so much. You are doing a great job in the strangest times many of us have ever experienced.

Alan | 04.04.20 - 9:32 a.m. | #

Your continued blogging is much appreciated and a reminder of life before the deluge.Any chance of any unpublished comments/photos of Burnt Oak.

Jimbo | 04.04.20 - 9:46 a.m. | #

Thank you for continuing to blog in these extraordinary times. Reading your posts certainly brightens up my day.

Hadders | 04.04.20 - 9:59 a.m. | #

You have come up with some very imaginative and entertaining quizzes in the past. Hopefully there will be a few more of these over the coming months.

Ken | 04.04.20 - 10:14 a.m. | #

It's the eclectic mix that I find enjoyable - you never know quite what DG is going to write about. But it would signify the end of civilisation if there was no blog at all...

Man of Kent | 04.04.20 - 10:18 a.m. | #

Just echo what all the previous commmentators have said!
Well done dg and keep it up.Whatever you choose to write about, we will read and enjoy.

MikeK | 04.04.20 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Thank you for keeping going!

As an aside it's an extraordinary change to our lives that places elsewhere in London, a short train/bus ride away are now off limits. It's one thing not being allowed to visit New York or Hong Kong, it's not being able to visit say St James's Park which is more of a challenge!

Mikey C | 04.04.20 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Like many I have put a visit to DG's blog down as a daily must. Like many I used to enjoy my daily forays on the Loop and Ring etc, now firmly off the table for who knows how long, so the inspiration you give us all helps a lot. I am now left with my daily walks round the local parks and woods which I have been already doing for years and which themselves don't offer any historic blog potential. Even the trips to my local Tesco have lost their appeal.

Keep up the blogs DG, they are invaluable in these strange times.

davews | 04.04.20 - 10:21 a.m. | #

You are one of the things which keeps me going, DG, thanks for everything.

Helen | 04.04.20 - 10:24 a.m. | #

A few quizzes, spot-the-something in this collection of photos, photo-snap, etc etc. There's a long time to go before we all start counting bricks in a wall....

B | 04.04.20 - 10:31 a.m. | #

Likewise - now my daily go-to read at breakfast time instead of lunch in the office. I like that we don't know what we'll get next (rather like life at the moment), but it's always good.

NickW | Homepage | 04.04.20 - 10:37 a.m. | #

Whatever you do I'll be tuning in each day to read.
I bet you're wishing you'd not posted that tour of DG Towers a few months ago now!!

Cornish Cockney | 04.04.20 - 10:38 a.m. | #

...or include a guest post based on a 'morsel' from one of your long-term followers ;)

PJS | 04.04.20 - 10:47 a.m. | #

I'm looking forward to more retrospective and introspective perspectives, and more then-and-nows would be fascinating. There are so many completely revamped areas in London - Stratford, King's Cross, most of the stations; and of course post and pre-war. Incidentally, not only do I have vivid memories of Dollis Hill House where I used to have a cup of tea after tennis, but also the lido down the hill, which closed around 1974. Many thanks for the best read of the day, and especially the antidote to the interminable streams of doom over the mainstream media!

Strabismus | 04.04.20 - 10:55 a.m. | #

You can always give us updates on Bus Stop M. I am sure your creativity will be able to think of something to say about sometimes.

James Bunting | 04.04.20 - 10:55 a.m. | #

Thank you for continuing to blog DG, any post is always appreciated and enjoyed.

Kevin | 04.04.20 - 11:54 a.m. | #

I've never subscribed to your blog but remember to read it most days. Like the others say,do please keep going and reporting interesting statistics,quirky facts and the obscure under the radar parts of London and beyond. Your blog is a great resource.

Victoria White | 04.04.20 - 12:37 p.m. | #

Thanks for giving us a great daily read DG. You've given me the incentive to explore places I never would have thought of visiting.

Can't remember when or how I discovered your blog, but I'm pleased that I did.

Richard | 04.04.20 - 12:57 p.m. | #

thank you for your window on the world... it means more now than ever before... :)

wotw | 04.04.20 - 12:58 p.m. | #

Joining in with the others - many, many thanks for your lights at the end of this tunnel. Keep it up, please.

Perhaps be a little more liberal with how far you can go in an hour's exercise walk, as long as it is genuine exercise. Even banged-up prisoners have a daily HOUR to wander round their environs.

Combine exercise walks with shopping, instead of doing the latter online only. Yes, you'll be in queues, but they're all 2m apart (except inside the shops where it's everyone for themselves), there's no rush, and those people are living material and ideas for further blogs.

When this is eventually over (not betting on restrictions being lifted next weekend) I have promised myself long, long bus and train rides, sitting in caffs with steaming tea, and loitering again in parks.

Joel | 04.04.20 - 1:26 p.m. | #

Please don't pad if you have nothing to say. You really don't need to post every day, just store up ideas for the autumn

John B | 04.04.20 - 1:28 p.m. | #

Thanks for blogging and I look forward to all the blogs to come.

Tony | 04.04.20 - 2:31 p.m. | #

Thanks for keeping going. Plenty of interesting stuff to come I'm sure.

I am classed as a key worker nowadays and on Monday was in Southwark within sight of the London Eye. I looked around and down five streets. There was no-one. Nothing. Not a moving car, not a person. A train trundled over the raised line towards London Bridge and then it was silence again....

We live in interesting times.

Chris | 04.04.20 - 3:38 p.m. | #

As others have said, thank you for keeping the blog going and making my mornings as sane and normal as they can be.

Maggie | 04.04.20 - 5:34 p.m. | #

A post outlining the DG archive system would be quite interesting. It's impressive to be able to source several past photographs so well.

Anon | 04.04.20 - 6:15 p.m. | #

Keep posting DG. Your blog is my first port of call each morning. The information you provide each day is invariably a fascinating read. Long may you continue to do so.

IanD | 04.04.20 - 6:27 p.m. | #

Same for us, every morning. Many thanks DG, whatever you can craft each day, always relished.

Herbof | 04.04.20 - 6:37 p.m. | #

Still very much enjoying the posts DG. I would be very interested in some posts on what is now the Olympic Park has changed in the last 15 years. Those posts on the Olympic development were what brought me to your blog many years ago and I would be very interested in a retrospective on the area, especially as it is often hard to place older photographs, given the area has changed so much. The Hackney Wick area seems to be in a constant state of flux as well.

North to the East End | 04.04.20 - 6:46 p.m. | #

Thought you were promising to blog about health for a minute there, until I realised computer/wifi permits are even less likely to be a blog topic for you. Then I re-read the sentence and got it right. Blog on.

SJM | 04.04.20 - 7:56 p.m. | #

Just promise me that you'll finally tell us about the mystery count before the lights go out!

Darren | 04.04.20 - 8:51 p.m. | #

We need your blog more than ever! Please keep writing and commenting as you do so well Thank you!

Dave Futcher | 04.04.20 - 10:21 p.m. | #

Another echo of all the thanks and appreciation above. Keep well, DG, we need you.
Nedd

Note to all other readers - the archive is all there, folks, and takes a fair while to read. Start with just a page or two a day from September 02 and you'll be on a week a day in no time. It's all good stuff.
Best wishes to all.

dg writes: The blog has are 212 monthly archives. At one a day, that's enough to keep everyone going until November :)

nedd | 04.04.20 - 10:22 p.m. | #

Can you tell us about the borders of Hackney Marshes, what's the wildlife like there?

toby | 05.04.20 - 9:11 a.m. | #

This is probably a good time to say Thank You again for your blog, and for continuing it in the current situation - I like your take on things, it's how you describe the visits, not just the 'going somewhere interesting' bit. You're changing my own world view too, over the years I've read your blog I've begun to look at my immediate surroundings with much more focus. I loved the Neasden posts - they're exactly what I mean. Thank you.

Pippa | 05.04.20 - 9:42 p.m. | #

I discovered the DG blog when I was trying to find out how to get to the View Tube when work started on the Olympic site. The problem was solved. Since then it has provided information on so many topics, so many places, and especially a much needed laugh. Really appreciated: thank you DG.

gchingford | 06.04.20 - 6:46 p.m. | #

Keep up the excellent work DG. How you find the time to research your topics I have no idea but they are always insightful, informative and entertaining. Keep on blogging.

Peter Winkworth | 06.04.20 - 10:27 p.m. | #

You've surely done this before, if you wonder where your next inspiration for a post might come from, I would imagine there's a lengthy series of opportunities relating to where 'DG' appears around the capital - illustrated by Google Maps of course. DG Cities and DG Study World seem of interest, the latter being vaguely relevant to the explorer in you, even if the company falls short of delivering on that particular promise.

Stuart | 07.04.20 - 9:46 a.m. | #

Stuart offered some suggestions for future blogs... and as a professional, daydreaming ideasmonger, myself, how about you trawl those diaries of yours and perhaps give us a series of 'What I was doing on this day in 19/20XX'.

Also, as we are the same age, very similar demographic, and quite probably have similar trajectories through our lives, to the extent I am sure I share the same resultant mystery count for the past n years, I would be curious to know your favourite music/films/books ...

Anyway, keep up the great work DG

PJS | 07.04.20 - 9:56 a.m. | #

DG - first of all thank you for continuing to provide your essential service to the rest of us - it is much appreciated.

Second I wonder whether you could do a blog showing how readership of your blog has changed since the lockdown. I notice for example that the first comments tend to be later in the morning suggesting there are people like me getting up later. I used to read it every weekday at 7ish now that's slipped to between 8 and 9. Are more or fewer people reading each post - I dont know if you can identify where in the world people are logging on from but it would be interesting to see if that is changed.

Best wishes

Kutgw | 09.04.20 - 8:56 a.m. | #











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