Some things I saw/noticed/read/did yesterday
a) I was born at four minutes past six in the morning, but my body chose to wake me at twelve minutes past so I missed the moment again this year.
b) Four birthday cards arrived in time for my birthday (all last week because I had no delivery today). Only one was designed by AI. Only one featured a cat wearing a rubber glove.
c) I didn't get any presents, but both my neighbours got packages delivered so I lugged them upstairs and left them outside their doors.
d) I noticed that the Central line carriage I was riding in was numbered 92165, which if you think of it as 9/2+1/65 is precisely my date of birth.
e) Only five of the cut-price daffodils I bought last week have bloomed, the other five look like they may remain budded.
f) In the Blossom Garden in the Olympic Park two trees have peaked and dropped, one ring is white and starting to tumble and the rest haven't done anything yet. At least one tree is fundamentally dead. I wonder if there'll be any blossom left anywhere by April.
g) March 9th is sometimes Commonwealth Day (the second Monday in March) and was this year.
h) March 9th is usually Crufts (four days in the period 4th-13th March), but this year it was the day after.
i) March 9th is never quite the Cheltenham Festival (four days in the period 10th-19th March), and this year was the day before.
j) March 9th is the latest possible date for Shrove Tuesday (last happened 1943, next happens 2038)
k) "We should do lunch," said BestMate, "but nothing too flash because I've got to work this afternoon". We both simultaneously suggested a restaurant (somewhere we haven't been recently), and both of us suggested the same place, and that's why we're best friends.
l) There's only one restaurant in London that's 61-related, a tapas restaurant in Streatham called Bar 61, but they're closed on Mondays so that was never an option.
m) Monday lunchtime must be the quietest hospitality slot of the week, but if nothing else I felt quite young amongst our fellow diners.
n) BestMate thought it was quite weird I liked mint sauce with things that aren't lamb, and BestMatesOtherHalf thought it was quite weird I liked mint sauce full stop.
o) Alongside lunch I had a cider, BestMate had a Coke and BestMatesOtherHalf had tap water, but that's because they had a heavy weekend and I merely went to Neasden.
p) I checked what I ate on previous birthdays ending in 1.
1: probably something out of a Heinz baby food jar
11: school dinner and birthday cake
21: reheated mince and lemon meringue pie
31: roast chicken and lemon meringue pie
41: rump steak and lemon meringue pie
51: du steak et des profiteroles
61: roast pork/turkey/beef and apple crumble
q) I collected some tickets I need for a long-distance trip later this week. I bought them in the Rail Sale at the start of January, but even so I think you're going to be impressed by how far away I'm going for less than £14 (£6.70 each way).
r) I can confirm that there are now adverts on the long electronic board at Euston station, but they're only at the far ends and they're only for train companies. They fill less than 20% of the board so they're not intrusive, not like the previous full length dynamic glare, so expect them to stay. Also the former smaller freestanding departure boards have been removed so there's more room to stand, hurrah.
s) I'm not sure I'd have trusted buying anything in this shuttered shop in Harrow. Wealdstonne sounds like a Kentish heavy weight.
t) Wanstead's High Street feels properly out of place for east London (Gail's, Ginger Pig, wine bars, florist), and perhaps only the pie and mash shop hints that this isn't an outpost of Richmond or Ealing.
u) You may remember Schott's Original Miscellany, the must-have Christmas gift 24 years ago. Ben's latest compendium is Schott's Significa, a chunky book delving into the vocab and jargon in 37 disparate activities including gondoliers, sneakerheads, crypto, horse racing, graffiti, sommeliers and working at Starbucks. I read a lot of it yesterday and it's very good, full of nuggety learning, but sorry Ben it's a library copy.
v) Is the news on my birthday in even numbered years always unduly depressing?
2020: this pandemic looks like it might be bad
2022: Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues apace
2024: the Israel/Gaza conflict just flared up again
2026: Iran's in flames and the oil price is soaring
w) Orient Way in Leyton is choc-busy with Zoom bikes zipping in and out of their depot, delivering Ocado groceries. I wondered what happened to the six delivery apps I blogged about five years ago when they were young and whizzy, so I checked.
Dija: sold to GoPuff in 2021 (who are still going)
Weezy: bought out by Getir in 2021
Gorillas: bought out by Getir in 2022
Jiffy: pivoted out of grocery delivery in 2022
Getir: abandoned the UK in 2023 and retreated to Turkey
Zapp: still going
Things I saved for my birthday
x) my last strawberry Quality Street
y) the last episode of Small Prophets (well done Mackenzie, there's still room for quirky suburban mystic delight)
z) writing the last paragraph about my birthday bus route, so you can have that tomorrow
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