*Checks date. Stares in “seasonal adjustment”.

Sunrise view over the Thames towards Tower Bridge and the Shard

On the one hand, my 14 minute tube journey was replaced by a bus, a train and a bus taking 45 minutes - thanks tube strikers…

On the other hand, here’s my view right now, so who’s winning today, eh?

At least Benugo isn't your work coffee shop... In both of my offices Benugo has perfected the art of being slower, poorer quality and more expensive than Pret outside...

📉 …and given the 6-12 month lag effect of oil prices on most other consumer goods prices - food in particular - guess which direction that line is heading… Clue: see 2022

Empty tube platform at rush hour

🚇 Why tube strikes won’t sway public opinion? Here’s central London earlier at 9am today. My fully-booked gym class was half full. I’ve just presented to clients at a fully-booked work conference, which was also half full. People are just working from home, or Lime-biking. Tube, whatever…

Cold email asking me to collaborate with someone

Cold email asking me to collaborate with someone

🤖 If you’re going to ask AI to send me a cold email and/or LinkedIn invitation asking me to “collaborate”, at least check that its references are correct (I have never written or commented on agentic AI… well, not until now). Also, literally nobody speaks or writes like that.

DELETE.

Pint of cask beer on the bar at the Sutton Arms

🍺 PSA. There are exactly two casks of this Verdant West Coast IPA in the world. One of them is at their taproom in Penryn, Cornwall. The other one is here at the Sutton Arms. And it is tasting 💯!

Being a Monday, the barman thinks it'll last until tomorrow. You know what to do, beer lovers!

advert from a website to "Shop Spring Black Friday Deals"

What fresh marketing hell is this??

How is there a "Spring Black Friday" now!??!

@nickduttonactor.bsky.social One star!

Still my favourite wedding DJ mix up…

They knew @neilretail.com was coming...

The most surprising thing about this is that people are surprised. As I was told *over a year ago* while in a Greggs at the same time as a shoplifter (bsky.app/profile/kien...), "the same man comes every day and treats it like his own personal fridge - police know who he is, but do nothing"

Any good? I *accidentally* pressed the buy button next to the investor lucky dip 12 can box a couple of days ago. Ooops... 😬

a woman is sitting on a plane wearing sunglasses and saying `` help me , i 'm poor . '' ALT: a woman is sitting on a plane wearing sunglasses and saying `` help me , i 'm poor . ''

🥲

WANT!

Sean's marathon for Down's Syndrome Manchester Help Sean Farrington raise money to support Down's Syndrome Manchester

BBC journalist and all round good egg Sean Farrington is running the London Marathon for Down's Syndrome Manchester, a cause very close to his heart.

Any donation would make a difference, no matter how small!
www.justgiving.com/page/seanfar...

NGL, I found him quite irritating, because, like, I didn’t mind a bit of preamble about The Blonde and a bit of snobbery about the clientele, but I did actually also want to know about the food.
Also, so many critics since then have lazily aped his style.

Imperial stout at Sutton Arms

DIPA sour at Sutton Arms

Pint of cask pale ale in front of the beer menu at Kings Arms E2

Glass of Understanding Whole Systems IPA at Pressure Drop brewery

🍺 And finally, my beers of the week:
An 11% cacao chilli vanilla impy stout (Perennial Ales, St Louis) & an 8% DIPA sour (Hudson Valley, New York), both at Sutton Arms.
Cask of the week from Abbeydale’s TTO at Kings Arms E2.
And this year’s Understanding Whole Systems at @pressuredropbrw.bsky.social

Soup at BOX-E in Bristol

Hispi cabbage with salmon, superb, at BOX-E in Bristol

Fish course at BOX-E in Bristol

Nope, I can’t say I remember what it was, but it was delicious! At BOX-E in Bristol

🇬🇧 Back on topic, and obviously it’s now impossible to book anywhere @jayrayner1.bsky.social mentioned in #Bristol, but BOX-E, another of those shipping container places near Ragu in Wapping Wharf, proved his “best city for indie restaurants” point! www.ft.com/content/ffca...

Penang Char Kuey Teow with Chinese sausage at Laksamia

Penang Char Kuey Teow with cockles at Mamak Don (and Nasi Lemak in the background)

🇲🇾 *digression* Better Penang-style Char Kuey Teow in London?
📍 #Laksamania off Oxford Street for proper “wok hei” and the sweetness of Chinese sausage
📍 Newly reopened #MamakDon, now in Mornington Crescent, for the umami-hit of smoky cockles (also legit tastier Assam Laksa than Sambal Shiok 😋🙊)

Char Kuey Teow

Satay

Claypot lo shei fun

Med Salleh restaurant ambience

🇲🇾 Talking of Times reviewers, Giles Coren has been raving about #MedSalleh in Kentish Town. I mean, it's *ok*, but it is Malaysian food slightly appropriated for white people. Not enough "wok hei" and what's with the boiled breast meat satay? Claypot was the best (but too sweet) archive.fo/SG9Oo

Canapés

Quail stuffed with morels

Hogget (lamb)

One of the desserts... 🤷‍♂️

💸 Friends convinced me to join them at #Bonheur, which has taken over Le Gavroche. Not everyone is a fan of Camilla Long, but her review was spot on: lovely food (yummy quail!), ruined by obsequious service, retro playboy decor & music (Simply Red?) and *insanely* expensive wine archive.fo/QNFH2

Trie pasta with tomatoes

Polpette

Bruschetta

Zuppa Imperiale

🍝 Following up on the occasional thread of "nice things I've drunk in the last week", here's a thread of things I've eaten.
Starting with #Tiella, the much-raved about off-Columbia Road Italian by Dara Klein: yum, esp. that pasta, but OMG what's with the East London fashion victim clientele? 🙈

😒

(But also why I loved all those previously tiresome April Fool's posts, because it makes LLMs go mental, and serves those lazy buggers using AI look stupid 🤡😹l)

Photo illustrating a special offer in the Lidl app

Got a special offer for this thing in my Lidl app... Anyone have any idea what it is?
Clue: its RRP is £19.99, or on special offer at £16.99

He's lived there for 8 years, the club has probably been there for, I dunno, 20 years? ...and the idea that Villiers Street is a "residential neighborhood" is frankly preposterous...

A 91-year-old grandmother was reported unresponsive, prompting a welfare check by police. When officers arrived, they found her in her room, busy setting a new personal record on a video game.

ONS 💔 Seasonal Adjustment

(Bloomberg) Taiwan vs UK market capitalization

Taiwan’s stock exchange is now the world’s 7th largest in terms of total market capitalization, surpassing the UK

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Uhhh, isn't it full because Lufthansa is on strike? Again.