No.118, Tuesday, 7th. April 2026

It is a pleasant spring day out there and after two or three difficult days I am feeling better. I have a much-needed weekly grocery delivery later this morning, something I have made myself dependent upon since having to give up the car. I ran out of money at the end of March so no delivery last week.

I often think about ‘walkable’ towns, ever since an inspirational talk by an architect in London back in about 2002. You could also call it a ‘human’ or perhaps ‘human-scale’ town. Hopefully it should be obvious that such a town has almost everything you need within walking distance: bakers, butchers, grocers, pubs, doctors, dentists, cafés and so on. I think it is probably better to think of it as a place where we can walk, meet people, browse, buy what we need and perhaps stop off in the pub on the way home. I do not think of it as a place that is devoid of cars, car parks, road-rage and roads jammed with traffic – although it certainly would be. I am a positive person, and my glass is usually half-full.

Anyway, there is far more to this idea, which worked well for about 10,000 years until the advent of the internal combustion engine. But for now it is just an idea – a dream that could never become reality, except in science fiction movies, where walkable towns seem commonplace.

Anyway, my train of thought is continuing to the point where I need another cappuccino, so I must leave it and await my grocery delivery.