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Consecutive Number Plate Spotting. Again. Sigh.
by Captain_Autumn @ 24/04/2007 - 11:40:20

A blistering weekend of number plate spotting. After a record-equalling four on Friday, I followed it up with an unprecedented second four in a day on Saturday, followed by two more on Sunday. Keep going at this rate and I'll be finished by the end of the year!

I feel that perhaps I should recapitulate the Consecutive Number Plate Spotting saga for those latecomers who may have missed the early editions of this journal. My doom was sealed when I read the rules as listed on Richard Herring's gloriously funny website. (I advise that you stop reading this rubbish and head over there instead, particularly to the Warming Up section. Try this entry - http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup/warmingup.php?id=437 - to my eyes an almost impossibly hilarious account of a simple trip to the supermarket.) The idea of Consecutive Number Plate Spotting is that you spot number plates consecutively - it's not the most cryptic of pastimes. You start at 1 and you keep going until you reach 999. I only started because I was curious as to how far I would get before I got bored or simply forgot to look. I imagined I would get to about 22, then several months later would realise I'd neglected to carry on and wouldn't even remember which number I'd got to. I would laugh it off and get on with my life.

If only.

What I didn't realise was that Consecutive Number Plate Spotting was set to join the elite band of my moderate, not-especially-debilitating obsessive compulsive tendencies (otherwise restricted to locks - windows, doors, padlocks - and pulled threads on clothes). Although I have had periods of more intense activity and some lulls when I have lacked motivation, I haven't been able to free myself from the mysterious allure of the number plate. It started as a frivolous bit of displacement activity to while away the journey to work, around the time that my youngest was born. He just turned four and I'm on 378. Aware as I am that the only route to freedom from CNPS's iron grip is to stay the course, my ambition is to get it finished before he's embarrassed to know me.

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GoingSomewhereGoingSomewhere [Member]
2007-04-26 @ 00:21

I didn't think you'd be able to prevent yourself from writing about the number plates. Actually I'm glad you did since I wasn't aware (or had forgotten) that Richard Herring set you on this path. As for the link tp his page that you so generously provide, I get the following message - "Forbidden - You are not allowed to access this page", so sadly I am unable to read what I am sure is a literary treat.

Captain_AutumnCaptain_Autumn [Member]
2007-04-26 @ 12:14

I just tried it again and it worked fine. don't think there are any restrictions on Herring's site, you don't have to be a member or anything, so give it another go. Maybe try copying the link into your address bar rather than just clicking it.

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GoingSomewhereGoingSomewhere [Member]
2007-04-26 @ 20:00

Thank you, it works fine tonight, so I've spent an enjoyable quarter of an hour on his site and will read more another time. Will you be going to see him on 14th May?

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Captain_AutumnCaptain_Autumn [Member]
2007-04-27 @ 12:26

Tempted, although I think it may be broadly the same material as I saw last year - I need to e-mail him and ask (one of the great things about liking, in the nicest way, less popular performers is that such things are possible). Even if not I may still be dissuaded by the memory of last year, when I left the same venue so smoke-assaulted that I chose to walk home for over an hour at midnight just to try and clear my lungs. Still, counting the days on that one.

If you enjoyed Herring's site try this one. It's a bit cruder than the yoghurt one but still had me in stitches, just following the flight of his imagination:

http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup/warmingup.php?id=163

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Sonia [Visitor]

2008-06-16 @ 17:00

Hello!

We're putting together a feature at Time Out magazine on different types of spotters and I was wondering if you would be able to talk to us about your consecutive number plate spotting hobby? We would be interested to know why you're passionate about it, what got you into it and what it involves. Alternatively, it would be great if you could recommend somebody (who is London-based) who would be happy to talk.

If you're interested or can think of anyone else, then please get in touch on newsfreelancer@timeout.com or rebeccataylor@timeout.com

Many thanks

Sonia Zhuravlyova
Time Out London
07905091186

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