June 18th – A little curio I’ve been passing for years in Leicester. A higeldy-pigeldy row of water stopcocks in a pavement, numbered from 3 to 16. One is unnumbered.

They start in an orderly fashion, then the seuence falls to pieces.

They are labelled in weld – that is, someone drew the numbers using a welder, so the digits stand proud, like metallic icing on a cake. Over years and years, people walking over them have polished the digits to a shine.

But what became of 1 and 2?