16-18

Due to a lack of time I offer only the following:

16: Green Landrover outside the old Clifton Cinema, at 1320
17: By the afternoon roadworks, about 200m before the Dormouse turning. 1330
18: Black Renault Clio on Lendal Bridge at 1820

Yay!

After a storming time on Saturday, with 4 spots, things have been fairly quiet for the last few days. Then, on the way to work, at approximately 0850, I got a 14, parked in the Euro Car Park by the tunnel. Yay and yay some more!

And then... later the same day, 15 runs past me outside the National Railway Museum. Sometime near 1830. The exact time I had jotted down is obviously nonsense in retrospect.

Success in Leeds

Now we're motoring. All the way to Leeds and back in fact. But to get to Leeds, I must first walk to C's house as he is driving- A good half hour or so of fairly busy roads - excellent! A quiet start - Leeman road is fairly quiet, but once I get through to the other side of the town centre, I find a silver 10 at the top end of Gillygate. The time is approximately 1710.

Now spotting plates whilst in a car isn't quite as easy as doing it on foot, everthing is moving faster. And in addition you can only really look at the traffic on the other side of the road - anything in your lane tends to stay in your lane, in the same relative position to you. If the car in front isn't an 11, then it's quite likely it could still not be an 11 in ten minutes time. And dual carriageways are actually worse - if there's a barrier in the middle, it tends to be at just the right height to obscure all number plates on the other side of the road. Despite this, I manage to spot an 11 heading the other direction on the A64 (coming up towards the M1). 1650 - 2 within an hour!

And it gets better - on the A64(M) going through the centre of Leeds, I spot 12, also heading the other direction. Well to give credit where it's due, C spots it and points it out to me. He couldn't use it himself, I think he was after a 10 at this point. Sadly the excitement of me finding the 12 causes me to lose my concentration and fail to get us to come off at thr right exit. Oops. No major harm done though as we manage to turn round and get back in the right direction. Which is the direction of a big car park. Prime spotting area!

Sadly it turns out to be no use. But late in the evening, at 2250 I find a purple Ford, with a 13 on it's plate parked outside the Baracuda Bar (which used to be Poundstretcher). 4 in a day? I think that's reasonable. I'll sleep well on that success.

Classic no. 9

Finally got the 9 yesterday. Since it was a nice day, and I had the afternoon off work, I figured I may as well go for a little walk. It was parked up by Water End, not quite underneath a weeping willow, but certainly close to one. It was a small red car of type unknown. I then followed this amazing discovery with a further two 9s. I had spotted a 10 at lunchtime, parked outside a shop in town. Would it still be there? Bit of a long shot as it was probably just someone who was doing a touch of shopping. But sometimes long shots work out... This one didn't. It had gone.

Not again!

It's happened again! On Tuesday there was the car I couldn't use, parked outside McDonalds (JAZ7 007). Back then I was looking for a 7. Today, whilst hunting 9s, I came across one of its brethren - JAZ9 007. Absolutely useless! This time it was a blue open top sports car - there must be a whole fleet of these JAZ cars bombing around York, doing nothing useful except to wind me up. I think I'm going to start my own subgame - find, in any order, JAZn 007 for n=1 to 9. Not as much fun as the main event, but one makes one's own entertainment. Unless you hire a film.

Better Luck on Day 4

That's better. After a wasted lunchtime wondering round town still in search of 7, I was starting to feel a little despondent. Not sure I could have coped with a second empty day in a row. But: At around half past two in the afternoon, we had a fire alarm and evacuation at work. As I leave the fire exit, onto the street, what do I see, parked alluringly? X7 SUE! Ubergloss! There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that I set off the alarm myself in order to gain some extra spotting time. Anyway, now, at last I can move on to 8. And even better, I know where an 8 is!

For the last two days there has been a slightly dented red Daihatsu parked outside some flats close to work, on my way to and from. It's an 8. Taking a risk, I decide to not get it straight away, rather to wait 3 hours until I'm on my way home and try for it then. This makes for rather a tense afternoon - I know I passed it on my way this morning, but there's no guarantee it'll still be there later (even though it was still there yesterday at 10.30pm). So you can imagine how nervous I was as I approached the flats at around 5:27 this evening... And, No! All the cars have gone! Grrrr...

Oh, hang on, no they're still there, they were just obscured by a wall. I collect my 8!

No 7s

Yesterday was a dismal day. Found absolutely no 7s. To rub it in, outside McDonalds, I found the following reg JAZ7 007. That potentially has two parts I could use as a 7 - but I wouldn't be able to hold my head high if I used it. It was clearly just a 7007, a number which plays no part in CNPS except to taunt me.

A second 6 comes to me, but is of no use

This is something I'm going to have to get used to: After all the pallava last night trying to get a 6, I opened my bedroom curtains this morning, and literally the first car I see is another 6. Maybe there's a more general life lesson here: Don't go for a long walk to try and satisfy a perceived need - everything you need can be found in the bedroom?

Day Two

Day one of CNPS - I think I was quite lucky. 1 to 4 without leaving the flat. On day two, the real challenge begins. And already, I am up against competition from C and J. Which leads me straight onto a note about this blog, as opposed to my real blog. Everything in here actually has happened. And all names will be real names, just the first letter. If two people have the same first name such as J and J, then J will become J1 and J will become J2 as J1's surname is before J2's surname alphabetically. I hope this makes sense.

So our initial players as I wake this morning: Me on 4, J1 and C both on a not quite trying 0. Maybe their windows are not as good as mine.

I'm aware that today is an important day for the game: today is the first time I either go for it, or just leave it as a side-thing in my head. Perhaps the second option would be healthier for my mental stability. Predictably I ignore that and fly into the thing. As I walk to work (outside for the first time) I'm checking every single car that passes me in either direction. For the first time I'm thankful of having to walk along a busy road to work, and not (say) a quiet river. If a bus passes on my side of the road I worry it might be obscuring a car going the other way. I kep having to turn my head to check the plates of cars I nearly missed due to checking parked cars on the other side of me. I'm looking for a 5.

2 to 4 were easy due to the recent changes in numbering of UK plates. 52 to 54 will be equally easy when I get that far. But for now, I just need a 5. And as I approach work, I must have passed maybe 200 or so cars. Not one 5 amongst them. And then, oh happiness: the last traffic lights before work, on the south side of Lendal Bridge, a silver sports car, sporting the 5 I so need. I nearly do a little jump! But instead just finish walking to work.

Lunchtime proves fruitless - no 6 in sight in the centre of York. Despite me slightly altering my routes to go along busier roads than normal.

After work I had planned to head out to meet some friends at a pub next to their exam centre. I could get the free work bus, or I could take a half hour walk to get there. I choose the walk as that way I'll pass more cars. Half hour walk later, and I've not seen a no 6. I meet up with the people in The Dormouse, they talk about their exam for hours. I haven't seen a 6. I hope that sitting outside the pub might let me see a 6 entering the pub car park. No luck. We eat. Still no luck. I choose to walk back into town with P and J2 rather than having a lift in a car, for the same reason as before. We reach the town centre, I am feeling I have wasted three hours of my life. And then, at five minutes to eight, a black car passes, with a 6 on it's plate. I've walked for an hour, gained one number and I'm happy.

Sadly in that same time, P and J2 also got from 1 to 6. And they weren't making an effort. Annoyingly, I know there was a 7 back in the car park of the Dormouse. But it's too late to head back there.

The Game Commences

Yesterday, on the 18th April 2004, I commenced playing the game of Consecutive Number Plate Spotting (CNPS). It's an easy game, essentially you have to spot a vehicle number plate with the number 1 on it, then one with the number two on it, then a 3 and so on up to 999. Full rules can be seen by following the link on the left. Also on the left is a site where you can register your own CNPS scores.

This blog will detail my CNPS and nothing else.

As I started the game, the weather outside was "wet". So my initial spotting was limited to cars that I could see out of my living room window. To get me off the mark, I needed to find a 1. I looked around desperately, but there was no 1. So as I'm clearly not going to go outside in the rain, I sit down to read my book for a bit. After about an hour, there is a car outside. Joy of joys, it's my upstairs neighbour just arrived home - her number plate starts Y1 - I'm in! From there I have a clear ride up to 4 - I can see an 02, an 03 and an 04 all within metres of my flat. But the 5 alludes me. Tomorrow I'll be out and about and can get started in earnest.