"Batman doesn't have a horse."

Catching up. Using lines from Fresh Meat as post titles. 

I've been here before with 180s, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain.

53/50

Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence by Will Hodgkinson (Nine Eight Books 2024)

Chapter 1 Temple Fortune

"Golders Green," said Lawrence, "is the worst place in the world when you need to piss."

We left the underground station in this north London neighbourhood, which has been home to the city's Orthodox Jewish community since the 1950s, and found the public toilets closed, abandoned, isolated by a dirty grey wire fence.

“This is the only area in London where you can’t find a hedge or tree just a little ways away to let off steam,” Lawrence said, dragging his narrow frame from the hall to the street with surprising speed. The wind gently stirred the black curtains of hair on either side of his baseball cap. “The last thing you want is to be caught pissing in a hedge in Golders Green. In certain parts of south London it wouldn’t be a problem, and I could write a book about it. But you have to be respectful here.”

Lawrence had first visited the neighbourhood a few years earlier. He had taken to taking long walks through residential areas, without a map and without a clear objective, to clear his mind and find solutions to his problems and, above all, ideas for new songs. Perhaps Golders Green would provide him with the inspiration he needed for that elusive success he had been chasing since 1980, a success capable of transforming his life and immersing him in a glorious bubble of fame and money. One day, while walking around Muswell Hill, he noticed a sign that said “North Finchley”. All he knew about the neighbourhood was that the teenage punk group Eater came from there, so he decided to do some research.

—“Let’s see what the place where Eater came from is like,” I thought. It turned out that Finchley was a very residential area. From there I came to Finchley Central, and eventually ended up here. And I fell in love.

Quadruple D

Fuck . . .should I say that louder? FUCK! My dartitis really kicked whilst trying to throw the third dart. It took me at least 45 seconds to throw that dart, and even then it was a half throw/half thrust. All the more surprising when it snuck in. I'm never going to shake off dartitis, am I? (The third T60 was the one on the bottom left.)

Apparently, Nathan Aspinall goes to see a hypnotherapist two times a week; so it looks like I'll need to start playing the scratch cards again.

44/50

'Sod the Norweigan leather industry, have you heard about the Canadian Shield?'

Whilst Owen was telling me about the Canadian Shield, I hit my 43rd 180 of 2025.

Gawd Bless You, Justin Theroux.

43/50

Going back to bed

It's going to be one of those days.

That is what is known as a 'Robin Hood' in darts. Think of that scene with Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Five minutes later I was throwing again for a 180 and the third dart bounced out.

Superstore (2018/19)

 

We are living in a Ted Lasso bizarro world

Posted March 26, 6.26 AM.

I don't usually post about dreams - and I don't want to go into details now - but that dream featuring a drunken Ted Lasso (Jason Sudekis) on the roadside was a bit too close to the bone for my liking. My sub-conscious really does like to do a number on me sometimes.

The great thing about dreams is that when I look at this post again weeks or months from now, I will have no idea what this post is about. (The beauty of not including details.)

37/50

Bullet points

• New flights.*
• New stems.**
• New 180.

35/50

*The new flights are Jonny Claytons. They were cheap . . . but I'm also a fan of Jonny.

** Ordered the wrong stems. They're longer than I wanted but I'll give them a try, and see if I can adapt to them.

Good Karma?

Wow, maybe I need to find a unicorn in this life? Cue that scene from Mr Inbetween.

34/50

Scrub that . . .

. . . it turns out unicorns were fair game in my past life.

33/50

Bad Karma?

I must have killed a unicorn in a previous life.

I'm just dog-tired at this point

Naturally, I'm not posting this at 12.53 PM.

32/50

Grange Hill (1978)

 

Catching Up - Part 3

Nothing to add.  

Okay, that's already getting old. What can I add? 

• That's 5 180s in one day. My record is 7 180s in one day, which I have achieved twice.
• I didn't hit my 31st 180 last year until September 17th. 
• In 2020 — my best year for 180s — I hit my 31st 180 on the 3rd February. So, theoretically, I'm just lagging behind 2020 but two important points: 1) I was throwing more darts in 2020. A lot more. 2) The dreaded Dartitis had yet to kick in.
• Turns out that back in February 2020, I was binge watching Detectorists in the background whlist throwing darts. I just finished binge watching Detectorists a few days ago. I'm nothing if not predictable.
• I was half-watching the first season of Grange Hill season whilst throwing. Michael Doyle was a great villain. Up there with J. R. Ewing and Joffrey.

31/50

Catching Up - Part 2

Nothing to add.

30/50

Catching Up - Part 1

Nothing to add.

29/50

That line about a tree falling in a wood . . .

. . . does that apply here?

Back to back legs against the Russ Bray Darts App.

41, 100, 140, 140, 80 (15 darts - 100.2 average)

100, 25, 60, 140, 140, 36 (16 darts - 93.9 average)

In between numbers 27 & 28 . . .

. . . I hit a 150 checkout. That was a wild six minutes.

I didn't think to take a pic of the checkout, 'cos my best checkout is a 152. I actually regret that decision now. 

The other downside of that brief flurry of my darts being on point is that my Dartitis started to rear its ugly head again. (It's never far away at any time, tbh.) Only when I was throwing for doubles though. A victim of my success.

28/50

Interesting to note that this 180 and number 27 are near identical in how they've landed in the T20 bed. The only slight difference is that this one landed more to the left side of the T20 bed.

Got that Ren song going through my head, right now

What Ren song? This one.

27/50

Jesus Christ . . .

I didn't need to hear that.

26/50

Detectorists (2015)

 

I didn't do a gold dance

. . . but my cheeks were moist.

25/50

Embarrassed much?

Is it just me, or does two of those darts look like someone crossing their legs?

#NotEnoughSleep

24/50

Superstore (2017/18)

 

Spurs getting smashed on the TV

Sorry for JC. It's not going to happen for them, is it?

Is that 23 years since Spurs last won a trophy? It would have been apt.

23/50

#22 for 2025

I'm temporarily out of witty and urbane post titles.

Family drama too early in the morning. Nobody's had enough sleep, and everyone's running late, so I seek solace in throwing darts inbetween making breakfasts and lunches.

22/50

Detectorists (2014)

 

I've come of age

I only hit 21 180s all year in 2023. Didn't hit my 21st 180 until June 17th in 2024. This year is an upgrade.

And that's me with the lurgy these past six weeks.

21/50

Scored another 180 . . .

. . . see what I did there?

20/50

Flights of fancy

1st of the month . . . 1st 180 of the month . . . don't mind the mismatched flights. Just working through some old darts stuff.

19/50

162, before you ask . . .

I will eventually stop posting Rounds of 9 on the blog — obviously I need to free up space for those planned 15,000 word essays — but the novelty hasn't not worn off yet. Especially when it involves T18s, which can be a bit tricky at the best of times.