I achieved the dream of walking out of Tesco with something I hadn’t paid for. I bought a carton of oat milk that had a promotional price of £1.50 on the shelf edge, but after checking my receipt I saw that I’d been charged £2. Out of principle, I immediately headed for the customer service desk to point this out. The employee disappeared off to check and came back with the shelf edge label announcing the discount. She said that the promotion was supposed to have ended, but the tag had been left, so she was going to refund me the difference.

However, the computer wouldn’t allow a partial discount. The only thing she could do was to refund me the full amount I’d paid for the item, so she did that and I walked out with a carton of milk I hadn’t paid for.

It’s not going to solve the cost of living crisis, but it was a nice bonus.

We went to a fundraising gig for Gaza organised by All Our Relations on Tuesday evening in Hackney. There was music and poetry, and I got to see Rozi Plain, who I’d previously only heard on the radio, as well as various intersections of former The Comet is Coming members and associates.

A band on stage: keyboards, guitar/vocals, saxophone, drums, and bass. A QR code is visible on the wall behind, and two of the musicians have a keffiyeh draped around their shoulders.

Rozi Plain and band

When everything seems terrible, it’s reassuring to be among people who feel the same way, and joy is an act of defiance and solidarity.

I finally tracked down more details about the mural in Bowditch. I cycled past in September when it was being painted, and every time since then I’ve wondered about it. It looks like it’s made of Arabic letters, but my very basic Arabic wasn’t enough to work out whether it actually said anything.

The end wall of a seven-floor block of council flats. It is painted in a striking royal blue and decorated with curlicues resembling Arabic calligraphy in multiple bright contrasting colours.

eL Seed mural in Bowditch

It’s part of the London Mural Festival and it’s by eL Seed, a Tunisian artist influenced by Arabic calligraphy and street art. It’s beautiful and striking in its vibrant blue on the side of a council block in Deptford, and I love to see it every time I pass it on my bike.