Canterbury: the first day

A little over a week ago to Canterbury, setting off on the Friday afternoon after a light lunch organised around lentils. Much the same mix as that recorded not many days previously at reference 1: perhaps a little wetter than intended, but perfectly satisfactory for all that.

Much thought given to the route, with the first thought being to leave the M20 at junction 8 at Maidstone and take the A20 then the A252 to Canterbury. Second thought was to leave the M20 at junction 9 at Ashford and take the A28 to Canterbury from there. As it turned out, the A28 was a modest enough, old-style A-road, so the first thought which took us through the North Downs might well have been slow - and given that it was by then getting dark, not very scenic either.

The light lunch did not work terribly well in that I was yawning most of the way to Maidstone, but was kept afloat with an alternating supply of barley sugars and cold water. Several Wellingtonia, but it was not convenient to stop and score any of them. And a fine infestation of mistletoe in the vicinity of junction 4.

Took a break for fizzy orange and croissant at Maidstone Services. Decaff for her. Entertained first by a party of school children in pink, followed by another in blue. But we did not get to find out what either of them were up to.

To Ashford, then wriggled our way across to the A28, then wriggled our way to Canterbury, being impressed by the number of houses, seemingly out in the country, with serious festive lighting. Then at Canterbury impressed by the city walls, complete with towers at intervals. I had forgotten that Canterbury was that kind of city.

We were not early enough for a space at either the front or back car park at the hotel (right hand orange spot), snapped at reference 2, so I worked my way back to the car park called Holman's Meadow (left hand orange spot). Quite the maze of narrow streets, reminding me very much of Romsey Town in Cambridge, albeit quite a lot older. Lots of cobbles to bump the trolley along.

The car park might have been described as long stay, but RingGo would not let me just pay for an overnight stay and I had to do it in three chunks, which was a bit tiresome. But at least they sent me reminders when each chunk was due.

A bit tired at this point for going out to eat, so settled for something basic in the restaurant in the hotel, which did well enough. Flat bread and burger for him, something lighter for her. Plus the odd lager.

After which we were up for the short stroll to town centre. Lots more cobbled streets, with the difference that these ones were retail rather than residential. Some post-war rebuilding of bombed buildings. Lots of festal sheds, probably not long shut. Lots of young people milling about: tourists, locals and students. Plus nests of food delivery and taxi drivers.

The cathedral was still open, with the gate still manned by officers of the Archbishops's own police force. At least they were not armed. And the cathedral itself was very impressive and, inside, we caught the tail end of a brass band powered Christmas Concert. One forgets how impressive loud music can be in places of this sort. And we had a proper parson in proper ceremonial robes.

Strolling back, we passed up on the local Wetherspoon's which appeared to be doing a good trade.

PS: and talking of bombs, reference 3 did not make for very good reading yesterday. It seems that the Germans have rather more trouble with right wing thuggery than we do, a lot of it from young east Germans resentful of the wealth of the west. Not for the first time, I wonder at the irresponsibility of the politicians who stir this sort of thing up. It also seems that, twenty years ago, the Germans had as much trouble keeping their undercover police officers under proper control as we did at about the same time, with the difference that we were on animals rather than immigrants. Reference 3 being written around the book at reference 4. After which the piece at reference 5 caught my eye, about how Germany, again just like us, is running out of young people to work all the care services and care homes that we need. Maybe we all need to do something make this work more attractive. Paying more would probably help - provided, that is, that the more went to the people doing the caring, not to the private finance types who seem to be holding the purse strings these days.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/winterreise.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/fake-187.html.

Reference 3: Making Germany hate again - Joshua Hammer, NYRB - 2024.

Reference 4: Look away: A true story of murders, bombings and a far-right campaign to rid Germany of immigrants - Jacob Kushner - 2024.

Reference 5: Germany joins EU’s ‘ultra-low’ fertility club: Europe’s most populous country sees fertility rates fall below crucial threshold of 1.4 - Valentina Romei, Financial Times - 2024.

No score

A few days ago, I paid my festive visit to the interior of the refurbished Sainsbury's at Kiln Lane, having decided that two boxes of beer would be straining the 5kg SWL of my own trolley.

Sainsbury's fairly busy inside, although not as busy as Waitrose seemed to be late yesterday afternoon, that is to say around 15:00 Sunday. Never seen the place so busy, but there had been a run on red grapefruit and I needed to top up. And their topping up had been efficient, as John West kippers were back on their shelf and I was able to buy two more tins against the planned boil-in-the-bag kipper fest. For which see reference 1.

The car park was fairly full, but not to the point of having to drive around waiting for someone to leave. I was impressed by the size of the car next door: clearly the Longmead Estate's take on the Chelsea tractor. According to carcheck, a 2023 Toyota Hilux Invincible X D-4D4WD DCB A. Price seems to depend a lot on both year and miles, but maybe £30,000. Not as much as I had thought.

And in the stack next to the car, a new-to-me trolley handle. Perhaps Sainsbury's call up hire trolleys for the busy season? In which case, one might have expected to see more of them.

I couldn't find anything about trolley hire at reference 2, but I did find a form to fill in about finding an abandoned trolley. In the TrolleyWise part of  360° service. I wonder how many people make use of it?

After due reflection, a no score day on my trolley front. In any event, I have more or less abandoned hope on the end-year target, splatted by the bad hip. And even if the hip could now take it, I am never going to make it from No.769 in the few days left after Christmas. And things had been looking so good for a few weeks. I had even planned my celebration menu at Cappdocia.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-tale-of-two-taverns.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/11/trolley-769.html.

Reference 3: https://www.cappadociaepsom.co.uk/.

Panned fish

I was fending for myself one day last week, so elected for a spot of smoked haddock. And cooked it in, what was for me, an entirely new way.

Soften two or three onions in butter for a few minutes, then place fish skin up on top. Put the lid on and cook gently for between five and ten minutes.

It did very well, although the onions might have been a little salty for some tastes. There does not appear to have been a green vegetable, although there would have been fruit to follow.

Tried the same thing with cod a few days later. Much paler and much wetter - this despite no water being added to the mix. Possibly to do with the fact that if the haddock really was smoked with hot smoke rather than with chemicals, that would dry it out a lot compared with fresh cod.

But at least I managed some vegetables on this occasion.

The onions cooked well, providing a good flavour and texture contrast to the fish. Did their intended service as garnish.

Fish pretty good too, but perhaps not as good as the cod that they managed at 2Veneti, noticed at reference 1. Maybe grilled, the water falls away, leaving the fish drier and firmer.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/10/cross-dressing.html.

Salt and vinegar

This to notice what will be the last visit to the Estrela this side of Christmas.

I thought about pulling a Bullingdon at Grant Road at Clapham Junction, but decided that that might be a bit premature. Stick and trolley a bit awkward on public transport and unlikely to be necessary - so settled for just the trolley. 

On the way to the station, past the broken gate to what, until recently, had been a convenient car park for the station. Certainly on a Sunday. Not clear whether it was drunks, thieves or the wind which did the damage, but whatever the case, it was repaired fast enough. Not much action yet, beyond marking the positions of the mains services to be shut down. Which last is presumably a pre-requisite for demolition.

And as it happened it was a blue train to Vauxhall, more trolley friendly than the more usual red trains. Slightly different layout, although I would struggle now to say exactly what the differences were. With the only downer being that I managed to leave my woolly hat on the train, and by the time I noticed I was out in the bus station. Not worth getting myself to Waterloo to try and track it down.

Then onto the main business of the day, which was to check whether a larger Waitrose than Epsom ran to the bottles of wine with cork but without capsule advertised in a recent number of 'drinks business' and noticed at the end of reference 1.

Past some quite complicated street art, described as a college, by the US embassy. I was puzzled by the smooth, flush finish - so perhaps what we actually got was a collage rendered photographically onto plywood. 

The work of one Laura Goossens of reference 2, from where the snap above is taken. The people at reference 3 are also involved, who claim to be trying to inject a bit of humanity into the forest of tower blocks: 'we encourage creativity and community through arts projects and events in Nine Elms, Battersea. Bringing together creatives, businesses and residents, our work is focused around arts, wellbeing, spirituality, and social justice'. I wonder who exactly they are. Dominus Real Estate, another partner in this venture, also flaunt their humanist credentials. But, sadly, so do they all these days. Hard to know exactly who is who.

What is true, is that the forest, certainly for a newcomer like myself, is a bit intimidating at ground level, despite the efforts just noticed.

And so into Waitrose, a rather different format than the one in Epsom, perhaps more geared to the needs of young people working or living in one of the towers than those of suburbia. There was also a café-bar area which might have been licensed, although I did not see anyone actually drinking. And they did indeed have the capsule free wine, closing a small range of own-brand wine. Obvious really that they were going to start with their own stuff: I don't suppose they are in a position to insist with many of the people who sell them wine 'bottled on the estate'. Or perhaps 'an' estate would be nearer the mark.

The tops of the towers outside still in the clouds, despite it being past noon.

From there, past the embassy, complete with a brace of heavily armed policemen, and back under the railway.

That is so say, back into the real world, with yet another trolley which it was not convenient to capture. And someone had thought to rearrange the once helpful sign.

More community action. Interesting to see all the different styles and formats this sort of thing comes in. And interesting to see how it wears.

And so into Wilcox Road, once a busy street market. Once even a quite decent baker. I learned later that the community is not very happy about the development on the left. Perhaps public safety, perhaps lack of affordables, I forget which. Perhaps both. The public house off camera to the left, long shut. The white one to the right, just about hanging in. Long time since I took a beverage there.

The story from reference 5 is snapped above.

Not quite sure about the status of this bicycle shed. Nor was I quite sure whether I would want to leave my bicycle in it. Maybe flat dwellers need to go for the folding Bromptons. It would have been helpful if the man from the council had bothered to fill in the blanks in the notice attached: a bit incomprehensible as it stands. Or has the service been privatised?

Next to the Estrela there was a curious art gallery. Warm, open and apparently unmanned. With further space in a basement which had been opened up to the room above to make one big space. Stairs down not very trolley friendly.

Probably the double fronted black place, snapped above from Street View. Estrela off camera to the left. 'Founded in 2008 by Tom McParland, Will Jarvis and Harry Scoging Beer, The Sunday Painter was formerly based in Peckham and moved to Vauxhall in 2017 to a 2,100 square feet space. / The gallery first came about as a not-for-profit platform, the space later turned to a commercial gallery, supporting emerging and mid-career artists'.

In the Estrela, back on the Deu le Deu, to make a change from the lager. A reliable and reasonably priced white wine as noticed at reference 6. But I should have remembered that they rather spoil the otherwise good (and substantial) pork stew by putting far too much salt and vinegar in the gravy. A mistake.

Tiramisu, brick format, entirely satisfactory. Also substantial. I dare say made on the premises, along with their other desserts.

Outside, one can rely on there being an interesting skyline late afternoon.

The tree looked better in real life than it does here. But someone needs to work on how you put fences around the bottom of public trees - with the one we have in the market square at Epsom being even worse. I can see that you need something, but surely someone could come up with something better? A commission for the international school of creation here at Epsom? Maybe one of their many students from the Far East on a gap year from home could come up with something?

Puffed up the many steps to the platform with the trolley, just catching the 15:58, which for some reason took just over 30 minutes to get to Epsom. Missed out on Raynes Park and the possibility of a copy of 'drinks business' yet again.

New to me bollards around the back entrance to the flats at Epsom Station. Possibly also to the bicycle shed. As far as I can remember, one just used to leave them in the station itself in those far off days when I used to cycle to the station.

The white hoarding at the right has been there for years. Around some huts which I think are something to do with Network Rail. Maybe they will go away eventually.

PS: quite impressed with Bing, which gave me reference 7 as the first hit on the search key 'deu le deu'. Maybe he has been reading my mail again.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/11/october-2023.html.

Reference 2: https://www.gooseglitters.com/.

Reference 3: https://www.nineelmsartsministry.org/.

Reference 4: https://dominusrealestate.co.uk/about-us/.

Reference 5: https://thewilcox.co.uk/the-location/.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/09/walkabout.html.

Reference 7: https://adegademoncao.pt/en/wine/alvarinho-deu-la-deu/.

Fake 187

A long time ago, we stayed in the Chaucer Hotel, on the ring road, just to the south of Canterbury town centre. At that time, a rather old fashioned hotel, possibly dating from the 1920s, involving a fair amount of brown wood doors, trim and so on on the ground floor.

There was some connection with Rupert Bear, lately of the Daily Express and for whom see reference 2.

The place is now a Travelodge with a reformatted restaurant area, complete with a good supply of plastic plants. This despite the ease with which this one - a mother in-law's tongue of reference 3 - can be grown for real. Given away both by the pale colouring of and the mould marks on the leaves.

PS 1: I now find that parts of the building at least are grade II listed: 'an early C19 house. 3 storeys red brick with right side canted bay on all 3 floors, Hipped tiled roof and stone coping. Sashes with glazing bars intact, 3 storey later extension to right in matching style'.

PS 2: the listing people are rather protective of their images, but their protection is no defence against Microsoft's Snipping Tool. An image which may have been made before Travelodge moved in.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/fake-186.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Bear.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_trifasciata.

Group search key: fakesk.

Pot hole

A rather fierce pot hole on the Stamford Green side of West Hill, snapped in the dark, with the telephone making up for the lack of light with a long exposure and low resolution. I don't think that it uses its flash without instruction - which I have not given and would not know how to give.

Nor have I taken a straight edge and tape to it, but the drain cover must be a good four inches below the surrounding surface and could be a bit unpleasant if you hit it on a bicycle, not having noticed or known of it beforehand, which would be easy enough in the dark. At least the slots in the cover are fairly narrow and diagonal, so you would be unlikely to get your front wheel stuck in one, with possibly catastrophic results.

Broken sump underneath?

A tale of two taverns

The week before last saw rare visits to both the Wetherspoon's at Tooting Broadway and the Marquis here at Epsom. Rare, both in my being there at all and in my being out after dark.

Like here at Epsom, the Wetherspoon's has not changed much, although I dare say that it has had a few wash-and-brush-ups over the years and there are more small tables in the front bar. Some of the pictures on the walls - possibly the work of art students - are still there from the old days. And the corner snapped above, which used to be called the office by its inhabitants, is still recognisable through the festive trim. I deduced that Wetherspoon's offer a festive menu and will be open for the middle part of Christmas Day, but they do not appear to be in the business of Christmas Lunch. That is to say, full on affairs with sausage meat wrapped up in streaky bacon and so on and so forth.

I learned of the merits of heat in the tin kippers from John West, a variation on boil in the bag. None of the bother of the real thing and one only had to be careful when opening the hot tin. Oddly, it was not necessary to pierce the tin before heating (in a pan of hot water). If I remember, I shall attempt to buy some this afternoon.

While serious gas works continue outside the Halfway House at Earlsfield, Works which appeared to include lifting out large chunks of cast iron, mains gas pipes, getting on for a foot in diameter. Much disturbance to the traffic.

Large gaps of the 'mind the gap' variety at both Earlsfield and Raynes Park. I was offered a seat by a young lady at Earlsfield, which was nice of her, except that she did not appear to have one to offer. Perhaps she was going to chase her partner out of his? While there was nothing of interest at the Raynes Park platform library and it is starting to look as if I am going to miss out on the Christmas numbers of both 'drinks business' and 'spirits business'. Will I bother with the online versions?

Started the next day with getting my hair cut by a chap from Cuba whose wife came from the Abruzzi, which I had previously heard of, but I now know to be the chunk of Italy over the mountains to the east of Rome. A place which includes a lot of national parks - which might, if this country is anything to go by, mean that it is rather poorly off compared with the rest of Italy. Poorly off in a material sense that is. A household which has to contend with three languages - two of which are slowly drifting apart from the versions spoken back home. A problem that all emigrants have to deal with.

This followed by a substantial lunch of M&S sour dough under left-over mince, with the mince doing a good job of disguising the sourness of the bread. Plus some white cabbage by way of five-a-day. Followed by a snooze.

Followed by a quick run of 20 minutes down to a festive Marquis with the trolley, so things are looking up. Barely recognisable in the snap above, but which does include a slice of the fine new awning, top left. And there were some puffers outside taking advantage of the mild evening.

Spot of Peroni inside. Boozers in the front, office gathering in the back. An office gathering which appeared to have organised a lot more food than they were likely to eat, but I did not stay long enough for grazing to be polite. Maybe if I was a bit younger and a bit brassier, I would just have muscled in anyway, mince on sour dough notwithstanding.

The thing on the right in the snap above, looks like a a table decoration, but it fails to compute this morning. Perhaps I shall have to go back for a second look this afternoon, in the margins of collecting my tins of kipper.

PS 1: later: Waitrose down to their last tin of John West's kippers by the time I got there. Snagged that, and moved onto M&S to find that they did not sell them at all - or anything else John West that I could see - despite the friendly and helpful intervention of a young lady who had been busy with boxes of something else altogether.

PS 2: the fat book about Italy last noticed at reference 4, does not contain many pages about the Abruzzi. Perhaps a bit too wild and woolly in those days to be of interest to French tourists, even of the arm-chair variety.

A couple of pages on, we have this castle, a shot which does not seem to match anything turned up by Bing for the very large castle - a keep within a castle on top of a hill - turned up by gmaps. Perhaps the answer is the post war renovation talked of at reference 5.

Maybe it controlled the main road across the mountains from Rome to the port of Pescara.

Still further on, there is a striking picture of the west front of what is described as Aquila Cathedral - and not much like those of the roughly contemporary English cathedrals. But inquiry reveals it to be the [basilica of] Santa Maria di Collemaggio, rather more impressive in my old & arty black & white photograph than it is in the modern one in colour above. In any event, not a cathedral at all.

References

Reference 1: https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/.

Reference 2: https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abruzzo.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/02/towers.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_Piccolomini_(Celano).

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_di_Collemaggio.