Not so warm for my last visit to the Estrela, but the leaf buds were bursting on the hawthorn outside out bedroom window and it was warm enough by early afternoon to sit outside to eat.
There was a train with an abstract, geometric paint job on the front of a carriage of a train at Clapham Junction. Very bright and cheerful. The first time I have seen such a thing during the Southwestern Trains tenure of the franchise.
A Claud Butler bicycle on the deck in the tunnel under the tracks at Vauxhall. Not much like the Claud Butler which I used to own near fifty years ago, when it served to carry me to work, from Bury Lodge (of reference 4) to Titchfield - a run which involved a more serious hill in the middle than I would care to tackle now.
The route which is marked in light blue and is 18km or 1 hour according to Ordnance Survey, which sounds about right. In my mid-twenties, both directions in rain, frost, snow, light or dark was not a problem - although I remember that keeping the bicycle light batteries topped up was a bit of a pain. I don't remember punctures - although I would have carried the kit in those days - but I do remember the bottom bracket failing. A failing which required an afternoon's attendance by a couple of Army mechanics who happened to be on hand.
Not a brand I come across very often - although I should say that the one noticed at reference 3 is much more like the one I used to ride than that snapped above.
Not made much progress on checking out the nearest Wellingtonia to the Houses of Parliament, but I did think to checkup on the one in Vauxhall Gardens, taking in the handsome young fir free snapped above on the way. About which Google Images is not much help at all, even when I tell it that it is the tree I am interested in - this being necessary despite having given it a cropped version of the snap above. But, to be fair, there are a lot of conifers and identification is tricky. Maybe a visit to Wisley will do the trick?
Wellingtonia all present and correct. Presumably, at some point, the parky (aka professional tree surgeon) trimmed off the lower branches.
While outside the Estrela, I noticed for the first time the overhead traffic light. Apparently it has been there for years and years, but I do not think I ever noticed it before. One does not take in as much as one might like to think.
Useful Tate Library to the right. Apparently the upper floors are let out to affordables, some more desirable than others.
Adequate bread and adequate bean soup. Sometimes their soups are quite good, but they they are not reliable. However, there was a change on the wine front, for a change. Served at room temperature, so presumably they don't sell enough to keep one in the cold cupboard behind the counter. Rather good for all that.
And the key 'soalheiro alvarinho' turns it up fast enough at reference 5, in the far north of Portugal. Presumably seen its share of armies over the years, as Portugal and Spain settled down to their present frontier.
The black spot may well be the place in question, but who knows whether the snap lifted from reference 5 is looking north towards Spanish mountains or east towards Portuguse ones? Maybe with a bit more effort I could work it out from the road running up the middle.
Food got much better with the spare ribs, served without their sometimes dodgy gravy, but with plenty of trimmings.
Polished off with one of their fruit salads and a spot of brandy. Just the thing after all the fat and carb snapped above.
In the margins, I found out that the Estrela, strong on fish and sea food, offer a fine crab salad. Something to try one day. Maybe not as plentiful as the crab at reference 7, but maybe with a spot more presentation. Salad and so forth.
There was some discussion of the short takes of the advertisements which are made for televisions and telephones these days, perhaps something to do with declining attention span. There was also the matter of the irritatingly short takes used by the people who make the 'Shetland' series that BH and I are currently watching of an evening. The being that they have two or three strands of story on the go at once, with the takes being in seconds rather than minutes, although I have not bothered to time them. I find it rather tiresome and not helpful for keeping track of what it going on. These stories are quite complicated enough as it is without trying to keep track of it from 10 second dollops. But I might say that, notwithstanding, they make good use of sound track to crank up the atmosphere.
Also that the current series depends on people remembering what had happened at an outdoor party (so far north?) more than twenty years previously. Consulting my own memory, I don't find very much at all that far back, just the odd highlight. I dare say more could be unearthed if suitably prompted, but could one trust it. Would it be reliable testimony?
And while I think of it, the Wikipedean take on the origin of the name. BH has been asking.
While à propos of the proposed cuts to benefits, it was pointed out that it costs more to live if you are disabled. You need all the extra stuff and all the extra help - offset, to some extent I suppose, by a reduced tendency to splash out on outdoor entertainment. No doubt the relevant government department take all this sort of thing into account when setting the rates for personal independence payments (aka PIPs).
No aeroplanes on the flight path down to Heathrow, is being the day of the substation fire. We wondered how proof such things are against hackers from parts east. Something for some IT security part of government to worry about. But there were two trotting rigs on the South Lambeth Road, out taking the air.
The name of the author of the book I have read recently about Orwell's first wife went missing. After a while Anna Wunder popped into mind. From which it was easy enough to get my telephone to tell me the right answer, Anna Funder. A useful backup to the wetware. A book which I shall be reporting on in due course - but suffice it to say for the present that I was a bit shocked by what I read about Orwell - even allowing for this being a fictionalised account. Childhood hero and all.
I have probably noticed the curious placement of the central chimney before and it would still be interesting to plot the descent of the shafts from the inside.
An interesting medley framing the spy house in the middle. One of the chaps at TB did time there as an electrician when it was being fitted out, and he told us of the interesting arrangements that were made to stop bad people getting at or making use of the waste water, perhaps to export classified material.
More prosaically, I wonder whether the stainless steel canopy over the bus station, aka art work, has been made into a listed building yet? Speaking for myself, sometimes I am impressed, sometimes I find it rather ugly: I guess it must all depend on my mood and the lighting.
These colours seemed a bit brighter than usual. Just because they are newer or because some new variety of spray paint has arrived in the shops? One supposes that the stuff is quite dear, so the people doing it can't be on their beam ends - assuming, that is, that they don't just steal the stuff.
On the first train a young lady with some kind of educational music book, rather like a score, which appeared to be made up of lines of music with a treble clef - that is to say not a score for a piano or a string quartet. Plus she had a telephone, or something of that size and shape, which could act as a keyboard. At least it looked like a short keyboard, even if no sound came out on the odd occasion that she appeared to be consulting it. Maybe it transmitted sounds into her ears wirelessly. No idea what she was up to - and rather too much drink taken to go over and ask her. Maybe if I had happened to be sitting next to her.
One novel for BH from RPPL. Knocked off, as I recall, in a day or so. Entirely readable and by no means featherweight. It has been retained for a second helping. I learn today from Wikipedia that the author is more poet and translator than novelist, there is a French connection (this novel being set in provincial France), she now teaches at Goldsmiths and lives in Tunbridge Wells.
A young man (who looked to be of school age, which I suppose just about computes given the time of day) with a rather flashy looking bicycle was occupying the space by the doors on the train to Epsom. It looked brand new, and it was, I think, some kind of Trek mountain bike, and nothing at all like my Trek tourer, much more like the bike at reference 3 than anything at reference 2. This one was something called Level 4 and was complete with various go-faster stripes which he was very proud of. While I had a short chat with the chap standing behind me about real bicycles.
Reference 2 does not admit to Level 4, but it does admit to Gen 4 - which seems to push the prices into thousands rather than hundreds. Who was paying for this one?
I wondered afterwards whether part of the point of reference 2 is to make the whole buying experience terribly complicated, arcane even. To add value by making choice and purchase a big production, a big experience. Perhaps the people who sell mobile phones are at the same game - perhaps targeting the same sort of young men.
Home to capture the trolleys previously noticed at reference 1.
PS: POTUS has been going on about how VAT is, in effect, a tariff on goods imported from the US into places like the UK. One should perhaps remember that most states in the US levy a sales tax, which is not that different, albeit at a rather lower rate, say averaging around 10% as opposed to our 20%.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trolley-803.html.
Reference 2: https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/mountain_buyers_guide/.
Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/trolleys-702-and-703.html.
Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/marmalade.html.
Reference 5: https://soalheiro.com/wines/soalheiro-alvarinho-classico-2022/.
Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melga%C3%A7o,_Portugal.
Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/fishy-polesden.html.