Exit portal

After a short, unplanned stay at Epsom Hospital last week, I reached the exit portal at around 18:00 yesterday evening, that is to say Monday evening. BH turned up outside with transport a few minutes later.

When I first knew it, more than ten years ago now, the circular, domed space just inside the doors, was a busy concourse and waiting area. Chairs, small tables and a limited supply of refreshments. A modest WVS facility. A large desk manned by hospital staff who provided information and direction. Perhaps in the wake of the plague, it seems to have been downgraded, with some of the space having been taken by offices and all that is left of the facilities being a few chairs. The hospital no longer seems to have a main entrance in the old way of doing things - which I suppose to be the combined result of shortage of money and of changing practise.

By way of souvenir, I acquired a modest piece of artwork, presumably the result of a mum organised enough to be able to provide her child with pen and paper enough to keep him or her amused for a while.

More to follow, but this contraption is offered as a taster, a pneumatic tube transport system the like of which I have not seen in operation for many years, with my last memory of such a thing being the one which ran around the ceilings of part at least of Eaden Lilley's of Cambridge, at that time one of the grand provincial department stores which were quite common at the time, now largely extinct. A memory which might well be defective, but probably evidence that such things did exist at the time of my childhood.

This one came from Quirepace of Fareham, to be found at reference 2 below and appeared to be used for moving some (but not all blood) samples about. Quirepace offer UCLH in London as one of their grander installations at reference 3.

While to the left we have one of the various panels indicative of serious service supply. A bit more going on that the domestic electricity and hot water that we have a home.

PS 1: Eaden Lilley was the source of my school uniforms, my mother disdaining the other big store, Joshua Taylor, which she thought both expensive and pretentious. Another memory is her having sufficient presence to cow the shopmen (with their little receipt books with blue carbon paper) into taking her cheques without question, this being well before the invention of cheque guarantee cards, let alone the bank cards we have now.

PS 2: one the curiosities of my visit was waking up once in the middle of the night, probably slightly feverish, with a sudden need for tinned peach halves. Preferably a leading brand of same. A need which wore off a bit, but survived to take some tinned peach halves from the Waitrose Essential range this Tuesday lunchtime. One of the markers of leading brand is tinned in peach juice rather than sugar and water and I now know that Waitrose compromise with grape concentrate, citric acid and water. BH tasked with investigating the peach scene at the big Sainsbury's tomorrow. Her bet is that it will be much the same as Waitrose.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaden_Lilley.

Reference 2: https://www.quirepace.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://www.quirepace.co.uk/products/pneumatic-tube-systems/case-studies/case-study-uclh/.

Reference 4: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2012/03/following-post-of-16th-february-i-can.html. More than ten years ago - having had to resort to 'view source' to extract the file name.