psmv5: Borough

A week or so to Borough Market to stock up on meat and cheese. A hazy start to the day and it was probably going to be hot. 11:15 to London Bridge. By which time it was close and there was a long queue at the ticket office. Fortunately, there were machines up, running and available.

There were also plenty of mothers and children about, and two of them were sat just across from me. They were well equipped and this meant that the child was set up with a junior laptop which played a repetitive and tiresome jingle for part of the journey, while the mother interacted with her mobile phone. But by the end of the journey, she was interacting with her child in the proper way and all was forgiven. They both looked very happy.

First stop at London Bridge was Ginger Pig, on this occasion entirely staffed up by young ladies. Has there been some change of management or something? Plus there was not that much meat in the in-store chiller cabinet. I didn't like the look of the shoulder of lamb - nothing wrong with the meat but they had cut too much off the shank off for my liking - and so settled for a piece of forerib instead. Too much of its bone had been cut out too, but at least I could buy it back at £3 a kilo.

Another cheerful young lady at the cheese shop, yet another at a wine shop where they sold stuff which put me in mind of the orgo wine I used to get from Terroirs. Cuddly service all round!

I decided that it was not that hot and that a walk to Waterloo was in order, stopping at a new-to-me place called Coco di Mama in Southwark Street on the way. It looked just like one of the hundreds coffee and snack places dotted around London and I settled for apple juice and a cheese and something roll, for getting on for a tenner. Perfectly adequate, but I now learn from their elaborate website at reference 1 that I could have had something a bit less pedestrian had I pushed a bit harder. The only catch there being that the snap above, taken from the website, does not look much like the place itself did on the day. But there were seats outside where I was able to watch the lunch time world go by.

At Waterloo, I was just looking at the out of order sign on the lift up to the platforms, when I was poked by a waiting member of staff who led me and my trolley around to a service lift. A first visit to the inner depths, the left hand half of the snap above, although I can't quite work out now how I came to emerge up top where I did.

Another tenner put out on a not very good number of the Economist, after which I learned all about getting onto a train with both trolley and shopping, probably a bit more than the 5kg limit on the trolley shopping container. It was good that I had plenty of time and that the train was not busy.

A bit of care needed getting out at Epsom, but I took my time and all was well. Furthermore, I took the lift down from the platform, rather than showing off on the stairs.

Three blackberry stops on the way home, for instant consumption that is. First, from the railings going down station approach.

Second from the bushes on the embankment, just the Station Approach side of the railway bridge. Needless to say, some of the best berries were just out of reach. And it was not a good place to push one's luck.

Third, from the bushes outside Epsom Autos, the people who having been doing our various cars for more than thirty years now. And also what seems to be the busy new shed for Crossfit - the people whom I know from underneath the arches at Clapham Junction. Lots of muscle bound young people doing strange things.

Meat arrived safely at home. Bones visible behind, to the left. I might say that the meat turned out much better than might appear from this snap - but I shall be reporting on that properly in due course. I guess the wealth of interior fat was a good sign, even if there was not that much on top.