Hook Road

I had been warned that I might not feel great for a few days after the procedure noticed at reference 1 and they were right. So a couple of days later, I was not ill, but not full of bounce either. Just about good enough for a gentle stroll around West Hill and Hook Road.

The conversion of the garage block at the Epsom end of Hook Road remains 99% complete, at least from the outside, and we now have a screened off area (left in the snap above) for sitting out, barbecues and so forth. A conversion which started back in 2019 if reference 2 is anything to go by, so a long running story. What on earth is the chap doing it going to do with himself when it finally comes to an end?

I think Amber, who did our new boiler last year, used to live in the back land down the alley running to the right, now houses.

Work on the mosque continues, once the church hall attached to St. Barnabas of Temple Road, once a well-endowed high church operation, now reduced to teaming up with St. Paul's of Howell Hill. This despite a handsome & expensive looking new church frontage, installed perhaps twenty years ago now. The work, I imagine, of a serious ecclesiastical contractor. I believe that they also do good work with people with mental health problems, of which Epsom, with its mental hospital cluster, used to have more than its fair share. See reference 3.

Has the work on the mosque stalled for lack of funds? Things have been quiet for a while. See references 4 and 5.

The church frontage in Temple Road, taken from Street View. And as well as the former church hall, there is also a large vicarage. We used to know the son of the vicar, from whom we learned that the place was a swine to heat in the winter on a parson's salary, well endowed urban vicars being a thing of the past. This one might even have been one of those second career men from the Ministry of Defence or the armed forces, of whom there seem to be a few about. Not just the oil industry coming up with Archbishop Welby. No need for all that Hebrew and Greek Bible stuff these days.

Dustbins apart, a rather flattering view of the place. I dare say if I worked at it I could get rid of the helpful blue cross in the middle.

Pleased to see that the weeping Atlas cedar was still present and correct, even if being hemmed in a bit by native growth.

Home to turn three nuts out of my pocket, picked up in the course of our second outing to the Church House Inn at Holne the Friday previous. They had browned off a bit in my pocket, having started rather green. One dud, one yellow and one white. BH said the yellow one was fine, as was the white one. Rather riper and rather better than those noticed at reference 6. Still failed to spot any actually on a bush, in the hedge.

PS 1: earlier today I was struck by a headline on the front page of a recent Guardian pink job saying that: 'to avoid more cuts, Labour must relax its borrowing rules'. Or put another way, let's have some public cake we can't afford today and hope that private growth tomorrow will pay for it. Track record on growth notwithstanding. Anyway, tomorrow is another day altogether, definitely mañana. I suppose the trouble is that banging on about living beyond our means and needing to wean ourselves off growth - all that jetting off on foreign holidays, all those fancy new cars, all those fancy new kitchens - is a bit tedious. A bit like banging on about save the planet. Doesn't get bums on seats, doesn't get the clicks that more cheerful & jolly news gets. With the result, that nothing much gets done and we just dig ourselves deeper in - while the chaps with all the oil buy themselves a few more slices of London. Maybe the odd country estate. And the chaps in financial and legal services take commission. Solution: time for the people of my generation, the post-war bulge, who have done well out of housing and who are now burning up lots of health and social care to take a haircut. Give the next generation a break.

PS 2: not forgetting that President Putin is one of the chaps with all the oil. And the gas. And the uranium needed to power our upcoming nuclear power stations. Good job we are still pally with the Canadians and the Australians.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/09/rite-of-passage.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/01/herald-copse.html.

Reference 3: https://www.stbarnabas-epsom.org.uk/.

Reference 4: https://ipsumconstructions.com/.

Reference 5: https://www.eeis.co.uk/. Clocks seem to be important here.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/09/green-berries.html.