Chicken dinner

The day, about a fortnight ago now, started with a stroll around Long Grove Park, the one immediately below Southfield Park School. Long Grove Road - mostly renamed Chantilly Way - is the right hand border to the park and runs northwest to to the housing estate which used to be Long Grove Mental Hospital, on the other side of Horton Lane, nowhere near the present park at all. Which causes me some confusion about the proper name for the park. 

A mature pollard oak, a refugee from the Common, just coming into leaf for the 457th time. Or something.

Wellingtonia No.12 looking well, along with its attendant monkey puzzle. A big tree from North America and a rather smaller tree from South America.

Somebody ought to do something about the ivy before it does too much damage to this fine tree. Or has someone in a position of authority decided that the habitat provided by the ivy is more important than the tree?

People, possibly community volunteers rather than council men have been busy planting at the top end of the park. All very worthy, but I was not sure that this type of planting was well judged for this type of place. And will the planters be taking care of maintenance over the summer when I dare say a fair bit of water will be needed?

More at the bottom of the park. Magpie looming surprisingly large above.

Nearer home, some serious refurbishment. Not yet clear whether the whole house is coming down, or whether the rebuild with incorporate the core of the old house. An old house which used to house an old lady who had a very old and dim cat.

Home to find that BH had been busy with the plums. A substantial dessert involving marzipan and weighing it at 300 calories to the slice. There was even sugar in the pastry, apparently quite normal in this sort of context.

But before we got to the dessert, there was a chicken dinner, with greens. This last being something we have had quite a lot of since we discovered that the big Tesco at the Isle of Wight did it. See, for example, reference 2.

The chicken at the end of the first shift. Our usual form being first half hot on day one, second half cold on day two and carcase soup on day three.

Washed down, on this occasion, by a spot of Inama's fine Volcaia Fumé. A wine first mentioned in these pages at reference 3.

The dessert in a cut state.

Later that afternoon, a stroll into town to investigate baggy trousers, with my needing a couple of new pairs of same. 

At the bottom of the legs, my Land's End traditional cut chinos, size UK 42, measure 25cm. I now know that the men's trousers from the Epsom branch of M&S measure between 20 and 23cm - which reduces baginess by more than you might think. So no good at all. A trip to Kingston might be coming on.

Compensation in the form of some very high dressing outside Wetherspoon's. Short pink dress, matching top and high heels. Plus assorted camp followers. This being a Saturday, possibly left over from a wedding?

And in the form of a fine view of Stamford Green in the late afternoon sun as I came over West Hill. The sort of afternoon when one supposes that the Cricketers - off-snap to the left - should do really well. Although I did not think to look as I came down.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/07/wellingtonia-12.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/tescos-rules.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/11/october-2023.html.