Shopping

The mini-mission for 25cm trousers to M&S noticed towards the end of reference 1, was followed up by a more serious mission to Kingston. Taking my gallery seat (of reference 2) to sit on while BH browsed and a ruler to measure the bottom of likely looking trousers - with a ruler being easier here than a tape. It seems a long time ago that clothes shops used to offer their customers seats for use while their counter hands fetched and carried.

Arrived at Kingston to find no fish in the Hogsmill, which was unusual. But there were lots of midges over the water.

There also seemed to be quite a lot of closed units and our coffee stop of choice  - Pâtisserie Les 3 Chocolats in Thames Street - seemed to be shut for cleaning or refurbishment, so we had to make do with the cafeteria at John Lewis, where we were able to take a decent tea with fruit scone. Fresh and light. Plus view of the river.

Moving onto their trousers, something called 'economy wide' looked promising, except that they did not have my size. And their many franchises were no good at all. I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that John Lewis was so badly infested with them. And, sadly, 'economy' does not seem to exist online.

T K Maxx could do some wide, but nothing in my size. I associated to my mother's complaint, used to Canadian shops, that British shops had no depth of stock. They might have variety, but they were all too likely not have the thing you lighted upon in your size.

Fenwicks (once Bentalls) could do the odd wide - and lots of narrow. On the other hand, it being time for lunch, we stumbled on their Fuego café, a place which very much reminded us of a place that we had liked and had used to use in the basement of Debenhams in Oxford Street, more or less in the middle of the ladies' shoe department. Quiet, waitress service, wine if you wanted it. We look to have been using the place around 2014, but it was converted to a much less satisfactory outlet for Pâtisserie Valerie some time before the shop as a whole expired.

Not wanting a full-on lunch, we went for the mixed-meats platter which carried lots of calories, did well enough - and included humus made of or made with broad beans. Which was impressive. While  the extra bread, called focaccia, was serviceable, if undistinguished.

I wondered whether balsamic vinegar was just a pretentious foreign version of our brown sauce. Not very keen on either myself.

All things considered, a useful alternative to the nearby cafeteria at John Lewis.

Next stop Levis, to which we had been directed by someone in Fenwicks. My first changing room for years. Very helpful young staff. But I found their stuff a bit heavy on me and they did not have the sort of thing that I wanted in the right size.

M&S hopeless.

We ran out of puff before we got to BH's part of the shopping list, but I have found out that women are much more into baggy trousers than men, not that that helped me much. And that women measured their waist size in a different way to men, something to do with their being a different shape. And there were lots of very narrow trousers for men in shiny black material. Not quite sure who these were aimed at - but maybe the same sort of young men as used to sport drapes & drainpipes in the 1950s and early 1960s. Sometimes flick knives & knuckledusters.

Maybe take a chance with a repeat mail order from Lands End? Maybe a visit to Lipman & Sons of Charing Cross Road, a rather old fashioned place that might run to baggy?

Quite a lot of outdoor art in the Kingston shopping precinct, mainly mammalian. Tiresome, but I suppose it could have been worse.

Still no fish in the Hogsmill, just midges over.

Home to a flier from the JWs. We had already missed the special talk and after a little thought, we decided that we would not celebrate the temporary death of the son of God with them, impressive though this feat was.

It then being the third day of chicken, as deferred. Carcase soup with maybe 8oz of red lentils, cooked up in the new stockpot. Surprisingly brown considering the absence of any form of food colouring.

It did very well, with the bonus that there was just about enough left for my lunch the following day, the day when I have to fend for myself.

PS: I have just read that Epsom Civic Society, best known to me for opposing all manner of planning applications, at the very least pushing for substantial amendment, are keen on street art. A form of art which, just like buildings, is sometimes good and sometimes bad. And bad street art can by just as irritating as bad buildings. Furthermore, it is often not very durable, getting very shabby, very quickly.

That said, the example snapped at reference 5, which I usually pass several times a week, is a good deal better than average and, so far, has worn pretty well.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/04/chicken-dinner.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/08/stockholm-2.html. 

Reference 3: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/07/kreutzer.html.

Reference 4: https://epsomcivicsociety.org.uk/.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/10/screwfix-passage.html.