Horseshoes: the aftermath

When we had done at the Three Horseshoes, the next stop was Girton, the village where my primary school was to be found. And is still to be found, complete with the small swimming pool put in by parents about half way through my time there.

But the first stop was a Wellingtonia, already noticed, after which we parked up at the Rec, a regular recreation ground, but which was used by the school, when it was not raining, for breaks and games. I think that the headmaster got a tied house next door and had his wife as school secretary. I also have a theory that the job was a reward for war service.

In the snap from gmaps above, Rec top right, school below (no cottontails in my day) and church to the left. I might also say that I used to cycle the one or two miles to school, initially on a tricycle. Perhaps with siblings but not with parents: something else which has changed.

Between the car park and the church there was a new-to-me art work in wrought iron - an artwork which reminded me of the memorial gates at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park. But how can a small village like Girton - albeit gentrified - afford such a thing? Why would they want it?

Clearly a question for Gemini. And the town charity website he draws on certainly exists.

With the follow up snapped above. So quite an expensive bit of art: probably just as well that I was not on the committee or I might have got a bit bad tempered about it all. I wonder how many villages have endowed charities of this sort?

On into the church, which was used by the school for carol services and such like and which did not seem to be short of money either: the sort of joinery snapped above does not come cheap. And not the sort of thing which could be knocked up by a couple of volunteers.

The relatively new font cover. Nothing particularly special or unusual, but a decent bit of carpentry for all that.

And the flowers were real, not something you can rely on in churches these days. Maybe the gentry who have colonised this village are god-fearing - which I would have thought must be quite unusual these days. I think the remnant of the screen to the left is quite old.

Next stop Girton Corner, from where I used to catch the 106 bus to my secondary school in the years before I went back to the bicycle. Which had been substantially remodelled to accommodate regular bicycles, hire bicycles, hire scooters and so forth.

Plus a repurposed telephone box, better stocked than the Raynes Park Platform Library is these days. Sadly, I forget to go back to collect the couple of books that I had marked down, but which were a bit heavy to be carrying about.

This was followed by a couple of not very good Wellingtonia in the grounds of Girton College, after which we went back to the bus stop, where the bus shelter and the bus bench we separated by the bicycle lane. Something going on to the north, as four marked and flashing police cars headed that way while we were waiting.

Dropped off by the bus at Drummer Street, from where we got onto a much more crowded bus headed for Addenbrooke's Hospital. Maybe the crowd was largely staff. Some of them were actually buying tickets. Plus plenty of crowds in the streets as we went through.

Back to the hotel, in past the pizza container, to take a short time out, venturing out for a closing snack a little later. When we chanced upon a useful Italian restaurant, just across the road from the hotel, also to be found at reference 4.

His and her drinks, including the dark fizzy drink already mentioned at reference 5.

Plus a savoury snack for him and something a little lighter for her. A savoury snack which looks rather vegetarian, although none of the vegetarian pasta dishes on the menu at reference 4 rings a bell today. Maybe: 'CASARECCE AL FORNO ALLA SICILlANA: Casarecce pasta with courgettes, aubergines, cherry tomatoes, onion in a tomato sauce, baked in the oven. Garnished with mozzarella and parsley'. For casarecce, see reference 7. While the emphasis on home-made in Wikipedia fits the ethos of the restaurant, as expressed in their 'about' page.

Casarecce (from Italian casereccio, 'homemade') are short twists of pasta originating in the Sicily region of Italy which appear rolled up on themselves like a scroll

Followed by a glass of Greco di Tufo, a wine which I was keen on a few years back, but do not come across very often. Followed by a complementary glass of something a bit like limoncello, but home made and rather better, possibly involving a hint of ainseed.

We also learned something of the fashions favoured by Chinese ladies of middle years.

All very good. We shall be back if opportunity arises.

Art work, semi-outdoors, in the office block opposite the restaurant. Art work aside, it seems to remain true that the standard of architecture in Cambridge is high, much higher than in Epsom. Maybe they have more money to throw at it.

Breakfast the next day rather better than the day before. And we were able to reminisce with the cook about the cattle market which used to be on the site. Chapter and verse at reference 6. We also had entertainment in the form of a large party of young people from Italy - plus a couple of rather harassed looking lady minders.

Onto the platform for London Bridge by shortly after 08:00. Got to London Bridge in good time to find that trains to Epsom were off. Perhaps the rails had buckled in the heat. We took a break in the nearby Olle & Steen (with pleasantly shady outdoor seating) while we considered options, and ended up getting a bus back to Waterloo. Good thing we had our bus passes about our persons.

A bus which may not have included much timber framing, but which contained plenty of fake wood floor covering.

A party of school children making a prodigious racket around the water feature outside Olle & Steen. How do they do it? How do their minders stand it?

At Waterloo, caught a Chessington train, on which we found, in the heat, all the unnecessary announcements particularly irritating. Changed at Raynes Park, where the toilets were closed and the platform library was more or less empty.

But things got better at Epsom, where I was able to sneak in a couple of trolleys while I was visiting the chemist and buying some cherries.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/07/horseshoes-continued.html.

Reference 2: https://girtontowncharity.org.uk/history.html.

Reference 3: https://www.girton.church/. A church with at least four ordained priests and two lay preachers. Plus a social anthropologist from LSE who fills the role of Children and Families Minister.

Reference 4: https://www.alpomodoro.co.uk/.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/07/rustat-road.html.

Reference 6: https://capturingcambridge.org/queen-ediths/hills-road-south/the-cattle-market/.

Reference 7: https://www.the-pasta-project.com/casarecce/.