A couple of weeks ago, to Vauxhall for a spot of tapas, for a change.
There had been some serious rain overnight and there was a wet start to my waking day, but it was pleasant enough by 11:00 or so when I set off. A busy start which saw me removing litter from both our front verge and my platform at Epsom.
Plus a trolley leaning against a tree on Station Approach, plus a police presence, I don't think that there was any connection.
One of the smaller ticket machines was hooded against removal. The clerk told me that it was a case of use it or lose it, and we were not doing enough machine business to justify the number of them that we had.
One of the new trains, with very audible announcements but no train name that I could see, despite the remarks on train names at reference 1, from earlier in the month. Furthermore, the indicator boards, while perfectly legible, had a slight jitter as the words rolled across, something that I do not remember from the old indicator boards on the old rolling stock. I though perhaps a board and/or lighting problem rather than an eyes problem, as such problems as I have had with my new glasses have been with the short range pair, not the long range pair I wear out.
Crossfit at Clapham Junction unusually quiet, although the coffee van out front - facing forward, onto the pavement, rather back into Crossfit, at whose clients one might have thought the van was mainly directed - was open. Piggies, also noticed at reference 1, was shuttered. It was more or less lunchtime, so let's hope it was a holiday rather than a terminal closure.
The road to Vauxhall was also quiet, apart from what looked like a residential Gaza protest across the road from the US embassy. Presumably that was as close as they were allowed - and they did have some hard standing to set up on. They have been there for a while as they are present on a January dated Street View.
The Bullingdon stand outside Gail's in South Lambeth Road was full, and while the one just down from the Cantons was busy, it was not full. I took a beverage.
On the way coming across some hanging ivy, nicely showing off the alternate pattern of the leaves, only complicated by a tendency for leaf two to grow in the axil of leaf one. In which connection, LibreText, previously noticed, pops up again at reference 2.
A fine supply of bottled water - the Portuguese clearly like it very inorganic - on the way to the Estrela. And I finally fell for a fine head of Portuguese greens from the fish shop - where I noticed some very good looking mackerel. Sadly, not a good time to be buying same.
The dishes of the day looked good at the Estrela - including, as it happens, grilled mackerel - but in the event, for a change, we settled for tapas. Very good they were too - and I was once again surprised at how these snacks can fill one up. Taken with a little Sagres, which I now know is a place as well as a brand of beer. Word of reference 3: 'Sagres is the place for an intrepid soul with exhilarating surf and exciting hiking trails. This captivating landscape inspired the full-bodied taste of Sagres Beer, bursting with bold, exciting flavours'. Tasted OK to me and I took more than one (small) bottle.
But they had changed the mix of the passion fruit pudding, which I have liked in the past. Either that or I was too full for a dessert of that sort.
Good viewing conditions at Vauxhall, but I was only able to manage two ones. And I was not completely convinced that one of them was even heading for Heathrow. Not good.
RPPL a bit slack, but I did pick up an old-style, Ordnance Survey map from up north. Sheet 21/98. Printed in 1948, so just a year older than I am. Once the property of Sheffield University.
As far as I can make out, a square of country to the northeast of Bridgend in Wales. A square which has changed a bit in the 75 years or so since the older map was made. We now have the M4. What was the county mental hospital, a little to the northeast of Bridgend, has now become the county prison. Perhaps there is some overlap of clientèle.
Gilfach Garden Village, top right, no longer rates a mention, although it is known to Google at reference 6. And to gmaps, snapped above. Doesn't look very garden village to me, despite the allotments right.
And we now have lots of newer housing and lots of new windmills, these last top right in the lift from Ordnance Survey.
Today's Ordnance Survey was a bit selective about the names that it recognised, despite their being printed in large on the old map. A rather crude search function for a mapping operation which I understand to have been fully digitised for quite a few years now - guessing, at least twenty five of them.
Oddly, at 18⅜ by 23¾, the old map did not seem to correspond to any of the old Imperial sizes to be found towards the end of reference 4. The paper itself has the waxy appearance of the stuff that used be used for reprographics, probably before the invention of Xerox machines.
Also oddly, the only people who knew about Sheet 21/98 (provisional), were the people at the Scottish National Libraries, but the link provided by Bing did not work, and going in hand only gave service unavailable. Unusual for them to fail me.
The day's proceedings were closed with a couple of Epsom trolleys, as previously noticed at reference 5.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/08/poacher-day.html.
Reference 3: https://www.sagresbeer.co.uk/.
Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size.
Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/trolleys-965-and-966.html.
Reference 6: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/411249/.
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