psmv5: Crabs

A fortnight ago, off to the Estrela for a spot of fish stew. Weather not good, so it was not clear that Bullingdon was going to be on and I took a full size umbrella.

Christchurch Road still blocked when I left and I spotted two trolleys on the way to the station. While on the platform, we had a not-so-young mum with young children who was dressed very high for the time of day, that is to say mid morning. Where was she off to?

Southwestern Trains is more than a commuter shuttle service, so I suppose it still makes some sense to retain first class seats - not that anybody bothers much on Epsom trains - bothers in the sense of paying any attention to the signage about same - and I was amused by this relic of macassar, as in anti-macassar, on my train. FIL certainly used Brylcreem and MIL may have had anti-macassars on some of her best chairs, but I can't remember when I last saw such a thing in a house rather than on a train. Writers like Aldous Huxley and George Orwell probably made fun of them, along with the mandatory pianos, net curtains and aspidistras. See references 1 and 2.

For the avoidance of doubt, I should say that while we do not ourselves use net curtains, we do have plastic frosting stuck to the inside of some of our down stairs windows. None of this curtain-free, on-view-to-the-world business that they go for in the suburbs of Amsterdam for us. Expensive to buy, but it has lasted very well.

Borough Market was heaving with tourists, with a sprinkling of young children. One wonders how long the regular stalls selling things like meat, fish and vegetables will survive the invasion of foodie souvenirs and street food.

I have mentioned Camphill before, with my having a family connection to the one in Buckfast and there being cheese at the one in Yorkshire, for which see references 3 and 4. On this visit to the cheese shop, I remembered to ask about the cheese, but the new-to-me counter hand knew nothing about it. So I guess that whatever connection there may have once have been, is there no more.

One of the ivies noticed at reference 5 was taking on autumn colours. Was it Virginia creeper?

I thought to use this snap as there were berries to bite on (as it were) and in the event Google Images goes for Boston creeper, not before heard of. Not an ivy at all, rather a sort of grape, Parthenocissus tricuspidata. I am convinced without further ado.

It was still raining, but I decided to take a chance on a Bullingdon. The duffel coat did provide a reasonable degree of protection and it was not cold. And the umbrella slotted in behind the saddle OK, in the same way as the stick might otherwise have.

As it turned out, it rained all the way and I did get rather wet, but it was a bit awkward to stop once one had started. I wondered about the rain eating up all the oxygen, something that I seem to notice these days.

Gemini is not having it, although he allows that one might be more breathless when it rains, but this is to do with humidity and air pressure, not oxygen being taken up by the rain. He goes on to tell me some interesting stuff about the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the ground and how, in certain circumstances, this can seep into the cellars of houses and cause a potentially dangerous build-up there. A convincing story, so once again, no checking.

I was also reminded of the days when I used to cycle to work and used to have a special plastic strap around my neck attached to the ears of my spectacles, so that I could take them off when the rain made them useless, without having to stop and put them somewhere.

And my cycling gloves, intended to reduce abrasions - these being bad news as I am blood thinners - in the event of a spill - were rotting, or at least wearing away. Dual gel. Rather dear considering what skimpy things they are and not very old. At least my memory that they were made in Vietnam was the right one.

One result of all of this being that it seemed very warm when I got into the Canton. I wondered about their heating bill given the amount of window, which looked heritage rather than double glazed.

I took a pale yellow, slightly fizzy bitter from Brixton. From a small brewery with an elaborate website at reference 6, which appears to be a lot more into tinnies than warm beer. But this warm beer went down well enough - and is to be found among all the tinnies if you search for 'XPA'.

I noted the unusual patterning of one of the seats. How was it done, assuming that the seat was real timber, not some modern composite?

Google Images tells me all about them. A collectible heritage item!

While with the help of Gemini, Google turns up an image of a Chinese machine for doing something similar to doors, which gives some idea of the sort of force needed. And Gemini offers a good story about the older technology, possibly powered by burning the beech chips left over from the woodworking side of things.

Moving onto the Estrela, I passed some very brown tomatoes in outside the Portuguese grocer. Copilot tells me that they were the Kumato tomatoes of reference 7, an invention from Spain. Wikipedia suggests that it is well wrapped up in copyrights and such; not for your average punter on his allotment.

After which I got to the fish stew, served up in my own private saucepan. Good stuff and plenty of it, only marred by the inclusion of some rather dangerous fragments of crab shell, which could do serious damage to one's gums or fillings.

The crab concerned was bulky but very mushy inside Not like proper Isle of Wight crab at all.

I also noticed, for the first time, what might have been a retro clock, from which I associated to the very distinctive clocks to be found on the Underground platforms at Balham. Finding which is left as an exercise for the reader. Clue: New York.

Neither Google Images nor Gemini can throw much light on the inscription 'Fluer De Lis', beyond suggesting that the engraver might have been careless. It does not seem to be the name of a known clockmaker, so I settle for a bit of carelessly finished, mass produced repro.

Noting in passing that Gemini seems to be obsessed with a conversation I had with him some time ago about the weathering of granite and he brings it up all the time. Very odd. But see reference 8 for the granite itself.

Proceedings wrapped up with a substantial cake. I passed on brown and white goos, but made up for it with a spot of brandy. And I remembered, at this point, to take my lunchtime potions.

Out to be reminded of the Wheatsheaf of old, which must have been gone for ten years or more now. Some rain and lots of cloud, but that did not stop me scoring a few aeroplanes on the platform at Vauxhall, managing a couple of two with the help of a building marking the line down onto Heathrow.

A last botanical, snapped through the railings outside what had once been a council building and was now a hotel. Known to gmaps as 'JustPark | Holiday Inn Express Nine Elms'.

On the platform, I wondered about the deal Southwestern Trains had with Bombardier, given the amount of promotion of the Arterio brand they were doing. And why did I think Siemens? Had they made and labelled some of the parts? Something to look out for on my next trip.

However, there were very few actual trains, something to do with a signalling fault at Clapham Junction and we were advised to go back to Waterloo and try from there. After a while, I landed up at Raynes Park, where I snagged a couple of thin botanicals, but still no trains. Was I going to be reduced to Uber, with my app loaded but never used? As luck would have it, there was an old-style mini-cab office outside and a young lady standing on the kerb outside, waiting for a taxi to Epsom, who was happy to share.

It turned out that she had spent quality time in Switzerland, where her husband was with a drug company, but decided that she wanted to be nearer home to raise her family - she being Irish and her husband Scottish. Some palaver about where she was going to get off, eventually settling for the Rifleman.

A very reasonably priced ride, as it turned out, despite the sometimes puzzling instructions from the satnav. The route took in a chunk of the A3 which was fair enough, starting from Raynes Park, very busy southbound early this Friday evening, but moving along fast enough. I had to take charge after that, with the satnav sometimes going very off-piste.

PS 1: regarding creepers, BH asks about Virginia creeper. So I do do a bit of checking after all, and it turns out that Virginia creeper, another grape, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, but native to north America rather than Korea, has quite different leaves. Bury Lodge in Hambledon, where we once lodged, had lots of the stuff. Which all goes to show how careless one is about these things in the ordinary course of events. The snap above is lifted from Wikipedia.

PS 2: I make plenty of what might be called recreational use of Gemini and his friends - whom I find pretty helpful on the whole. But I am glad that I am not responsible for their use in a work environment, where one might be putting some weight on the answers - with being able to put weight being almost the whole point.

PS 3: I had thought that the hotel had been named for 'Gary Sobell' at some point, which name Bing made nothing helpful of. But Google did the business with 'Gary Sobell cricketer', turning up reference 10. The connection being Lambeth Council (for whom I hold a library card) and the Oval.

For some reason, I did not stop there, turning up next reference 11, with talk of Comfort Inn and Paul Robeson. Comfort Inn rang a bell of sorts, but not Paul Robeson. Except that I next turned up reference 12 which confirmed both, together with the corroborating council link.

Still not entirely happy about all this, not least because my wet-stuff memory seems to be as about reliable as the chip-stuff variety - but at least I have been reminded of the former importance of vinegar in the scheme of things.

And reference 12, which had seemed vaguely familiar, had indeed turned up before. See reference 13.

The hotel is indeed now Holiday Inn Express, this confirmed by Street View.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brylcreem.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-snack-for-thursday.html.

Reference 4: https://www.camphillvillagetrust.org.uk/.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/cheese-pie.html.

Reference 6: https://brixtonbrewery.com/.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumato.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/granite.html.

Reference 9: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_701.