Leatherhead

Following the rain, we thought on Saturday that it was time to take a look at the Mole at Leatherhed. A place where the river has been known to rise far enough to threaten the nearby houses of Minchin Close. Although looking at it yesterday, it must take a lot of rain to push it up a couple of metres or more, given the flood meadows. See flood pole right in the snap above.

According to OS maps, a pin dropped in the river, just the other side of the bridge is 30m above sea level. Although is not clear what they are measuring to. The bottom of the river perhaps? Whatever the case, it look as if the pole is measuring above sea level too, with it rising to near 4m above normal.

Interested to see that the ducks did not seem to have to paddle that hard to counter what looked like a strong current. A walk rather than a run. Maybe the feet were each beating at about 1Hz. Perhaps what little of a duck's body is in the water is very well designed.

Passed on the Running Horse, or perhaps held it in reserve, and wandered up through the rough gardens to the Mansion, hung a left to pick up some leaflets from the theatre - which appeared to be staffed by volunteers - and then hung a right into the High Street. Plenty of eateries, some closed, some open and some busy. The odd club.

Passed on Wetherspoons, one of the rather dark and shabby ones, and settled instead for the Sunshine Café, more or less full when we arrived. But the service was good and we were soon in receipt of tea, liver, bacon, chips and peas. Jolly good it was too, the first time we have had liver for a while. 

Although checking, I find that we do seem to manage liver two or three times a year, although never at home these days. Including a couple of occasions at the Forest Inn at Hexworthy, on the edge of Dartmoor, more or less closed for practical purposes since the start of the plague. While when I was a child, floured liver fried with a few onions, then topped up with carrots and water and stewed for a bit was a regular item, as was, for many years, something similar under BH's management. I think she added bacon to the mix. Then more recently, a few goes of calves' liver from Pinnegar's, the butcher of Cheam. I forget why home cooked liver fell out of favour. Perhaps some now forgotten dietary fad.

All for £20 including the tip, which I thought was very good value. The sausage, egg and chips department looked pretty good too, from what we could see of it at neighbouring tables. And for those who wanted something exotic there was a choice of pancakes or waffles, but we were too full after our liver for anything of that sort.

Quick foray into the Swan Centre to find that the intended destination, W H Smiths, was temporarily closed. The place looked alive enough, so presumably some local staff problem. Have to get back in a week or so to check.

PS 1: plenty of both standing and running water in our back garden this afternoon. Including a modest trickle coming out of the brick compost bin at the very back. Not usually this much water about until February or March. At least the ground is getting a good soaking before the long hot summer which may be on its way.

PS 2: I have just been reminded by an article in the Mirror, brought to me by Microsoft News, that it looks as if our defence chiefs have managed to spend more than £3b on what was intended to be near 600 AJAX fighting vehicle from General Dynamics, a vehicle which will probably never see service. Beyond the 25 or so being used for training and testing purposes. I imagine that AJAX was grossly over-specified by generals who had been on far too many fancy beanos: maybe we should have taken a leaf out of the Russian mantra of the second world war: build cheap and cheerful, but build lots. At least the share price of the US parent company is holding up OK.

PS 3: I remember a piece by Simon Jenkins somewhere, sometime about how the public service seems to be a sitting duck for big companies selling big ticket items. Big ticket items come with a big sales budget and money talks - in one way or another.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/leatherhead.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/search?q=liver. Liver, liver everywhere.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/yougov.html. The only previous notice of the AJAX fiasco.

Disaster

For the first time for months, I have been charged a Bullingdon supplement for breaking the 30 minute limit, a supplement which takes the total charge for the day to £4. I don't think there is any kind of annual rental for my key, so at least the charge for the day does not have to include its share of that.

The day in question was cold and damp, with a suggestion that it might rain, so it seemed best to carry my portable umbrella from Ottawa, a souvenir of our trip there back in 2014, so I shall be sorry when it finally conks out, not that it is showing any signs of wear yet and I still have the original bag. With the topical reference 1 being another souvenir. Which also reminds me that cameras in telephones have come on a bit since 2014. And where the talk of dual language prompts the suggestion that the Russians and Ukrainians should send a joint mission to Canada to find out how they deal with the vexed question of mixed language there. Now, I think, more or less sorted out after various troubles in the past.

On the way out, I dealt with the trolley which I had noticed the day before. See reference 2.

I then eyed the advertisement involving a horse from Lloyd's bank, the one that tells me that the black horse will always be with me if I sign up with them. Which prompted the thought that horses do not live very long, so perhaps Lloyd's are pushing it a bit. Checking, I find that 30 years is a long life for a horse. Contrariwise, it is unlikely that I will last that much longer, so perhaps their horse would be with me for what is left of my life.

Not much masking on the train and no Bullingdons at all at what is left of the once busy stand in Grant Road, on the northern side of the tracks at Clapham Junction. But the stand at Falcon Road did my business, and so off to the A3205 and Battersea Park Road. Where I got the buzz of a near miss from a blue VW beetle No.368 outside what I think used to be Battersea College, the place where the young FIL did a bit of night school at some point.

It took a few minutes to check, but I think the story is that it has been known as both Westminster College, Battersea and the Battersea Polytechnic Institute, it is a Grade II listed building (No.206986) and has now been converted into flats. Which explains the lack of the signage you would expect from a building that still did education.

Just past the Dogs' Home, I was surprised to get a fine view of the Shard to the East. Checking this morning, I find the spot in Street View and I have learned that the Street View vans work nights, in which case the image can be rather degraded. Rather dark and grainy, although it does not appear to be raining. But I think that it is the Shard in the middle of the snap.

Also surprised at the lack of signage outside the shiny new Battersea Power Station Tube. You were told that it was a tube station, but not which one. Which seemed odd.

Then we had 'The Duchess Belle' which looked as if it must have been quite a place in its time. Probably still worth a visit. Must factor that in to my next expedition to the area. No idea how old the snap above is.

Hung a right into Thessaly Road which took me between the Nine Elms Market and a big, old-style council estate. Old-style enough that it could still carry a reasonably healthy looking block of shops, which is more than can be said for a lot of the estates around Epsom.

Then having gone on about Springfields at reference 3, I come across another one at the Wandsworth Road. But beware: according to their website, Sunday evening worship has been plagued out. Unlike the people at reference 4, they presumably do not believe that our Lord will take care of his own.

The weights and measures shop in Wilcox Road. It would be fun to own a butcher's beam balance to cope with things - like joints from the butcher - that are two big for our kitchen scales. But then, they didn't seem to have one of those, and in any event, I suspect they would cost far more than I ought to be spending on a contraption which I would get out once in a blue moon. Even at a car boot sale. Pity about the reflection. Better luck next time.

The very nearly full stand at Teversham Lane. Although not clear why a stand in a remote part of the South Lambeth Road should be full. If nothing else, it suggests that stand maintenance during the day is not what it might be.

Snapped at the Canton. Seats old enough to have been shaped to fit - not something that modern chairs are likely to bother with. 

Then, having my duffel coat, made from wool and looking rather substantial, I mused about the way that Simenon quite often notices quality English cloth. While the suits from our late lamented fancy gents outfitter in Epsom sold mainly German suits. Or very expensive tweeds from Scotland. And while I think of it, a lot of photographs on the Belfast (of reference 5) featured men in duffel coats - where I wondered about how wind proof the toggled-up front would seem in the Arctic. With the wind well able to cut into mine here in Epsom.

Moved onto calf's liver at the Estrela. Calf's liver on toast, the best such liver I recall having had. Really very good indeed. And on this occasion, I remembered to bring the unusual bottle back home with me as a souvenir. It stands on the window sill in front of me as I type this, along with another unusual bottle from Newlands Corner. Finding the reference to that one is left as an exercise for the bored reader.

More Vauxhall skyscape. Including, on this occasion, the end of the public house, now with a Brazilian rather than pint of your best flavour, where I first learned about slow roast oxtail.

More of same.

A drug dealer, heading for the lush pastures of Stockwell and Brixton? No point in having it if you don't flash it about.

Firmly shut, which was a pity as judging from the exterior, the interior would have been interesting, not to say impressive. Surprised to find that it was C of E rather than something more exotic, not that the website at reference 6 is much into architecture.

Spot of Monkey Shoulder at the Half Way House at Earlsfield, with the front bar busy with a Mum & baby group. One very cute toddler who was being very busy with her baby brother. Helping him to learn to walk, feeding him and so forth. Mum explained that this was the consequence of the four year gap. Just about right for that sort of thing. Plus the right arrangement of sexes.

Acquired a picture book about Judy Garland from the Raynes Park Platform Library. Of some interest in that we had watched a film about her fairly recently. Twice even.

Down the passage to TB for one for the road, as they used to say. Where things were a touch camp. A far cry from the days, maybe thirty years ago, when it used to be 'Gigi's', a sort of cocktail lounge, with a very attractive local girl as manager. She once told me that she found it a bit hard to be firm with people she had shared a playground with and she eventually moved to Hampshire to manage a house down there.

It seemed odd to be in a place which I had been using since before most of the present staff had been born and who would probably have no interest in my memories of that time. Perhaps it made me feel old.

Fine, bright gibbous moon over the pub as I left.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/10/trolley-11.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/03/trolley-487.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/03/springfield.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/03/cups-and-crosses.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/03/belfast.html.

Reference 6: https://www.stanneandallsaints.org.uk/. 

Hard hat

Back on the bike again, this time for a run from London Bridge to Vauxhall.

Two noisy conversations near me on the train. From the first, I learned that Pull & Bear are foreign. Checking today, I find that this is indeed the case: a member of the Inditex family from Spain, along with Zara. See reference 2. People who once had a striking multi-screen shark display in their Oxford Street window, but I cannot put my hand on it just presently. Second, there was an extended conversation about train fares and senior railcards. It struck me that this was serving much the same function as grooming each other (for fleas) does among the larger apes. Nothing to do with trains really.

Having remarked on how the Lime people seemed to have cleaned their act up recently, this minor infestation of the Bullingdon stand at London Bridge. 

A different colour code for dustbins in Elliott's Row (known to gmaps for some reason as Lily Mews) than we have in Epsom: I think blue is for commercial with us. Something else to get to grips with should we move back to the big town. Something else for Starmer and his team to tidy up: devolving power to local authorities is all very well, but we do need a bit of order and discipline.

Had to pass on this Tesco's trolley, with the absence of a bicycle lock being sufficient excuse. And there would be the business of finding the nearest Tesco's, which might not be very near at all.

A strange turret, just after I branched right down the A3204 by mistake, rather than carrying on down the A3. Worth the detour. The turret looks to be some remnant of what was perhaps the Renfrew Road Workhouse, perhaps the Lambeth Infirmary adjacent, in its day a large, 650 bed hospital. Dugard Way, round the corner, is still home to the Mary Sheridan Centre for Child Health and the South East London Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia Centre.

Also in Dugard Way, a listed building of some sort? The same sort of vintage as the building I visited in West Croydon recently? Google Images says the Jamyang Buddhist Centre, which it is indeed what it says on the plate by the door, visible on zoom. Clearly a second visit is needed.

A gas holder, perhaps another listed building, being repurposed. See reference 4.

All in all, a lot of interesting old building and a lot of mature street trees.

Got screamed at by a young man in a large Jaguar, possibly a man of colour, because I got into a muddle about how to turn into South Lambeth Road at Stockwell. In mitigation I would say that all the new arrangements for cycles at junctions can be a bit confusing if you have not been through the junction in question in the recent past. Compounded in this case, by the turning I was expecting having been pedestrianised. 

But I just about made it to the stand for the Canton Arms, very nearly full. Just outside of which I came across a handsome black girl looking very fetching in her tight, scarlet and white gym gear.

A light and airy front bar, with most of the not very many customers preferring to sit outside. I took a pint of Harvey's Sussex Best, quite a lot dearer than the pint I had taken a couple of days previously at Borough. But it was good beer, if not quite as good as the Five Points I had taken there.

An old style older bar maid, a muscle bound younger bar man. Some people - clearly from the 'gentry' of 'gentrification' making careful bookings to dine in the evening.

Still not convenient to stock up on water melon.

And so onto the Estrela, where I took the liver of the day. Not as good as the liver on toast I had had there once, and slightly infested with their curious gravy, but not bad. Solid, substantial fare - perhaps more suitable for a working rather than a retired man. The chips, visible top right, were not cooked as per instructions: a failure to observe the rule that the customer is always right.

Taken with red, for a change. Big Internet footprint, suggesting amongst other things that the markup was only of the order of two, unusually low for wine in a restaurant. See references 5 and 6.

Passion fruit dessert missing, so I tried the strawberry version. Good, but not as good as the passion fruit.

Wound up with a spot of the local brandy. Small bananas a gift for later - which turned out to have a curiously apple flavour. Rather good.

Strolled down to Vauxhall Station where I engaged with a very cheerful police constable about her hat, something like that snapped above. It turned out that, despite appearances, it was a hard hat, with a hard shell, rather in the way of a riding hat of old. Hard enough both to protect and to act as an offensive weapon, should need arise - which, I was told, it did occasionally. She did not like it much and would much rather have had the sort of cap worn by the firearms units. She was also a credit to the force, so it was a pity that I did not think to take her number so that I could write to her station and tell them so.

Picked up some books about data from RPPL. Didn't recognise much from the one about data analysis, despite my thinking that that was something I knew something about. Further reading indicated.

Picked up a couple of trolleys at Epsom, as noticed at reference 7, then took a further spot of red on the Wetherspoon's terrace. Upon which there was a sharp shower, catching out a good number of young ladies in a state of some undress for the evening to come.

I wondered whether it was Epsom Salts coming up through the chalk which was slowing down the two trees right next to Wetherspoon's. Certainly a lot less vigorous than the others. There seem to be three varieties in the market place altogether.

Diminutive cigarettes which reminded me of my students days, on a ration of half an ounce a day.

And so rather later home than I had intended.

PS 1: depressing to read at reference 1, of the great interest taken by the arms industry in the set-to between India and Pakistan. We don't seem to be learning much.

PS 2: later: the sharks have now been run down. The search key 'shark oxford' eventually did the trick. Hadn't thought that it was all of eleven years ago.

References

Reference 1: China’s J-10 ‘Dragon’ shows teeth in India-Pakistan combat debut: Skirmish is first test of Beijing’s military hardware against advanced western technology - Mehul Srivastava, Charles Clover, Humza Jilani, Financial Times - 2025.

Reference 2: https://www.inditex.com/itxcomweb/gb/en/home.

Reference 3: https://jamyang.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/better-fairer-lambeth/projects/oval-gas-works.

Reference 5: https://www.fea.pt/.

Reference 6: https://www.cartuxa.pt/categoria-produto/vinhos/cartuxa/.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/05/trolleys-822-and-823.html.

Reference 8: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/05/takacs-quartet.html.

Mainly sonatas

The last outing to the Wigmore Hall prior to the western break was a Monday lunchtime concert, mainly made up of sonatas, with violin, harpsichord and cello. There was some Bach, but otherwise both executants and music were new to me.

Rain threatened and what with one thing and another I opted for lift to the station and no Bullingdons. Not least because the ride from Waterloo to the Portuguese Consulate seems rather further than it did only six years ago, as noticed at reference 1.

A long walk at Waterloo from a low numbered platform to the Bakerloo platform, but not as bad as that at Kings Cross. And I had found time to admire the elaborate coupling between two of the coaches of my train from Epsom. A far cry from the sturdy hook and eye of old. Presumably, inter alia, the coupling carries the data cables supporting both the helpful indicator boards and the loud, intrusive and usually unhelpful announcements.

Out at Oxford Circus to admire the wrapping of the Niketown building. A rather heritage sort of wrapping, so I though perhaps refurb rather than public art. That is to say paid for out of the private rather than the public purse. I also harked back to the days when I first used the shop, prompted by the New Statesman, back in 2009. And then the day I flipped from Clarkes shoes to trainers, never to return, noticed at reference 2. Not quite the start of the Merrell era, but nearly. In which connection I might say that I bought yet another pair a couple of days ago, well over six months since the previous purchase. I am pleased to be able to report that Wolverine/Merrell/Vietnam are still making the same trainers, Moab Ventilators - with the only changes being a move from Model 2 to Model 3 and a move from around £80 to around £100. Although I could have had a size too big for a hefty discount.

Two beggars seeking change - although my understanding is that very few people carry change these days. I certainly don't and I am only very rarely moved to give a beggar a note.

A little early so a sit in Cavendish Square, where I was amused by a couple of smart looking chaps trying to take their lunch but who were scared away by wasp attack, clearly attracted by whatever was in their wraps.

Admired a lady's kilt in Margaret Howell, going so far as to go in and take a closer look. £595 for a kilt which was not even solid wool, rather half and half. The story was that half and half held the pleats better than solid. That said, it did look rather well, although I doubt whether BH would have been attracted. And not helped by the snap above, which does not do the thing justice.

Onto the Wigmore Hall for what turned out to be a violin show, that is to say with cello and harpsichord very much in background rather than foreground mode. The violinist used two violins, not sure why, one with brown pegs and the other with conspicuous white pegs. He also used a computer. While I think that the harpsichord was one of those classy modern replicas, complete with picture inside the lid.

Not the sort of thing I would usually go to, but it turned out rather well. Rather liking the slightly fairground feel to the second piece by Farina. All very appropriate given the French fairground source for our word foreigner. Bing failed to find a recording, but Google managed, turning up a recording on YouTube made the very same team. To be heard at reference 5.

Onto 2Veneti for lunch, my first visit for a while. Mixed bread, a sort of fish mousse - white and a little salty, more calves liver and a tiramisu. All very good, even if the calves liver was a little underdone to my mind. And they still had the wine that I liked last time, as noticed at reference 6. From which the waiter had no trouble rustling it up. Still the same vintage. All followed by some of their yellow grappa, the stuff from a square rather than a round bottle. Liqueur rather than a rough spirit knocked out for farm workers. I could not find it on their website - but I did find out that they sell some very fine wine, rather too fine for my pocket. See reference 7. A very civilised restaurant.

Along the way the legal status of cats came up, the story being that cats have no legal status at all, unlike dogs. That you can neither steal them nor leave them money. On which Bing turned up reference 9, which suggests that the status of animals in general and pets in particular may have been tidied up in the Animal Welfare Act of 2006. The reference 9 story seems to be that cats are a special kind of property, which can be stolen but to which the owner has a duty of care. Furthermore, while you cannot leave money to a cat or dog directly, you can set up a trust - technically an imperfect trust - the business of which trust is to feed your pet caviar, or whatever it is you want done. A trust which, if a bit over the top, can be challenged by cross relatives. No doubt the law differs in the US, but there you have some very rich cats and dogs. Perhaps I only got onto all this after I had taken my grappa.

Cavendish Court. A rather grand frontage, more or less opposite 2Veneti. Fancy furniture shops below, fancy apartments above. With one recently going for £4,000 a month: two bedrooms, fifth floor (there is a lift), 1,100 or so square feet - perhaps the equivalent of half a suburban semi. Maybe you are allowed to smoke out on the balconies. One could feel very superior, fat cigar in one hand, balloon glass in the other, standing in state in the central window right at the top, framed by all that fancy stone work. But would anyone down below actually notice?

Some serious looking blockboard opposite the bus stop. No.88 bus to Vauxhall, passing what looked like some sort of Bible flavoured gathering in Piccadilly. Just missed a train to Epsom, so took a break at Raynes Park instead, where I picked up a few oddments.

Two items for me, top right, the balance possibly providing entertainment for a granddaughter in due course. The Biblical stuff came inside the purse, inside the box. A bonus! The blue magazine was noticed at reference 8. While the number of 'Light Rail and Modern Tramway' is still waiting for its day in the sun.

The offer of a seat at Worcester Park was accepted.

PS: shortly after posting this, we took our first Brussels sprouts of the season, in a plastic bag from Sainsbury's. Very nice they were too. With New Model potato pie, that is to say the version involving a small amount of milk rather than the heritage version. Surprising how much difference it makes.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/09/wigmore-two.html.

Reference 2: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-was-i-on.html.

Reference 3: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=niketown.

Reference 4: https://www.wolverineworldwide.com/.

Reference 5: https://youtu.be/WoL130-o0h0.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/06/hammerklavier.html.

Reference 7: https://www.2veneti.com/.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-nearly-new-magazine.html.

Reference 9: https://www.cats.org.uk/media/1024/eg13_cats_and_the_law.pdf.

Beethoven turned over

This being notice of some research into Ludwig van Beethoven’s genome, centred on some locks of hair, but supplemented with some family history and some public genome databases.

A collaborative effort involving 33 authors, 28 institutions, 7 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, UK and USA), 3 continents, 173 references and copious supplementary material. One wonders how an effort of this sort is managed. Did the team go in for occasional away-days in some attractive Sicilian resort town, perhaps Taormina?

Five of the eight samples of hair which were examined, listed in the figure above, almost certainly came from the same individual and the state of the samples was consistent with an early 19th century date. Comparison with other samples suggested a north German origin. 

Various more or less exotic medical theories which had been derived from the Hiller lock, No.7, can now be discarded.

Comparison with living relatives suggested what is coyly called an extra-pair paternity (EPP) event at some point prior to Beethoven’s birth.

The team failed to find genetic evidence for Beethoven’s hearing loss or for his gastro-intestinal problems. On the other hand, they did find genetic evidence for liver problems, including the cirrhosis of the liver which probably killed him. It also seems that Beethoven was quite a heavy drinker, at least for some periods of his life.  And that he had Hepatitis B in the last months of his life, if not at other times. It is possible that it was chronic from birth.

And lest we worry about the invasion of privacy, it seems that he asked for the details of his health to be published after his death.

He appears not to have been a coeliac, which might have accounted for or exacerbated his bowel problems – something I notice because my father-in-law (sometimes FIL in these pages) was a coeliac, which caused him serious problems in his middle years and was something of a nuisance after that – although it did not stop him living into his nineties.

Technical notes

Contrary to what I had thought, a hair has a complex structure, involving several, cylindrically arranged, layers of cells. So one can recover both chromosomal material from the cells and what I think is called meta-genomic material from the hair as a whole.

A catch being that old hair DNA is apt to be rather fragmented, to come in very short sequences. Which can be pieced together, but does make things more difficult.

Conclusions

An entertaining piece of work, with the expense justified by its novelty and the celebrity of the subject. 

No doubt there is more of this sort of thing to come: a micro version of the macro stuff pioneered by David Reich and noticed at reference 4. 

I would have thought there was room for coverage somewhere between the loud tones of reference 1 and the learned tones of reference 2. Something for the general reader with an interest in science. Perhaps a lecture at the Royal Institution? But not something I am qualified to attempt myself – beyond the few notes offered above. 

References

Reference 1: Celebrity Death Finally Solved - With Locks of Hair - F. Perry Wilson, Medscape – 2023.

Reference 2: Genomic analyses of hair from Ludwig van Beethoven – Tristan James Alexander Begg, Axel Schmidt, Arthur Kocher, Maarten H.D. Larmuseau, Göran Runfeldt, Paul Andrew Maier, John D. Wilson, Rodrigo Barquera, Carlo Maj, András Szolek, Michael Sager, Stephen Clayton, Alexander Peltzer, Ruoyun Hui, Julia Ronge, Ella Reiter, Cäcilia Freund, Marta Burri, Franziska Aron, Anthi Tiliakou, Joanna Osborn, Doron M. Behar, Malte Boecker, Guido Brandt, Isabelle Cleynen, Christian Strassburg, Kay Prüfer, Denise Kühnert, William Rhea Meredith, Markus M. Nöthen, Robert David Attenborough, Toomas Kivisild, Johannes Krause – 2023.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven. 

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/search?q=reich. 

New restaurant

A fortnight ago to a new restaurant in Whitecross Street, although the outing was billed as an expedition to St. Luke's at Old Street to hear a Spanish flavoured recital by Juan Pérez Floristán, thirty something Spanish pianist with plenty of action on the Internet, seemingly without his own website but with a Wikipedia page at reference 1.

A mild day and we opted for the route via Balham, taking in the water damage in the passage under the rails at Epsom Station. Presumably an awkward place to drain from above, so the water is going to find any weakness in the waterproofing of the passage.

On the way to the station, we had come across some more water damage, in the form of the collapse of a section of an important heritage wall near the top of Meadway, in the passage down to Court Recreation Ground, formerly Pound Lane. A heritage wall which must have soaked up a large amount of patch and maintenance money over the years. Buy such a wall at your peril! We understand that the various local heritage teams and the planning team have got together to set up a committee to decide what the owner should do about it all. While Lodge No.3561 (Old Epsomians) has agreed to provide meeting space and a chairman - their being known to be good at this sort of thing. The wall as previously noticed in passing at reference 4.

On the train, I wondered whether the proprietor (or proprietors) of the Metro and the Evening Standard contribute anything to the TFL and Network Rail coffers towards the cost of clearing all the litter he generates on tubes, buses, trains and elsewhere, in and around London.

Onto the tube at Balham, where our carriage was joined by two rather unsavoury looking young men with one of those drug dealer dogs. Perhaps not a XL Bully - there was a lead of sorts but no muzzle - but something of that sort and generally all rather intimidating. Perhaps they were off for a spot of grazing or worse in town, but whatever it was, they got off our City-bound train at Kennington, so at least we were shot of them.

We carried on the Old Street, in good time for the traditional bacon sandwich in Whitecross Street. BH took a couple of white toasts. I mused about where the Jerwood money - Jerwood Hall being the other name of the fine concert space in the body of St. Luke's - probably prompted by the drug dealer dog and getting in a muddle with the Sackler Foundation. But this morning I had more success than when I last looked more than ten years ago (see reference 2), and found that the Jerwood money came from a cultured pearl business in Japan set up after the second war and for which see reference 3. With the rather grandly named Arthur Wellesley L'Estrange Fawcett, the son of a parson, getting into the story as a stepfather. We are not told of any connection with the original Arthur Wellesey, aka the first Duke of Wellington. Or with Philippa Fawcett for that matter.

Onto into St. Luke's where we were not the only ones to be confused by the new seat numbering arrangements. We liked the music, not the sort of thing that we usually go for at all.

Afterwards to the Iskelé in Whitecross Street, of reference 5, opposite the Market Restaurant which I use for bacon sandwiches. I had thought that they were owned by the same people, but it turns out that while this had been the case it was no longer. The two establishments have gone their separate ways.

Reasonably busy, good atmosphere. Including a young and very cute baby to coo over. Wine entirely satisfactory, if not grand, but it comes from an outfit which does do grand; you can spend quite a bit with them. See reference 6.

Taken with hummus followed by calve's liver for two. Rather good, although I could have done with a third slice of the liver.

Followed up with a spot of tiramisu. BH took the pole with her Earl Grey, while I took the dessert wine right. Something from the Tokaji family from a small, narrow bottle, tasting something like a sherry. Good in small quantities.

Mixed history down the side. I suspect the second building on the right of being built along with the first, the windows looking very much the same. While the stone doorway does not seem to belong with the red brick above. Cozza Pizzas a semi-detached part of the Iskelé operation, off camera to the right.

More mixed history.

The BBC parked up outside the Barbican. I think I have used the Bullingdon stand left occasionally.

The plants in an art work, the plants which are an art work, have got a lot bigger since I last noticed them. Search failed to reveal the occasion, despite turning up a fair amount of Barbican, a place we were visiting a bit a few years ago.

Surprisingly narrow gap between these new builds. Presumably respecting the land rights on either side of some ancient alley.

Some rust art flying over the ruins of St. Alphage, not to be confused with St. Asaph, who names a cathedral in Wales. The church is not that ancient, having been built, according to Wikipedia, in the early sixteenth century. While, again according to Wikipedia, at reference 7, St. Alphage was the Anglo-Saxon saint, martyred by the Vikings, to whom Thomas à Becket was praying when he was martyred by some Normans, not so long after they stopped being Vikings.

At the time, I wondered rather about whether the rust gradually ate into the structural integrity of the flyover, and if not, why not.

While over breakfast this morning, BH claims that what I have snapped above is some remains from a neighbouring monastery or some such, with St. Alphage proper being more or less lost. All of which is confirmed at reference 8, which offers plenty more snaps of the ruins. But she did have the advantage over me, in that she had bothered to read the heritage plaque while I was playing with my telephone.

Street scene with cranes - and with concrete action below. Pleased to see that the sort of skip that was used when I was into concrete, more than fifty years ago, still sees action. Can be tricky when full and swaying in the wind.

A serious low loader, sporting plenty of axles.

Another interesting skyscape in the late afternoon, winter light. With the NatWest Tower, properly Tower 42 but never the RBS Tower, rather put in its place by whatever it is behind. I remembered this morning, that I once used to cycle right past it every morning, on Old Broad Street, on my way from Liverpool Street Station to Westminster.

And so to Moorgate, and from there to Balham. Many offers of seats on the crowded tube. Crowded more or all the way, despite a great exodus at London Bridge.

To a stopover at Sutton, where we picked up a couple of interesting looking books from the waiting room bookshelf - and failing to notice that we were supposed to drop a contribution in a tin for something or other healthy. The books turned out to be not interesting and have now been recycled.

Walked home from Epsom Station, in the course of which we got a good view of the moon. Waxing crescent at 40%. Direction SW. Altitude 52°. BH alleged that the bright object nearby was the evening star, that is to say the planet Venus. On what basis, I know not - while my guess of Jupiter turned out to be right. Direction SW. Altitude 46°. Apparently an astrologically important close conjunction of the moon with the planet.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_P%C3%A9rez_Florist%C3%A1n.

Reference 2: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2013/04/jerwood-2.html.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jerwood.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/02/trolley-639.html.

Reference 5: https://theiskele.com/.

Reference 6: https://cvne.com/.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86lfheah_of_Canterbury.

Reference 8: https://lookup.london/st-alphage-london-wall/.