Chessington kitsch

First, a neighbour thought to install a festive collection of polar bears on the roof of his front bay window. Second, Chessington Garden Centre must be having a bad start to the year, with access made difficult by the road works at Malden Rushett. So we thought we ought to provide a bit of support and off we went to the garden centre. the very long way round.

Entrance shed looking a bit bare, all the Christmas gear having been taken out and no new display having yet been mounted.

Fish shed also in the throes of a reorganisation and not its usual splendid self at all. No interesting sea anemones let alone jelly fish, no fish longer than about a foot and no feeding time at the koi tanks. By way of compensation there were some rather odd frogs from hot climes.

But there was a fine display of polar bears and other animals from cold climes. The large polar bear illustrated might have been quite fun on our front lawn for a bit, but he or she was rather expensive and it would be a toss up whether we got fed up with all the smart remarks from passers-by before some neighbouring children pinched him for their garden. So we desisted.

And so to the large café for some refreshment, to find that as well as tea in something a bit more like cups than those which were provided for the previous post, they also did a rather good almond slice. A sort of cross between a bit of sponge cake and an almond tart. Very nice it was too.