Notable feature of the journey out was a middle aged and middle classed lady out with her four sons - from maybe six to sixteen - for a day in London, it being the school holidays. Three fat paperbacks between them, perhaps three books by the same author, to while away any longeurs. Quite enough when I saw them but I dare say she was tired by the end of the day.
Pulled a Bullingdon from Grant Road East, perhaps the first since 7th July. At least that is what the blog says, with TFL being stuck in somewhere called Symfony 2, which I suspect of being some kind of web development environment. The last IT symphony that I knew of being the late lamented Lotus version of MS Office, back from the days when there were several contenders for what has become the MC crown. The rump of the Lotus operation having been swallowed up by IBM. See reference 2. Uneventful ride to Vauxhall where I found that the tree labels noticed at reference 1 were not as effective as one might have hoped, with several labelled trees looking rather unhappy. The problem might have been that they were not outside anyone in particular's house so no-one was chucking a bucket of water at them from time to time. Not enough community spirit to go round.
From whence to Brixton Market, now transforming from an indoor market of the old sort (we even used to have one in Epsom when we first moved here more than twenty years ago) into a throbbing hive of young people looking for fashionable eats. Probably took lunch in the restaurant with which this post starts.
Fish soup, not spicy in the French way, so off to a good start. A grilled fish, very good, firm & white like I like my fish. Dab of salad, dab of boiled rice and what I think was a fried plantain. This last tasting rather like the sweet stewed fruit we might serve at home, but in banana format, Most odd, and even odder as part of the main course. Served with a cool brown fruit squash like quantity made from sugar cane. Rather good. In fact the whole meal was very good and very cheap. Crowded.
Out to wonder about the landlord arrangements for the extensive market area. Was it just the one landlord or a whole lot of them? What sort of least did they offer their tenants?
Also to be amused by the lengths to which a bright young thing went to lock up his bicycle (see above). A long piece of some kind of hard-core steel rope covered in black plastic. This was used to link up all the various parts of the bicycle with the bicycle stand. The two ends where then locked together with an equally hard-core looking U-lock. Rope and lock were rather bulky and rather inconvenient looking, certainly a lot more inconvenient than the very modest-by-comparison lock that I use, and were probably quite expensive. Fifty pounds or more at a guess, so a reasonable proportion of the cost of the bicycle. Perhaps Brixton is not quite as bright-young-thing-full at night as it was by day. Perhaps the old ways are not completely dead.
Enthusiasts will notice the caliper brakes and fixed wheel. Pity about the spectacle arm which leaked into the bottom left of the picture. Must be more careful in future.
Telephone research established that going home cross country from Brixton was going to take a long time and the Bullingdons have not made it to Brixton, so settled for the boring but efficient tube to Vauxhall.
PS: and while we are on tree care, we went through the recently & expensively landscaped Malden Rushett crossroads today, to find that the new trees planted on the western arm, while alive, are not very well. None of contractor, council (the GLC in this Chessington Peninsular. A relic of some special interest or other) or local residents (some of whom are very close by), thought to water them through the recently dry August. They will probably all pull through, but they will be set back. See reference 3. On the up side, the new junction layout seems to be working well.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/tree-care.html.
Reference 2: http://symfony.com/.
Reference 3: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/democracy-at-work.html.
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