Still clucking

The post at reference 1 is nearly a fortnight old now, so the chicken in question must be around that too. Looking a little tired and spattered but still there a couple of days ago.

If I had been a bit more careful with the camera angle, I might have been better able to judge whether it had got any bigger. As it is, I think not. Furthermore, while to my mind it is a good picture, it does not scale well: what you get by default is unimpressive, with both colours and colour mix a bit feeble. But when you click to enlarge, it looks much better.

Maybe time to downgrade it from poussin to broiler. Although I had difficulty getting one of these last for a stew last time I tried. While thirty years ago they were cheap and plentiful down Harringay Green Lanes. There was also a dog track, long gone.

Before reprising the chicken, I had been conducting an informal survey of driveways in West Ewell, a subject which may come to the boil in Epsom before too long.

Looking at materials first, we have: blacktop; concrete; sub-base or hardcore; chippings, gravel or pebbles; slabs; crazy paving; cobbles; setts; and, bricks. With various varieties of black top - which was more common in West Ewell than I had expected. Not much, if any, in our road at all. But why? Such a practical material. And various kinds of slabs: concrete (aka council slabs); igneous; metamorphic; or, sedimentary. Natural concrete (aka conglomerate) not generally being satisfactory.

Then concrete can come in strips or sheets. Then if sheets, one can cover the whole of the space available, more or less eliminating the need for maintenance, or one can leave a few tasteful and ornamental flower beds.

Then bricks, and to a lesser extent setts, can go down simple or complicated. One drive, not in West Ewell but down our own road, has gone in for interlocking arcs, involving different colours, shapes and sizes. The chap who did it said that it took a long longer and cost a lot more than a bog standard job.

Then there is the matter of edging.

Then there is the matter of lowering the kerb or not.

Not to mention foundations.

All in all a complicated subject which may well play into the long grass. In the meantime, I can ponder on what to do with the length of six core telephone cable that I turned up in some other long grass somewhere. And if that is too taxing, I can just ponder on why the telephone people need six cores. I thought they did twisted pairs.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/chicken-of-woods.html.