STANMORE
So much has happened in last month
- Visited my mother in London
- Visited my boys in Dublin
- Visited my friends in Singapore
and these are the things I didn’t get round to (in no particular order)
- Visit the "Dukes Head" in Putney. Where I met my first wife and where on one memorable rent day my flat mates and I entertained a policeman who had come to arrest the landlord on a bench warrant for outstanding fines. Landlord returned under escort later to collect rent to pay fines and avoid going to jail.
- Visit Shepperton and Sunbury -on- Thames: I used to live in Hampton and at another time worked in Sunbury. Many a happy summer's evening was spent chatting to friends sitting by the Thames watching life on the river float by
- Eat Steak and Kidney Pudding (was on my target list of "soul food" unavailable in Hong Kong; On our first day in London, passed a pub serving it for lunch but 2 days later was off the menu. Still scored haddock & chips (chipper in Wanstead); Hot Salt beef sandwich (Kossov's in Aldgate) It is outrageous - the Beth Din revoked Bloom’s kaushrut status in 1996 and it is no more . well actually its now a Burger King and they don’t do kefilte fish either.
- See Arsenal play at home whilst they are still at Highbury: I suppose I could have asked Ruth to get me a couple of tickets. Sometime between WWI and WWII the Middleburgh's got a block of seats just behind the directors box and down the road at the Spurs. I remember as a kid being taken by dad on Saturdays to the match (whichever was at home).I regret not having the opportunity to take Patrick in particular to a match. But I did take a Scots girl Sheila that I lived with (before all the wives). She was tall, long hair; stunning figure and legs that went all way up ... not a Jewish princess.) My father met us outside the ground but only had one spare ticket. He took one look at Sheila (first time he had met her), took her by the arm, informed me that I would have to find my own ticket and led her inside to show her off to the family.
- Visit Kew:I remember romancing girls in the palm house in the winter (now of course I can just step outdoors ... to see the palms) Kew gardens is a UNESCO heritage site so it's worth going even if I don’t have time to visit the Public Records Office in Kew to dig up the rest of the family skeletons .
- Visit the Isle of Dogs/Greenwich: And we were only staying up the road: Most tourists visit the Cutty Sark; Sir Francis Chichester's Gypsy moth IV (I think the latter whilst smaller is by far the more impressive) The Maritime Museum (which I think is one of best museums in London) and the Observatory/Meridian Line. I however enjoy walking through the Victorian tunnel that runs under the Thames to the Isle of Dogs (I mean where else can you say "I have been to the dogs and back" apart from Walthamstow Dog Track.. It ranks alongside going to Helsinki and flying the national carrier. As you step into the plane you can truly say "watch me disappear into Finnair"
- Visit Walthamstow Dog Track: My father apparently liked going to the dogs before he got married. If I have the urge I have to go all the way to Macau and rumor has it they may close the track there soon.
- Visit Sloan Museumhome of Hogath’s Rake’s Progress: what more can I say.
- Visit Southend Pier: It was a toss up between the delights of Southend Pier or Brighton Pier. Brighton won out this time.
- Visit Dun Laoghaire: walk around the harbor and go to the Chinese restaurant (if it still exists) where I had a memorable “chicken with cashew nuts in yellow bean sauce”. No one in HK knows what yellow bean sauce is but I discovered the other week that it's Singaporean (?) in origin
- Visit the Old Bailey: I think I might have a natural affinity for the place
- Buy a Petanque set:I have this vision of playing Petanque on the beach at Sek O but I can’t get a set of balls here in HK. Apparently there are two Petanque clubs in Singapore so next time I visit I am going to check it out.
- Stanmore: Doesn’t the very name just conjure up visions of Stanley bravely fighting his way through the African bush to confront Livingstone at Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, I wonder if he would have bothered if Livingstone was known to be an exceedingly ill tempered and grumpy old man?
Posted at 5/01/2005 10:02:00 pm by David Middleburgh
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