Crystal Palace | 28th May to 4th June | 60 miles @ 28mpg | Pitch 33
Friday 28th May
Time for Patsy’s second outing of the year - if you don’t count her little sojourn to the service centre in the winter to get her little problem with damp sorted - and it’s to the club site adjacent the mighty erection that is the Crystal Palace transmitter, for what is my 11th visit to this oh so handy but sadly under threat site.
With term finishing on the Thursday I’d booked to go away on the Friday and it had been in the calendar for a while - ever since the club announced an extension to the site’s lease last year in fact. So when my my manager announced a month ago that we were required to attend an INSET day on said Friday he was politely appraised of the situation - the short two word reply I decided would be better kept to myself. As it happens it wasn’t an issue. Just as well.
With arrivals not permitted until 1pm there was no rush but even so, I did regret not hauling the majority of the gear down to the car until the morning. I’ve never got the hang of travelling light but given my sartorial er ‘bent’ it’s not really an option. One has standards to keep up though I suspected that given the weather forecast the two long leather coats selected for the trip might well be redundant.
Such was my uncharacteristic organisation I even had time to call in to get newly MOT’d Rosie a spruce up on the way to the storage yard. These days I’m happy to hand over some folding, the racquet of CBA swatting away any thoughts of doing it myself mostly.
Pre flight checks were executed surprisingly efficiently - no air needed in the tyres and Patsy’s nuts were suitably tight. I hitched up ahead of schedule and even sat for a bit, not wanting to risk arriving early. Even Rosie seemed to look pleased at the prospect of hauling lardy Patsy through the pot holed South London roads, perhaps conscious of the fact that I’ve spent a bit of time on Auto Trader recently. I’m not looking to change just yet but it’s worth seeing what’s out there and for how much. Her annual mileage has dropped considerably as I don’t use her for work and pretty much all journeys are with Patsy attached, but at 141,000 miles she’s in the autumn of her years.
The journey itself was as expected. There was the inevitable stamp on the brake pedal and launch skywards of the middle finger accompanied by the usual expletives but this time not at the mini roundabout by the site entrance but as I joined the A23 outside Brighton, a Peugeot pulling out then accelerating with all the pace of an arthritic tortoise.
Once inside the M25, 3rd gear predictably became a distant memory. It’s how it is and was not much worse than usual, things improving somewhat after the Purley Way. I pulled up on site just shy of of two hours after leaving storage being allocated Pitch 33 which, if memory serves, is one which neither of the two Patsy’s had graced with their presence on previous visits. It’s never cheap here, particularly during the half-term holidays but I’d bought some Club vouchers last year when the offer was on and they made a big dent in the bill.
I made a half-arsed attempt at reversing, getting the old girl thereabouts then finished things off with the motor mover, the battery seemingly having kept kept replenished by the solar panel. An 80watt folding job that I’d bought from a colleague with vague ideas about going off-grid at some point, it was heavy and unwieldy in it’s original form so I separated the two panels and used just one, it sitting snugly in the front window whilst in storage.
Set up was completed reasonably swiftly - after nine years touring with nearly three alone I’m starting to get the hang of it. I sat down in the recliner with a beer and a sandwich five minutes earlier than hoped, at 1:55pm, announcing to social media world with the usual photo, that legs were down.
The beer and sarnie preceded a nap then, somewhat refreshed I set about cleaning Patsy’s windows. No dedicated cleaner here, just a branded multi-surface household polish and a microfibre cloth and they came up great. That just left most of the bodywork - I’d done the back, front and lockers whilst away at my local site, Brighton on the previous bank holiday, but the rest would have to wait. My belly was informing me that dinner was the next item on the agenda.
Saturday 29th May
A reasonable night’s sleep, partially fuelled by London Pride but I was still awake early. No matter, it was a pleasant morning and I enjoyed the relative lie in with a cuppa and a good book.
11am and breakfasted, showered and tarted up in the usual shirt, tie, waistcoat and leather trews, it was time to head into ‘town’ for the whole point of this trip - and the blog title.
Briefly, during the latest lockdown I did a jigsaw which I recalled my parents having when I was kid, entitled Pubs & Shops of London. Having completed said jigsaw I set about finding out more about the businesses featured, curious as to how many more still existed some 40 years on. If you’ve not yet face-palmed and clicked or tapped away you can see my blog post HERE.
My plan is to photograph each one as it is now and recreate the montage of the original jigsaw - 42 addresses in total - and so set off, DSLR and packed lunch in back pack to make a start.
Having originally considered sticking to buses only I soon changed my mind and hopped off the No. 3 bus to join the Tube at Brixton, changing at Victoria and onwards to Sloane Square, my plan being to knock off the places in West London.
Well, best laid plans and all that - except that had I bothered to check - you know like a seasoned traveller would have done - the Circle and District lines were on the blink - announced by the nice lady who also seems to reside in the cupboard under the stairs on the buses. I emerged, fillings loosened, at Victoria to get on a bus.
Herds of elephants have been appearing in Chelsea - made from the Lantana plant and to highlight the coexistence between man and animal - pretty topical if you think about the recent pandemic. There are 100 in total and I managed to ’capture’ a few. Find out more HERE
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. First up was 138 Kings Road, Chelsea, once The Markham Arms and now a bank but being Listed, many of the original features remain. Then and now:
A short walk that felt longer thanks to bunion crushing winklepickers - how I suffer for my vanity - brought me to the Fulham Road and The Kings Arms. It may surprise you to learn that I didn’t use the excuse of research to stop for a pint. Whilst we can now ‘go in’, I’m not sure visiting multiple busy premises is a good idea just now. Shame about the scaffolding but no matter. Two down, forty to go.
More pavement pounding brought to Sillwood Terrace and The Anglesea Arms, very much still alive and kicking I was sorely tempted by a pint here but it was rammed anyway.
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Back to the Fulham Road and on a bus to Knightsbridge, passing Harrods on the way, then a short walk around the corner to Paxtons Head, still a pub.
An entrance to Hyde Park was just across the road and my fifth and final location was the other side. I took lunch overlooking the Serpentine feeling considerably overdressed - though not overly concerned by such - and reluctantly thankful that I’d eschewed wearing a longer leather coat. Standards I know but there’s vanity and not looking a complete douche bag, never mind melting. The skies were clear and it was a fabulous day.
Across from Hyde Park and behind Hyde Park Place was Connaught Street and the premises of a business that departed around 2006; Somers and Kirby, possibly a butchers but now occupied by a dentist.
And that was it for the day. Aching feet managed to propel me back to Hyde Park Place for the bus to Victoria, swapping to the Tube for the ride to Brixton, pausing for supplies before boarding the trusty No. 3 for the ride back to the site and a much needed beer in the recliner before dinner and TV.
A good day - these were probably the most widely spaced and I was chuffed to have made a dent in the list. It did feel surreal visiting places on a jigsaw I must say.
More to come, soon. If you’ve got this far, thanks for reading.
For the record: Public Transport journeys made: Bus 3 to Brixton, Tube to Victoria, Bus 11 to Kings Road, Bus 414 from Fulham Road to Knightsbridge, Bus 148 from Hyde Park Place to Victoria, Tube to Brixton, Bus 3 to Crystal Palace. Total cost (capped) £7.40.