As I had not seen them for a few days I had become rather worried about the foxes lately All, however, must be well because, it being bin collection day, there was, this morning, the usual evidence of their presence all over the front lawn.
On this the second successive summery day I set off as usual on foot to Colliers Wood before boarding the Northern Line tube en route to SW1 for coffee with my friend Carol. Near a bridge over the River Wandle close to the carpark serving Deen City Farm, which must have entertained countless three-year-olds, set in the ground lies a blue plaque in remembrance of Kate Brown, aged three, who, whilst playing on it, fell from the bridge in Autumn 1997. Each time I pass this spot I spare a thought for this child and her parents. Kate would now have been on the threshold of womanhood, and her parents will have lived years of chronic sorrow. Maybe you will spare a similar thought.
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Being met with the surprising and incongruous sweet smell of freshly mown grass upon entering Colliers Wood’s bustling High Street, I was prompted to investigate the opposite side of the road and the gates to another National Trust property, namely Wandle Park and Water Meadow, maintained for them by Merton Council. This will be worth a further exploration when I have more time.
Sandwiched between a wooden barrier and the precincts of Victoria Underground station is what is now effectively a long tunnel, presumably to be in place as long as it takes for the road works in progress in and around the bus station opposite the railway terminus to reach completion. You would have to know that the Victoria cafe is hidden there to be able, as I did, to partake of one of its fry-ups. Yes, a greasy spoon alongside Victoria station. Not the Martin Cafe, but OK.
The mysterious clearing of the foxes’ leavings had again been carried out during the morning.
This evening’s meal, as Paul Tullett would express it, was Cobra beer with the accompaniment of Susan’s chicken from the freezer. I always make enough to last a second time.