window cleaner – derrickjknight

Marylebone And Little Venice

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..Today I scanned another batch of my Streets of London colour slide collection, this time from June 2004.

Warwick Crescent, W2 lies in the heart of Little Venice, as evidenced by the Regents Canal basin in the foreground. Much of this street was bombed during WW2. The building to which the street name is fixed is a survivor. One other, to the far left, out of the picture, is the 19th century Beauchamp Lodge, where I rented my counselling room. The rest consists of 1960s council building. We were bemused when, in the 1980s these boringly banal boxes began to be tarted up. The answers were probably revealed when the Council Leader’s gerrymandering exercise was exposed. The Waterside Café provided good snacks, cakes, and beverages; the Waterbus offered trips along the canal to Camden Lock and back. During my running years I sometimes exchanged waves with passengers as I jogged alongside them.

These steps taking pedestrians up from Porteus Street, lead to a bus stop at the large Harrow Road roundabout. To the left of the wall is the entrance to an underpass beneath the main thoroughfare. I knew people who would not use it for a not unreasonable fear of mugging. The trees at the top of the shot screen the canal.

Here is another shot of our friend the bemused window cleaner of Cabbell Street, NW1, which contained some rather beautiful mansion flats;

as does Old Marylebone Road;

a turning off which is Homer Row, W1. Traditional London taxi cabs are black. This driver chose red, and likes pink. The mansions shown above are reflected in his passenger window.

Regular readers will know that my self-imposed constraint on this series is that a street name sign must be included. I cheated a bit in this one, because it is Crawford Place, W2 that is featured, but St Mary’s Church, Marylebone, is actually in Wyndham Place, NW1. I was intrigued by the various examples of geometry on display in this scene.

Since this area is one of Westminster’s most prestigious, road sweeper, like this gentleman in Bryanston Mews East, W1, are rather more in evidence than in the poorer London Boroughs.

The embassy of the Republic of Angola is situated in Dorset Street W1 alongside the corner of Clay Street;

whilst on the corner of Dorset Street and Kenrick Place stands The Barley Mow, claiming to be the oldest pub in Marylebone. Time Out had this to say on 17th May 2013: “This corner pub in Marylebone started life in 1791 as a meeting place for farmers to pawn their goods. Legend has it that the wooden snugs (now listed) either side of the bar gave them a bit of privacy in which to make their transactions. These days, there’s a good range of lagers and bottled beers along with the ales, plus food (mainly Pieminster pies), with music in the evening mix.”

I wasn’t the only one with a camera on the go in Broadstone Place, W1.

The Tudor Rose pub on the corner of Blandford and Manchester Streets, W1 is featured in the London Pub Review website, thus: “Our dire predictions haven’t come true – this one’s still not changed in years. Good. It’s not a bad place at all, with decent beer on the hand pumps and proper pub grub served downstairs (upstairs there’s a restaurant) including such delights as Spam fritters. Being in a Marylebone backwater, this place hardly ever gets crowded, although there’s a weekday lunchtime trade, so if you need place for a quiet pint in the area, this place will do nicely. The service is prompt and friendly and the prices are on par for the area. Whilst you wouldn’t necessarily make a special effort to seek this place out, if you’re in the locale, do drop in. Oh, except on a Sunday – it’s closed.”

While I was working on this post, aromas of cumin and coriander led me to investigate the kitchen, where Jackie was occupied inventing her own cauliflower bahji,

which we were to enjoy for dinner with her classic lamb jalfrezi and basmati rice with onions and peppers.

Paddington, Marylebone, And Islington

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Today I scanned another dozen colour slides from the May 2004 selection of Streets of London.

Someone with an excellent sense of humour commissioned this window cleaner scratching his head as he contemplates tackling the M & S glass fronted tower building opposite Edgware Road tube station in Cabbell Street, NW1. Note the graffiti on the phone box.

Paddington Green,

home of Sara Siddons (photographed on July 16th 2013) whose nose job has been unsuccessful;

North Wharf Road, where the windows of this building reflect construction going on around it;

and Harrow Road, all W2, are all within the vicinity of Paddington. Once again we were coming into summertime, when the residents of these small flats could hang their washing out on tiny balconies otherwise used for flower pots and hanging baskets.

At this time I regularly walked from Little Venice in W9 to Parents for Children in Islington’s N1. Depending on my chosen route, I passed through Tresham Crescent, NW8, where the City of Westminster managed a children’s home,

and Pavely Street, near Regent’s Canal, wondering whether the Blue Square air balloon was heading for Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Passing the cricket ground, I would have traversed Barrow Hill Road,

and travelled on along Barker Drive, NW1, where was draped another reminder that this was Arsenal Football Club’s annus mirabilis.

Agar Grove was quite a long stretch, probably more so for the broken down vehicle.

By Laycock Street, I would have neared my goal. Reflected in the window of the modern building is the older street name.

Back in Marylebone, I walked many a time along the length of both Marylebone Road,

and Marylebone High Street, NW1. The splendid domed building shown in these last two shots is St. Marylebone Parish Church, described by Wikipedia as ‘an Anglican church on the Marylebone Road in London. It was built to the designs of Thomas Hardwick in 1813–17. The present site is the third used by the parish for its church. The first was further south, near Oxford Street. The church there was demolished in 1400 and a new one erected further north. This was completely rebuilt in 1740–42, and converted into a chapel-of-ease when Hardwick’s church was constructed. The Marylebone area takes its name from the church. Located behind the church is St Marylebone School, a Church of England school for girls.’

This evening Jackie produced a superb roast lamb dinner. The only item that was not exquisitely crunchy was the tender lamb itself. It was served with roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and broccoli, all cooked and timed to perfection. Tasty gravy was added. The Culinary Queen drank sparkling water and I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2014.

Spaghetti Junction

Here is the recipe for broccoli and stilton soup I had hoped, last night, to be able to provide this morning. Thanks to our caterer-in-chief:
Take a largish saucepan.
With approximately 2oz butter and 1 and 1/2 oz plain flour make a roux.
Then add 3 to 4 oz crumbled stilton to taste.
Meanwhile, heat a pint and a half of water in a separate pan, into which dissolve two good quality (e.g. Knorr) stock cubes, one chicken and one vegetable. If possible these should be low salt because stilton can be salty.
Simmer chopped broccoli and/or cauliflower in the stock until soft.
Gradually stirring it in add the broccoli and stock to the roux and ‘cook for a bit more’.

We had some for lunch. It has a delightful piquancy.

Before that, we had driven to Knights ironmongers in Lymington, where we bought a number of practical items, like sink plugs, door locks, hacksaws, chisels, and a preparation for clearing the blocked shower. I had used Bullitt before, but couldn’t remember the name. The very helpful young man in the shop went straight to it when I described our needs.

Bullitt is 95-97% sulphuric acid and claims to dissolve pretty well all organic matter that can legitimately find its way into pipes. It comes with considerable safety warnings, and emitted a steam, which we are advised not to inhale, on application. Unfortunately, whatever is down there, it seems impervious to sulphuric acid. I suppose it could be fossilised. After following the instructions and scouring the scummy tray, there was no speedier a trickle down the plug hole. I applied another dose and walked away without much hope of success. Jackie, on the other hand, made a good job of fixing sink plugs and door locks.

My first car, bought in December 1966, was a red Hillman Imp. During our courting days I was able to drive to Jackie’s family home in Beckenham, sometimes with Michael, sometimes leaving him with Mum in 18 Bernard Gardens. Always a keen photographer, I kept the camera in the car. One afternoon in September 1967, I stopped at traffic lights, and glanced to my left.

There a window cleaner was engaged in polishing a large sheet of glass under the gaze of a baby in a pram inside the room that it was lighting. I grabbed my all-manual Kodak Retinette 1b camera, and, in the seconds before the red light turned to green, snatched the shot. It remains one of my favourite ‘posterity’ images. Judith and Barrie will, no doubt be intrigued to recognise the roof of my car reflected in the window of the room.

Aficionados may be able to identify the make of the pram. Window cleaning has now become much more sophisticated. Does anyone still use a ladder, chamois leathers, and elbow grease?

When she was here last week, Flo observed that we had our TV in a funny place. This was because it was behind Jackie’s chair and consequently rather obscured from view.

This in turn was because I was too scared to attempt to set up the Sharp Aquos TV; BT Vision complete with the Powerline adapters required because the Home Hub was far enough away from the telly to need it; and the Bose 123 CD/DVD player complete with its bulky Acoustimass module.

The Gravelly Hill interchange on the M6 at Birmingham is the original spaghetti junction. This is a nickname given to a network of connecting roads that appears a tangled mess. It could equally apply to the wiring system focussing on the seven year old TV. With constant reference to the various users guides that came with the equipment; to the tags at some stage or another attached to the various wires; with some of the tentacles still attached at one end to the relevant gadgets; and with a good deal of foraging among a container labelled ‘phone wires and stuff’, a miracle was achieved. We can now watch telly, choose a programme from BT vision, play a DVD, or listen to a CD.

Whilst I was grappling with technology in the living room, Jackie successfully did so in the kitchen, where, on her induction hobs, she produced a lamb jalfrezi (recipe) as good as ever. She served it with wild rice. I finished the merlot.