A nostalgic trip

On Tuesday 18th I enjoyed a day in London. First to Ilford to the bank, then the 123 to Tottenham Hale and the 76 to Waterloo - watching the world go by is fascinating from a London bus especially if you are in the front seat upstairs. A wander round the South Bank and a sandwich, over the Thames footbridge to the Embankment and the 76 to St. Paul's for Sung Evensong with the choir back from holiday and a seat in the choir stalls, then home on the 26, TfL to Ilford and Radio Cars mini-cab - for my legs were just about to give up!

It was a nostalgic day as these photographs show. First, Sweetings in the City is still there! I was taken there for lunch by a broker from Willis Faber and Dumas in the 1950s. It is a fish restaurant and here for the very first time I tasted Chablis.

When I left home I had shaved, selected a blue check shirt with yellow stripes, a plain yellow tie and fawn trousers. (A security guard at St. Paul's remarked that I looked very smart.) From the top of a bus I observed city gents at lunchtime. If I said that one in twenty were wearing a tie that would be too kind. No wonder Tie Rack closed down. It was not like that in my day in the 50s and 60s when I wore a stiff white collar and tie every day!

On the South Bank I was pleased to see that the skate park remains. There were plans to close it down and kick the youngsters out with their skateboards when Yvonne, Marlon and I are there some 10 years ago - we all signed the petition and followed the story online - till the skaters won the day! And here they were - the only reasonable photograph taken shows a lad having fallen off his board!

It was here on the South Bank when Yvonne signed up to sponsor a child in South America with World Vision. I have taken over the sponsorship. This week I received a photograph and message from the current boy - we have had two earlier children who have now left school. I send photographs of Aldborough Hatch and write messages a few times each year. And it all began on the South Bank.

And so to St. Paul's . . .

In the genes!

An email on a Monday morning

Hi Family,

I believe there is something in the genes of the Jeffries Clan that makes them workaholics. 

My father, who died at the age of 51 in 1951, worked six-and-a-half days a week at times in the 30s in my youth, coming home at noon on Sundays to lunch and the garden. Then when we had two allotments in Seven Kings Park during the 1939-1945 War, he worked five-and-a-half days, spending Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday on the allotments - with me as his goffer, looking after the rabbits.

During my working life, I worked in the City first and every spare moment was then taken up with Scouting - more a full-time job than a hobby!  For the eleven years on SCOUTING magazine, I left home about 7.30am weekdays returning home after 9pm most evenings - and spent three out of four weekends away from home travelling the country speaking. On MILK INDUSTRY, it was nine to five - but then I freelanced, wrote books and articles, and was at court.. Retirement has been busy - I wonder how I ever had time work!

Graham leaves home early for the office and returns home late evening, going by train or air to offices around the country and staying overnight at times. I know he takes works home too. His weekends are busy by all accounts. Heather is on the bus at 6.45am and home to cook a meal in the early evening. Heather works on the buses and takes work home. Weekends are busy around the home and with work taken home. Richard leaves home early morning and works evenings and weekends in the garden and on the house. Both Graham and Richard share the cooking.

All the spouses live hectic, busy lives - which I will not dare to comment upon for I am only writing here about my kids! 

I was once invited to lecture at a Scout Association international seminar in Switzerland on ‘Leisure'. My friends thought it was a joke and laughed and laughed hysterically..

Just a few random thoughts to make you all smile on the Monday morning. Nothing serious. 

I must now boil the whites before washing them with Glowhite, then a full machine with coloureds! After all, it is Monday morning which was always washday when I was a kid. Every house in Church Road had a full washing line on Mondays when the mangle was taken from the garden shed to be put to good use - and some small child made to turn the handle.

Love

Dad/Ron/Granddad/Greatgranddad

PS This is NOT going on FACEBOOK or INSTAGRAM

PPS Have a good day

PPPS And do not work too hard.

Community Memorial Garden

Saturday 15th September - workday in the Garden at St. Peter's 

Green!

The water feature in my garden has been a great success this summer. There is nothing like sitting on a bench in the sunshine, listening to the gentle tinkle of running water.

But there has been one problem. Green slimy stuff. 

I tried FOUNTAIN SAFE - the powder recommended by the suppliers of the fountain. 

Still green forming.

Then I went for ENVIL WATER FEATURE CLEAR. 

Still green.

Today Ashley showed me his water feature and told me that he uses MILTON STERILISING TABLETS from the chemists - I gather these are used for something or the other with babies. So I bought a pack - and we will see!  

Life changes . . .

I have a new iron - for ironing! The old one started to play up. First, it blew the fuse in the plug. Then it blew a fuse in the fuse box under the stairs. Then it stopped when Daphne was doing the ironing (I do the tea towels, the handkerchiefs and the pillow cases). I do not know how old the iron is for Yvonne had it before me.

Heather suggested I buy the same iron as she has - a Tefal Access Easy in red and cream. Very smart it is too. I started using it today and discovered that if I press a knob at the front it shoots water all over the thing being ironed. What fun! Furthermore, if I move one of the settings it allows steam to emit from the base. Even more fun! I cannot wait for the handkerchiefs to dry on the washing line in the garden.

If you had told me four years ago that I would have fun on a Monday morning with a new iron, I would have suggested you got lost! Sad really but life changes, with new challenges. My apple and blackberry crumble seems to be going down well locally. I must try one for myself for I have a good few in the freezer.

Balmy September day

Today - the first day of September - was one pf those balmy days when the warmth is not too hot with a gentle breeze that caught you unawares as you rounded a corner on Fairlop Waters Country Park. How fortunate we are to have this gem on our doorsteps. And how sad that part of the Local Nature Reserve is to be trashed for financial gain! But we fight on in the hope that it can be saved.

Harvest

Today was harvest day at the Dick Turpin Orchard, which Jenny Chalmers, Chairman of the Aldborough Hatch Defence Association, nurtures with help from a small band of enthusiasts. This year's crop was much smaller than last year. Just four boxes. The Bramleys were best - but not as many this year. They have gone for jam making and preserves for the Christmas Market. I have made some apple and blackberry crumbles and also frozen some stewed apple - always good to eat in the winter.