Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[AndrewT]

I just can't fathom why I'm always so tired these days.

played all night cash at Luton, & then went home & worked all day catching up on e-Mails, & Invoicing.

It really is a mystery.

[kinboshi]

I just can't fathom why I'm always so tired these days.

played all night cash at Luton, & then went home & worked all day catching up on e-Mails, & Invoicing.

It really is a mystery.

I blame the egg benedict.

[AndrewT]

I just can't fathom why I'm always so tired these days.

played all night cash at Luton, & then went home & worked all day catching up on e-Mails, & Invoicing.

It really is a mystery.

I blame the egg benedict.

Don't blame Face!

[tikay]

After an "interesting" night last night, filming at a guys house in Dagenham, I was back at my Hotel pre-midnight, straight to bed, & up and about at 9am, so I decided to have a mooch round Romford Market, which is right behind the Hotel.

As a kid, Markets were where we shopped - there were no Supermarkets then, & Tesco's had not even been founded - & I was sent on errands to Shepherds Bush Market three times a week. It runs from Goldhawk Road to Uxbridge Road, alongside a railway viaduct on which trundle Hammersmith & City Line stock.

When I began work, at 16, I became a regular at what is said to be Britain's longest Street Market, Walthamstow. 

So I was intrigued to see how Markets had changed, & Romford Market still has a 50's feel to it. Fruit & Veg is sold loose, in bowls, & these bowls come at £1 each - you pay £1 & get the contents of the bowl. No weighing then. And the fruit & veg comes in odd sizes, like it used to, pre EEC days, giant, mis-shapen cooking apples, & odd shaped swedes & turnips.

And it has "The Tea Pot Cafe (est 1953), where they still serve Tea from a proper pot. Proper brekkie, too. And I found a bakers, which sold Bread Pudding - not seen that for donkeys years.

WARNING TO KIDS - don't go swimming after eating Bread Pudding.

Here's a Romford Market scene from way back. Note stuff being sold off the back of a lorry.

Happy Days.

[tikay]

Every Market had numerous Stalls like this when I was a kid, where we would eagerly forage the contents all day. Nobody ever bought new stuff, it was always second or third-hand, but we were seriously proud of our bit of junk. My first 3 bikes all came from such stalls. The Cafe you can see in the top left of the picture is still there.

[tikay]

...and Romford Market then unveiled to me it's little secret - a quite splendid old Church, St Edward the Confessor, the original of which dates back to 14-something, though it must have been rebuilt much later, 18xx I imagine. And this Church just sits there, on the edge of the Market, another of Britain's many & understrated gems. It's beautiful.

[tikay]

Next to the Church is the Church House, with a sign that says "Church House, c1483". Well the "circa" must be very circa, that looks centuries younger than 1483 to me, but it's still really rather nice. It's the Church Shop these days.

[tikay]

This has nothing to do with Romford Market, but I needed an excuse to Post it. Note the three axle configuaration, which was needed because it exceeded 30ft, but when the RTA law changed, the third axle was removed. Shame really.

[RED-DOG]

They used to scrub tyres off like nobody's business. Still, there was no legal requirement to have tread on your tyres, so it didn't matter too much.

The first time my dad had tyres with tread on, he drove back and forth through the mud so that we could look at the patterns.

[RED-DOG]

I love those old pictures.

Now, can you stop distracting me please, I have a bonfire to tend too.

[tikay]

Talking of Britain's hidden gems, I was in ? recently, for a meeting, & it finished early, so I had a mooch round the local countryside, & came upon this wonderful place. (This is just the Gatehouse).

I'd never heard of it before, but it turns out to be the "Official Residence" of one of the most Eminent individuls in the country, at least by Title, if not, in this day & age, importance.

Can anyone name it?

[tikay]

Here'a another view, from inside the Gatehouse.

[tikay]

...and the place includes this table, said to be 22ft long, made from a single oak tree in Tudor times.

[Tonji]

Bishopthorpe Palace home of the Archbishop of York

[taximan007]

Flushy's Pad ?