In the news

Just to keep the news coming a couple of Worcester Park residents have got themselves in the papers this week. Firstly an unnamed teenage girl was saved from hypothermia when found passed out in a supermarket car park by the local constabulary. As there are only two supermarkets in WP with car parks you can toss a coin.

The second is the 67-year old benefit cheat from Browning Avenue (which meets Brinkley Road at one end... local interest story) who took £40,000 in undeserved benefits. Name's in the article so I won't reproduce it here.

The vast majority of WP folk are amiable, law-abiding people so don't take the examples above as being the norm rather than the exception. Do feel free to dob in any drug-dealers, vandals, etc you might get wind of though.

Lastly, my money's on an early April opening for Caffe Picollo as their alcohol licence notice in the window quotes something like April 6th as the decision date.

Crime wave!*

Having reported the smashing of a window at KFC a few days ago there's been an incident at the new Sainsburys in Worcester Park where apparently some ne'er-do-well child/youth smashed a small-ish hole in the window on the car park side, nipped through it and made off with some beverages from the section he probably wouldn't have been allowed to buy from during normal shopping hours.

Oh yes, and I had another flyer from those dear people at A&P Colection Ltd asking for stuff tomorrow. Rodents.

*Not exactly, but I thought a dramatic title might provoke more interest.

Someone's smashed the window of KFC

Jamie Oliver is a suspect*

I'm guessing even the local Guardian would be hard-pressed to call that news, unlike this story about the cannabis factory that was recently discovered in Cuddington Avenue. I'm not quite sure which is more surprising...... the cannabis factory or the fact that somebody's found a way of starting a money-making business in Worcester Park that doesn't involve taking over one of Mr Devine's former premises. Coincidentally a quick Google shows up a Devine Interiors on eBay which was registered a year and a half ago and appears to have sold a whopping 99 items in that time........ no change there then. I always liked his shops and even bought stuff in there, but it wasn't going to be a great money-making scheme.

From other local blogs I see that Richard Sweeting has a recommendation on a good local curry that doesn't involve Central Road, though I know the Stoneligh Brasserie does a good one. The strangest blog of the week has to be from London Filth who shares a picture of "a banana, discarded under a seat on Worcester Park railway station in London, and beside it is a pool of phlegm, spat there quite recently by the look of it.". Mmmm.... yes..... thanks for that. And I thought taking photos of Central Road was strange enough.......

I did have a number of other things I was going to post about but the current sleepless behaviour of Brinkster Minor seems to have erased them from my memory..... but I can still remember Pi to 30 places.... strange how these things work.

* I don't know whether Jamie Oliver is or is not a suspect. That was merely a humourous device. Please don't sue me.

There's partying in the streets!

Retail insanity continues apace in Worcester Park with the opening of "Mr Ink" last Friday. They originally put up the frontage weeks and weeks ago but were hiding it, probably for fear of spoiling the 'surprise'. Here it is pictured in all its yellow glory next to Superfish:

Without wishing to sound like a complete miseryguts I can't help thinking that the residents of WP are going to be less than excited by this so I'll give it my usual 6 months. On a plus side they were giving away helium balloons and Brinkster Minor obtained one which, when it exploded in the warm spring sunlight several minutes later, nearly healed several bystanders of their constipation. Great stuff.

Pride of place in the league of retail insanity, however, goes to the curiously named Worcester Supermarket.

It's been open a few weeks now and I've yet to see a real customer in there though the other week I did spot a woman empty-handedly perusing the shelves who I suspect was the significant other of one of the staff, and last week there was a young man at the counter who I think was trying to look like a customer engaged in conversation when in fact he was another member of staff. With Costcutter long established, Ryan Gate cornering the market on quirky and Sainsbury's providing the heavyweight muscle at the top of the hill I can't imagine why they think dropping this monstrosity into a row of shops where it's notoriously difficult to park is going to make money. If they last 6 months it'll seem like a lifetime.

For the amateur detective amongst you I have a puzzle. This image from the Francis Frith website purports to be an aerial photo of Worcester Park from 1923, but for the life of me I can't work out which bit:



My initial thought was that the road in the middle would be Central Road because of the buses in picture but that doesn't seem to be right (flat and straight) and there's no sign of the railway so it can't be near the station. Unless their definition of Worcester Park has strayed further afield than I'd expect I'm starting to think it could be mistaken identity on their part?

I thought this picture of Central Road from 1950 was excellent though, like being on another planet:

You can contrast it with the current state of affairs at the Worcester Park Gallery.

It's Saturday

I normally don't blog on Saturdays and, judging by the stats, you don't tend to read them on Saturdays either but I thought I'd post today stirred in the knowledge that this humble blog has been deluged with visitors (relatively speaking) since I posted about A&P Collection the other day. Although my first love is blogging about this strange hamlet known as Worcester Park the clothes collection stuff seems to be taking on a life of its own. I hope it's making a difference for people in general but if you haven't been reading the comments on earlier posts I thought I'd highlight this one from Peter, which can be found here:

Peter (4.2.07 12:33)

Just had a collection bag put through the door by some eastern look guy, it's a collection for donotdelay.org. Checked out the site and arrived at yours, sending a cheque to Royal marsden as suggested and will be putting out the plastic bag for collection on Tuesday as requested filled with the contents of the cat's litter tray!!

If you can't tell from where you're sitting, I'm smiling :)