While buying mice for Miss Brinkster's snake the other week in Pets Place on Central Road we spent a few minutes looking at the bearded dragon, gecko and tiny tortoise that were meandering around their vivariums. Fast forward to yesterday and the Local Guardian has an article on the theft of the tortoise from the shop on Saturday:
"The tortoise needs to be looked after carefully or it will die," said Mr Veal. "I am more angry than upset at the theft; that anyone can stoop so low."
Police are looking for four white youths in connection with the theft - two boys and two girls, aged 13-16, who were seen in the shop at the time.
One of the boys was about 5ft 2in tall and wore a dark hooded top. The other boy was slim with spiky blond hair and was 5ft 6in.
One of the girls was of medium build, 5ft 2in tall, with brown, bushy, curly hair. She wore a light coloured hooded top and blue jeans. There is no description of the other girl.
Apart from the obvious issue of the fate of the tortoise it's hard for small businesses to absorb these kind of losses and I'm all in favour of having more small businesses rather than less, so if you do get wind of who might have done it please call Worcester Park Safer Neighbourhoods Team on 020 8649 3590, email worcesterpark.snt@met.police.uk or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Monday, 10 March 2008
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses"
It's good to be back in the UK, away from the unrelenting cheeriness, hot sun, strange sports and behemothic shopping malls of Phoenix and embraced by the finest that English weather has to offer casting a comforting blanket over the friendly shops and traffic of Worcester Park.
I lie.
Cold? wet? grey?....... take me back to Arizona.
The promised storm has arrived and the trains were royally up the creek this morning with the pièce de résistance being the train that hurtled through the station around 7.40 which didn't bother to stop for passengers, probably because it would disrupt the timetable. The sodden, cold and huddled masses eventully poured themselves into a train around 7.50 and in the end it only took me an hour and a half to do what would normally have taken an hour (I'm being sarcastic if you can't tell).
A number of passengers at Worcester Park did try and bolster the spirits of their fellow passengers by attempting to fight off the torrential downpour and associated gales with that mightiest of implements........ the umbrella. Seriously, I know people want to stay dry but the most likely result on a day like to day is to give the assembled crowd an impromptu display of manned flight, with the possibility of dislocating a shoulder as a potential bonus. After the first few umbrellas had been comprehensively disassembled by the wind it was left to the ninjas of the umbrella art to to try and maintain their dignity, which they managed to greater or lesser degrees....... the most spectacular failure being that of an enormous golf umbrella and the subsequent attempts to right the situation left me wiping the moisture from my eyes for more than one reason.
Umbrella spotting has become a bit of a sport in the office today with assorted staff congregating pressed against the glass sides of our building attempting to prognosticate the fortunes of umbrellas and their carriers as they negotiate their way across the road and the adjoining square with such comments as "I give her ten seconds", and "He'll never hang on to that" being the standard fare. The more impressive failures are greeted with an "ooooh" and much respect is given to those who can salvage resurrect their inverted implement.
Maybe it is nice to be back in the UK after all.
I lie.
Cold? wet? grey?....... take me back to Arizona.
The promised storm has arrived and the trains were royally up the creek this morning with the pièce de résistance being the train that hurtled through the station around 7.40 which didn't bother to stop for passengers, probably because it would disrupt the timetable. The sodden, cold and huddled masses eventully poured themselves into a train around 7.50 and in the end it only took me an hour and a half to do what would normally have taken an hour (I'm being sarcastic if you can't tell).
A number of passengers at Worcester Park did try and bolster the spirits of their fellow passengers by attempting to fight off the torrential downpour and associated gales with that mightiest of implements........ the umbrella. Seriously, I know people want to stay dry but the most likely result on a day like to day is to give the assembled crowd an impromptu display of manned flight, with the possibility of dislocating a shoulder as a potential bonus. After the first few umbrellas had been comprehensively disassembled by the wind it was left to the ninjas of the umbrella art to to try and maintain their dignity, which they managed to greater or lesser degrees....... the most spectacular failure being that of an enormous golf umbrella and the subsequent attempts to right the situation left me wiping the moisture from my eyes for more than one reason.
Umbrella spotting has become a bit of a sport in the office today with assorted staff congregating pressed against the glass sides of our building attempting to prognosticate the fortunes of umbrellas and their carriers as they negotiate their way across the road and the adjoining square with such comments as "I give her ten seconds", and "He'll never hang on to that" being the standard fare. The more impressive failures are greeted with an "ooooh" and much respect is given to those who can salvage resurrect their inverted implement.
Maybe it is nice to be back in the UK after all.
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
It's hot
No time for wit or insight today but I thought I'd post a few photos in case you want to know what I'm up to or even just some kind of confirmation that I'm not dead (Hi Mum!) and the worst thing I have is finding out which bits the sunscreen didn't quite cover.
If you want to know what they are then click on them or head over to my Worcester Park Gallery
And click here http://worcesterpark.myminicity.com
If you want to know what they are then click on them or head over to my Worcester Park Gallery
And click here http://worcesterpark.myminicity.com
Monday, 3 March 2008
An idea
Out in the desert yesterday with our guide I discovered that one of the many things I hadn't realised about Arizona is that it is legal to carry a gun in the open without a licence........ except in banks and bars. Some people think that's too restrictive and are wanting to carry them in bars [yikes].
Inevitably I got to thinking just how this might work in Worcester Park..... packing tin to the Huntsmans on a Friday night could become a sport and I'm sure some would argue in favour of letting theyokels locals wipe each other out and leave the place to the rest of us.
Considering how many guns there are around out here there are remarkably few shootings......... obviously they have a level of restraint that wouldn't be matched if some of the hooded yoof of WP got hold of them.
Off to the baseball now (SF Giants v Texas Rangers for those with any interest)...... all in the name of work of course ;)
Inevitably I got to thinking just how this might work in Worcester Park..... packing tin to the Huntsmans on a Friday night could become a sport and I'm sure some would argue in favour of letting the
Considering how many guns there are around out here there are remarkably few shootings......... obviously they have a level of restraint that wouldn't be matched if some of the hooded yoof of WP got hold of them.
Off to the baseball now (SF Giants v Texas Rangers for those with any interest)...... all in the name of work of course ;)
Greetings from Arizona
It's stupid o'clock here in Arizona but I thought I'd fire off some kind of blog post as an indication that I have survived the transatlantic travel (no thanks to BA or BAA!) though any talent for blogging may have fallen prey to the time zone and altitude change.
I went shopping in dowtown Scottsdale today and I am still reeling from a shopping experience that didn't pass a single charity shop at any point. the other bizarre thing is that there are statues on every corner of their downtown shopping area, consisting mostly of cowboys, horses, 'steers' and stuff like that. As a result culture shock has definitely set in and the lack of traffic jams, cold weather, and the like is taking a lot of getting used to. I did find a couple of tarantula holes out in the desert today but wasn't dumb enough to stick anything in them so have survived thus far unscathed.
The other thing that most Americans insist on telling me is that they didn't vote for Bush, they're embarrassed and very sorry.
It's Spring Training Baseball tomorrow, which for those in the know is an excuse to sit out in the sun and drink beer for three hours!
I went shopping in dowtown Scottsdale today and I am still reeling from a shopping experience that didn't pass a single charity shop at any point. the other bizarre thing is that there are statues on every corner of their downtown shopping area, consisting mostly of cowboys, horses, 'steers' and stuff like that. As a result culture shock has definitely set in and the lack of traffic jams, cold weather, and the like is taking a lot of getting used to. I did find a couple of tarantula holes out in the desert today but wasn't dumb enough to stick anything in them so have survived thus far unscathed.
The other thing that most Americans insist on telling me is that they didn't vote for Bush, they're embarrassed and very sorry.
It's Spring Training Baseball tomorrow, which for those in the know is an excuse to sit out in the sun and drink beer for three hours!
Friday, 29 February 2008
Grave concerns
Alan and Giuseppe have both been in touch today to let me know that the Old BBC Sports Ground / Cemetery planning application for Motspur Park / Worcester Park border is now live and can be found here. The plans looked like this when they had the original meeting in October last year:
A petition has been started to oppose the proposals and if you want to add your signature to it you can find it here.
I'm off to Arizona tomorrow for a week, leaving Mrs Brinkster and the clan behind, so do let me have any Worcester Park stories you hear and if I'm able to get online in sunny Phoenix then I'll pick them up and post them.
Welcome
Greetings to all of you who've made the trek across from my old blog site on 20six. You've probably noticed it was down most of this week so I've left it behind and moved to pastures new!
If you haven't been here before you'll have missed a couple of posts I made this week when 20six was down so read on you gorgeous things!
If you haven't been here before you'll have missed a couple of posts I made this week when 20six was down so read on you gorgeous things!
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Oooh. and it makes me wonder
In the eight minutes it takes me to walk from Brinkley Road to the station of a weekday morning I find that all kinds of things will pop, as it were, into my mind. Some of these things are related to Worcester Park but others are not. I am keenly aware that the vast majority of these things are of no interest to anyone except myself but in this instance I've decided that a trifle such as that shouldn't stop me blogging about it.
If you've been down Central Road in the last couple of weeks you'll have noticed that our dearly beloved Council have been installing traffic calming measures (i.e. big humps) at the end of each road connecting to Central Road. In what was possibly a moment of lucidity this morning I realised that what they were actually doing was building a rather wide and steep canal.
Being a reader of this blog already demonstrates impeccable taste and dazzling intellect, although in some cases potentially poor time management, so I invite you employ your hemispherical talents and do me the honour of thinking about it for a minute. Normally when it pours with rain on Central Road the drains fail to cope and it cascades down the hill until it comes to a road junction at which point the water will run off down the side road instead. Now that we have these craftycanal walls speed humps the water won't be able to dissipate down the side streets and will head off down the length of Central Road and collect at the bottom, potentially flooding the small businesses in that area, or carry on to the bridge and make it even more inaccessible than normal.
Now this may not happen and some unforeseen factor will mean that this all the water will be happily dispersed but if it does happen then do remember you read it here first.
If you've been down Central Road in the last couple of weeks you'll have noticed that our dearly beloved Council have been installing traffic calming measures (i.e. big humps) at the end of each road connecting to Central Road. In what was possibly a moment of lucidity this morning I realised that what they were actually doing was building a rather wide and steep canal.
Being a reader of this blog already demonstrates impeccable taste and dazzling intellect, although in some cases potentially poor time management, so I invite you employ your hemispherical talents and do me the honour of thinking about it for a minute. Normally when it pours with rain on Central Road the drains fail to cope and it cascades down the hill until it comes to a road junction at which point the water will run off down the side road instead. Now that we have these crafty
Now this may not happen and some unforeseen factor will mean that this all the water will be happily dispersed but if it does happen then do remember you read it here first.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)