Neighbourly spirits

We had a lovely evening in the distinguished and delightful company of some of our friends and neighbours last night, who came round to celebrate the Christmas season and the end of our recent decorating by drinking bubbly (or an appropriate alcohol-free beverage) and consuming mince pies. Many thanks to all of you who came and for those that received the last-minute invitation but couldn't make it... we missed you! We'll have to do it again some time soon.

It was a particular pleasure for me to have Mrs and Mrs Worcester Park Blogger in Brinkster Central for the first time, incognito of course, and knowing that none of our close neighbours who were there are blog readers (sorry you couldn't make it Steve!) I trust they've maintained their cover.

In more regular news the shop formerly, and somewhat inaccurately, known as the "Variety Store" (on the right, below) has now been renamed "Food and Wine" which, while more technically correct, suggests a greater abundance of those items than is strictly the case.

A new photo is in order I guess.

With the downturn in the economy we've seen a few shopfronts empty out and the former Andrews Estate Agents is on the market for a rent of £15,600 PA. Any shop owners want to let me know how that compares?? We were commenting last night on the fact that one effect of the downturn is that it's easier to get a parking space on Brinkley Road nowadays, which doesn't bode well for the restaurant trade.

As today's my last day at work before Christmas and I'm "demob-happy" I give you fair warning that updates may become more sporadic over the holiday period as we entertain the extended Brinkster Family, and I'm sure you've got plenty of things to do too, so if I don't catch you before the event... have a great Christmas!!

A sunny disposition

Wasn't the weather nice yesterday? In spite of my cold I trolled around Nonsuch Park after the Brinkster Clan with Miss Brinkster in the lead, which could account for why Brinkster Minor ended up on his butt in the mud as she'd chosen a less than optimally dry path through the trees..... Bright and sunny though so he dried off quickly, and an ice cream cheered him up.

We had an unusual problem this weekend as Mrs Brinkster went to put the rubbish out in the bin and found it was full..... of somebody else's rubbish. There were two blue bin bags with "Merton" on the side of them with clothes and boxes in there, but none of the usual day-to-day hous. We've spoken to the Council and we suspect it's one of the houses further up the road where Mrs Brinkster spotted activity over the weekend of people moving in/out. If the Govt ever do introduce a tax on rubbish I would anticipate that this is something we'll see a lot more of.

Lastly, I think I've unearthed another Worcester Park blog in the form of "Mobile Blog" with photos of trains, cats, landmarks and our beloved Worcester Park station. As it is a blog from a mobile there's little text on there but they might be encouraged to venture forth, eh?

P.S. Congratulations to Lee for piercing my veil of anonymity and 'outing' me as The Brinkster at a party on Saturday! Thought you deserved a mention ;)