Sausages and politics in Sheen, palace site and bridges in Richmond

A kind Sheen butcher changed the notes into coins sparing me an expedition to the bank. After all time is money, they say.;-)  He knows I sometimes publish pictures of his shop front attractions, maybe this helped?

I took a picture inside as well this time:

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 Running between the two Sheen Octavia shops today I popped in the Polish grocer's and was treated to absolutely delicous biscuits. See them on the round tray?

These are the biscuits to look for! They come in rectangular boxes!
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To be frank with you, as a child I knew nothing of the sock monkey toys. However, they've been around for around a hundred years becoming extremely popular during The Great Depression in America! Yesterday a father bought one for his kid and let me take a picture (of the monkey, I'm sure you can tell!):

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It was on a cloudy Friday morning when I photographed Her Majesty in Upper Richmond Road:

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Two pictures caught my attention  in a coffee table book of black and white photographs of the 20th century Britain. Why these ones? Probably because of the parliamentary elections in Britain last Thursday and because of the recent Labour Day...

Coal miners working in terrible conditions...

Left: Christine Keeler. She gained 'fame' owing to a brief affair with a Consevative minister in the early 1960s.It brought about his downfall as she was having a relationship with a Russian diplomat at the same time, during The Cold War... Right: some famous man a decade or so later, in the same or similar chair. BTW, the scandal and the picture made these chairs famous.

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This Saturdy was May Fair Day in Richmond Green. I saw the end of it when I broke the commute in the picture-poscard suburbian town.:-)

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The less of the day was left, the sunnier it got so I decided to take a stroll via the site of the old royal palace by the river, and under the bridgest, along The Old Deer Park. Then my camera said: STOP, just like me when I add these pictures:

When I returned home, the friendly neighbours cat greeted me affectionately and we both came upstairs.

Twyford Abbey Ghost

Twyford Abbey grounds - ruins and local wildlife's oasis 

Cycling along Twyford Abbey Road yesterday I saw an Indian looking lady walking slowly with a young man, her son, as it later turned out. Later on I was walking with my bike on the pavement. and needed to overtake them. I wanted to  find a suitable place from which to photograph the ruins of a once splendid building known as Twyford Abbey. (You may remember that I had already taken pictures of this place last year.)

Many ancient trees surround Twyford Abbey

Anyway, somehow, we started talking and the woman told me that the abbey was haunted, and that she had visited it some years ago. Somebody had organised it for her and her friend. She thought the building was spectacular and agreed with me that it shouldn't be left to the elements. 

Twyford Abbey from St Mary's graveyard

However, I wanted to learn more about the ghost she had mentioned earlier. It took some persuasion to make her speak about it. Well... It is a big dog which can be seen in and around the building playing with a small ball. Apparently, it used to belong to the monks and when it died, they buried it in the garden. The dog loved that ball and played with it a lot. When somebody threw it to him from the upper floor, the dog would bounce it with its nose, I heard. 

I was also told that the canine ghost has always scared people away and that maybe this is why the building has remained empty for years. However, the woman said that there may be some bad karma there, maybe to do with the times when the building was used as a nursing home... Who knows...

Then we had to part as I needed to rush back and the two of them were heading towards the polling station.
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It is November 2022 now and the whole Twyford Abbey estate is about to change forever.. Sad times...

Twyford Abbey grounds from Twyford Abbey Road

Please, look what I read in a community message: 'Here's a link to a short film on the Twyford Abbey planning application made by a talented filmmaker, Dom Di Lillo.' Please watch it and if you agree with the local young people's plea, try to help in any way you can, even posting and talking about it. Will you?

'Only Fools and Horses' avid fan

Do you know the 1970s comedy series 'Only Fools and Horses'? If you don't, find it and watch it. You may like it or not, but ut still has lots and lots of fans. Many expressions have made their way to everyday language, like the ever so popular one: 'lovely jubbly', originally from an advertising slogan for an orange soft drink called Jubbly. I heard it all over the world, especially from waiters as far as Istanbul, Manilla and recently Morocco!:-)
And you know what?
Yesterday I met probably the greatest living fan of  'Only Fools and Horses'! He has recreated the van from the movie and is recreating the flat as well. You can actually hire the car from hima, along with a driver who looks like one of the characters. Just go to his website here.www.onlyfoolsandhorsescarhire.co.uk !

And look at his leg:

This must be true love and devotion. (Mind you, there is no love that would make me get a tatoo or even the ears pierced, but that's me...)

 True passion!

'Delboy' has been on television, in many programs. They do not ring the bell to me as I do not watch television at all, I think I've mentioned that.:-)

Now, the most important item still on the 'to find' list are the curtains from the brothers' flat:

Can anyone help? If you know where to get such curtains, please get in touch with John throgh his website mentioned below.

John, as that's my new acquintance's name is, told me that he and his friend(s) eagerly take part in variously charity events. You can invite them. They come in the van and as long as you don't expect them to fast all day, they will pose for pictures all day for one pound per person. All this money goes to charity! That's what I gathered! Easy-peasy, innit?;-)

1st May - T-shirt !

I was going to add this picture on the first day of May, for obvious reasons, but I didn't. So I've decided to publish it now rather than wait till next year and forget again.

Protective angels

There are many routes you can take going back from the college to Stratford Station at night. It's better not to walk alone. However, there are angels around to make sure you are safe. These ones I spotted high above when taking a shortcut between Stratford Theatre and the T-junction by St John's Church.

Sylwia's session

Sylwia Nadgrodkiewicz, Ph.D. introduced the healing tuning forks to the audience gathered at The Iraqi Cultural Centre on a May Bank Holiday Monday evening. I had a pleasure to arrange the event and a privilege to introduce Sylwia and support her through the presentation. It was very well received and many people asked questions afterwards and told us they would like to see Sylwia again.

My friend and I picked Sylwia and Staszek Ptaszok, her assistant, at Mortlake Station from where we drove via Barnes and Hammersmith to the venue in Shepherds Bush Green. We all felt very welcome at the centre. Everyone was very kind and hospitable. I am very happy I made it happen!:-)

In Chesham