Not Queens Rd.

I'm just back from a week in Jersey and know that a few of you out there enjoy a good example of the architecture. Jersey Airport proclaims to have been built in 1937 and as most of it is still there under the hideous addition on top, it is not difficult to imagine the De-Haviland's taxiing in and disgorging their wealthily clientele. In the north of the Island (Jersey is only 44 sq. miles in total) there is this delightful school at St Johns, originally built in 1901, but extended, in the same style, in 1929. If only the architects of the Airport extension had been as considerate those who extended the school.

On a bit of a tangent, and according to my uncle, who is the holder of such information, my maternal Grandmother flew back from Cairo in about 1934-36 in a Handley Page Hannibal or Horsa.   The seats were Lloyd loom basket chairs (for reduced weight)  arranged like a lounge, not in rows as they are now. One of her fellow passengers was Geoffrey De Haviland of aircraft fame.

Monkey Business

Always amusing to see a man of a certain age dressed in fancy dress in public. One month it’s dear old Max Moseley, the next Friends of the Toxic Waste on Queens Rd. They were protesting about Bio Fuels and thought the countryside should be used to produce food with prices constantly rising. Having topped up my diesel tank with 40 litres of Sunflower oil, that I had photographed recently, I was thrilled to travel about 60 miles for nothing. Bring on the Bio Fuels I say.

The Looney Bench.

This, Ladies and Gents, is The Looney Bench of Queens Rd. That transitional place where we end up, somewhere between sanity and another world. There is always somebody there, either waiting, listening, or offering a point of view on nothing much in particular. Sometimes a poet, other times a bag woman. A can of Special Brew is never far away. Nobody knows what they talk about, but it’s always busy. Blockbusters is right behind with the latest, rather appropriate, offering displayed on the telephone kiosk. Maybe you have to go through some right of passage to sit there? having lived here 27 years I have never dared sit there, but there’s time........

The cost of Vanity.

Having so little and being so vain, it is always a challenge to get my hair cut. I have tried them all around here. I started going to Yan’s years ago, when the money was rolling in, but to save a bob or two shifted my loyalty to Mohammed at 'Gents & Boys'on Clarendon Park Rd. When asked, ‘What number would you like?’ I came over like Patrick McGoohan - I am not a number. However, Moh and I bonded, but I was never truly happy with the cut and after a few weeks began to look like Tintin, with a spikey bit sticking up in the middle. He thought he was doing me a favour covering my baldness with a faux Bobby Charlton. At £7 a throw it was good value though. Determined to make the most of the bit that’s left though, I returned to Yan’s yesterday. A very pretty girl washed and conditioned my hair, then Holly cut it. Well worth thirty quid.

Saving the Planet

Welcome to Pennbury. This is the view you will get entering the new ‘Eco’ Town of Pennbury from the area just north of Houghton Lodge farm, Stoughton. A 10 minute cycle ride from Queens Road. The exciting news is, there will be a bio burger outlet, a new venture for the great McDonalds empire, situated just where the rape seed is in the middle distance. The lane in the foreground will have to be widened, of course, but this will be done under strict Government guidelines. In the woods to the left will be a Toyota Prius outlet covering 10 hectares. The biggest in Europe and built entirely from recycled Range Rover tyres, filled with compost and planted with evergreen bushes. The lush, green, grass in the middle will make way for a paved recreation area. This being favoured over grass by the Health & Safety committee, for obvious reasons. New residents will be queuing up to buy their Eco friendly houses, a snip at just 30% more than the comparative normal houses, but what price to share the Governments dream of a new, Eco town.

A Pint of Kimberley please Landlord.

Just over on the unfashionable end of Queen’s Road, the other side of the traffic lights, is this nicely preserved off licence. I can just about remember this being a shop about 25 years ago, but it has been a house since then. Hat’s off to the owner who has kept us wondering: ‘Whatever happened to Kimberley Ales’, all these years. Well! I’ve just looked and the brewery was in Kimberley, Notts and was bought out by Green King, who, as recently as 2006, closed it down as it was not cost effective. So there you are. Thanks to Martin Cordon, of Kimberly for the picture of the brewery.

Mr Patel’s

Alas, poor Mr. Patel. If he could see his shop now he would turn in his grave. When we first moved here in 1982, Mr. Patel’s was our nearest corner shop and many was the evening I would walk 100 yards down the road to buy a can of Carlsberg Special Brew to take the edge off. He and I would discuss a test match with India, who if playing, would be on the radio for the duration of the game. An enterprising chap, he was one of the first to set up video rentals, but this was not enough to secure a long and happy life. He moved on to that big cash and carry in the sky about 20 years ago and bit by painful bit the shop has drifted into dereliction. A compulsory purchase order was slapped on it before Christmas and it’s up for auction on 31st April with outline planning permission for a four bed house. A big job for somebody.