I’m using one of those calorie counting apps to help me lose a few kilos. You know the type of thing. Set your age, weight, height, activity levels and weight loss target and it calculates a calorie ‘budget’ for each day. Entering all the food and drink in the app each day helps you understand what in effect you’re putting in your mouth.
My budget assumes I’m doing over 7000 steps a day (c.3miles). Until you pass that mark you cannot ‘earn’ additional calories. As I’m in the house most of the day I make the effort to get out and walk (or run or whatever). I try to vary where I go to keep my interests up. And it pays dividends.
So on Wednesday evening I started, quite late, in Richmond Park (specifically at Ladderstile Gate if you know the area) then walked down hill towards Kingston Gate then out of the park and through the streets continuing downhill to Kingston town centre.
Whilst still in the park I heard some rustling to my left and looked across to see this lady(?) not 5 metres away munching leaves from a branch that was hanging down. We stared at each other for a while before I got my phone out for a snapshot.
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| This was taken at about 8:45pm without a flash hence the low light level. |
Going down towards the town centre I went down a road I don’t think I’ve walked down at all before (at least not that section). There was nothing really noteworthy other than buildings which either were or still are small scale businesses and workshops. A reminder that as well as being a historic market town, and a commuter suburb of London, Kingston was also a centre of industry. When I first moved to the area in the mid-90s it was still making the transition from industry to commerce and there was still a power station site by the river. Most of the housing in that part of town has become ‘gentrified’ and workers terraces are now ‘artisans cottages’.
Starting my journey back up the hill I travelled up Canbury Park Road. Out for a drink with mates one evening about 14 years ago, I suggested popping in to the Canbury Park Arms. Formerly a decent pub, it had become a haven for Yummy Mummies. We turned on our heels and fled. Along this road there’s a modern development incorporating the office building of a rather important and historic factory.
Just a bit further along the Richmond Road, the local association football club, Kingstonian FC had their home before they moved to Kingsmeadow on the other side of town in 1989. Hawker had a further, huge, factory just down the road at Ham (on the way to Richmond) where latterly the Harrier jet was built.
So quite a different impression of the town from the shopping magnet that is has become in recent decades. More can be found about the aviation history of Kingston here:
https://www.kingstonaviation.org/js/plugins/filemanager/files/Brief_History_Banner__14B_Layout_1.pdf
And here:
This is great stuff - apart from anything else, if anything goes wrong with our march to freedom from the pandemic, it will be useful for people to be able to read about what the outside world used to be like. If you're up for suggestions on industrial heritage pilgrimages, I think it's not too far from your patch to Acton, where the Vandervell factory was, where they made the legendary F1 cars 1955-58 - I bet there's no plaques there!
ReplyDeleteThat deer seemed very calm?
Indeed. I imagine myself as some old ancient, almost bald to the top of the head but with 30 years growth on the back and sides, telling stories by olive oil lamp light of ‘the Outside’.
DeleteActon isn’t far as the crow flies. Not somewhere I’ve ever been. I heard it too is gentrifying. I might get to somewhere near there as it occurred to me I could visit the Turnham Green non-Battle site.
Today’s walk on Wimbledon Common threw up more unexpected historic landmarks, but no small creatures collecting rubbish.
Ah yes, I think the deer was as surprised as I was. How it didn’t hear me clomping down the path before God only knows.
DeleteDidn't know about the Hawker plant,can't think about Richmond being industrial, just not something I associate with the place, nice wildlife photo in the city!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
It was Kingston, not Richmond. But still a little surprising if you don’t know the history of the place. So far, the only industry I know of in Richmond itself is the old poppy factory. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was more in other parts of the borough of that name.
DeleteWhat is a Yummy Mummy?
ReplyDeleteAh now that’s a difficult question. A quick check just now of online dictionaries just gives definitions which basically mean ‘young, attractive mothers’. But that does nearly begin to describe what it means in British English. Yummy Mummies are well-off or wealthy mothers with young children, able to take care of their health and appearance. Usually with whatever on-trend baby buggy (‘stroller’ i think they’re called in American English), drives a 4x4 (SUV), and with all the social baggage that grows out of the British class system. It’s a very loaded term not meant as a compliment. Here’s a few examples that give a sense of it:
Deletehttps://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/yummy-mummy
Your post brought a smile, Jonathan's question a bigger one and your reply an even larger one! It's interesting the regional differences as in Aussie English 'yummy mummy' is definitely not derogatory (and not class-based), just a 'hot' mum!
DeleteGreat story and photos from your most recent 'adventure'! It's funny how we tend to travel the same path. There are usually great things to see and 'uncover' from the road less travelled.
Regards, James
Now I’m the one who’s smiling James.
DeleteI came across the Australian reality TV show whilst looking for examples to quote for Jonathan. I thought ‘that’s not quite the thing’ when I saw references to it. Not all British Yummy Mummies are that hot by any means. They’re just what some female Yuppies and Sloan Rangers become when they reproduce. If they were like the ones in the Aussie programme my drinking companions would have been content to stay put.
The English language is a minefield for the unwary!
You sound like one of the flaneurs that have come up in psychogeography my daughter is currently reading about in her masters. Great wildlife photo.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I’m not sure about that, but I’ll take that as a compliment 😁. I’m certainly not in the leisured classes although I would love to be in that position (assuming I had the wealth), hence the time of day I was out.
DeleteI am enjoying seeing more things I either wouldn’t have seen or not noticed before.