pumpkinstrokemarrow

First stop today was a visit to Earlsfield with the idea of turning right out of the railway station rather than the usual left, where the first place that caught my eye was a business originally established to rewind the armatures (if that is the right term) on your electric motor. Since establishment I think they have moved into some related lines of business, which is just as well as I imagine the amount of rewinding business in Earlsfield these days is modest. Presumably, once upon a time, the area was a hotbed of electrically powered light industry.

Into the 'Wandle' for a little something, to be greeted by a sign which said that one was only allowed to smoke in the designated area by the gate, that is to say, by inference, not in the garden at large. Have foodies succeeded in chasing puffers away from their outside foody experiences? The barman was a bit puzzled and pointed out that all the tables outside were equipped with ashtrays and he thought it unlikely that anyone would complain if we used them. Which, as it happened, we did not. Instead, quite a decent bottle of Italian wine at £25, served in rather large & delicate glasses which it would have been rather easy to break. No disabled toilet, but the gents did run to proper hand washing. Owned by the people at http://www.capitalpubcompany.com/, who have bothered to include a rather nifty map showing their outlets.

A little late in the season, I then decided it was time to visit the green alkanet at Raynes Park (see 24th and 28th February 2011), only to find that last week had seen a twinning visit to Raynes Park by the Chain Saw Volunteers (14th West Horton), with the meeting being held in the public house formerly known as the Raynes Park Tavern opposite Raynes Park Station. On leaving the meeting the volunteers were having a smoke at the quiet end of platform 4, when they noticed the thriving green alkanet and trashed the lot. Just as well that it is strong stuff and fighting back, as can be seen in the illustration. But why couldn't they just have their smoke and leave the plants alone?

But I was pleased to find that on the path between Epsom Station and TB, there was a clump of the stuff which they must have missed. Hopefully none of them are reading this.

On the other hand, having been completely sure that the Raynes Park Tavern had been renamed during some refurbishment, as far as I can tell from Google it has not been. Furthermore, while it flies the John Barras flag, this is now just a brand name owned by the people at http://www.spiritpubcompany.com/spirit/en/home, one brand name among many. And their otherwise fancy web site does not seem to include a list of their many pubs so I was unable to confirm absolutely that there had been no name change. Must remember to take a look at the place when I am next going through northbound. Can't see the place southbound. But rather depressing to think that the décor of one's favourite boozer is not the more or less accidental product of a long standing & loving tenancy, rather just the ready-to-go creation of some creation arts graduate in the marketing department of a pubco. Plastic all the way through, despite appearances.

That out of the way, it dawned on me that it was just about seven times seven days since I interrupted bread making and that with seven being such a strong magic number it was was clearly an auspicious day to resume. So I did: Waitrose flour, Sainsbury's rape and Tesco yeast. Had not forgotten too much about the process, the only error being not to think to turn the oven on at the right moment with the result that the second rise was a little too long. I had also forgotten the rather different taste of the white bread I make to that from a bakery, not that that stopped me consuming the former at a considerable rate. My very own foody experience. See http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8152054/Bread-20110120.xls for further details.