chaletian | A John Betjeman Day

Well, I arrived at

kathyek's last night, and we had a v. nice day today picking up victorian fireplaces etc. It was actually a bizarrely John Betjeman day. Kathye had worn the aforementioned fireplace on eBay and we went to fetch it from the seller. We drove through Surrey, admittedly not in a 'late summer haze', but our destination was Camberley ('Into nine o'clock Camberley, heavy with bells / And mushroomy, pinewoody, evergreen smells'), past signs for Aldershot ('Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun' - not that there was much of that!) and finally, in the most exciting way, we did indeed drive by 'roads "not adopted"'! There's something about the lush greenery, the placid solidity of that part of England that is deeply reassuring. And then we went to Waitrose, fine purveyors of that feeling, packaged and on sale.

Incidentally, I have moved on from having Celine Dion on my head (merci beaucoup,

chiasmata!) to have Dancing Queen. Grr, I say to you,

xanantha!!! Cursed fiend!

Anyway, this afternoon was the Staines & Windsor FOCS meeting, which I attended being, as it were, in the area. Twas merry and bright and chez Vicki, who is also merry and bright and indeed fine.