yen_powell

Bike rally this afternoon/weekend.

A man who can do an oil change in a clean white t-shirt and pale jeans without getting any on himself. We are not worthy. I can't even drink a cup of tea in a white t-shirt without a bib.

There'll be a German somewhere who would probably pay top dollar.

Oh that is soooo good!

You know I'm wearing the 'pants' under those jeans don't you.......

I'm going somewhere, probably tomorrow, depends what time I get up.

If it's a draw then a tie breaker would be who can produce the best mange photo.

They'll eat anything round there, curry sauce hides a multitude of sins.

Before my time, but you always hear people talking about the old animal market, I gather it got shut down due to all the cruelty. Google throws this up, it doesn't sound pleasant, boot polish top cover up sores etc. https://www.eastendreview.co.uk/2014/06/09/club-row-market/

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/09/29/the-return-of-sue-hadley/ I will try and see if I can find the staircase in the first picture, it'll have a security lock on the door nowadays, but there are a few tricks to getting past vthos I know from years of carrying out letter drops. A name is mentioned in the text, Angela Burdett Coutts, she seems to have been a one lady charity phenomenon, there are so many things connected with her all over the borough. Coutts is the royal family's personal bank. I don't think they do cash machines though.

No chance, they are both bad.

My ID card failed to work this morning. Unfortunately I found this out when already half way down the ramp to the underground car park. Result, one motorcycle blocking everyone's way in till someone took pity on me and let me in with their card. The reason?? Some twat decided that anyone with an ID picture taken more than 10 years ago needed a new one. Be nice if they had mentioned it first though before I put a 1/3 of a ton downhill with no reverse gear available. Anyway, I now have a picture of an old man on my new card, replacing the previous one which was taken circa 1997, so probably a bit over due!

Don't fuck with the Wongs.

Smooth as a cashmere codpiece.

It took me a while to pronounce Cross Hands, at least it did without doing the action and nearly crashing the bike.

I know, it's fascinating hearing other peoples' stories, not often they get written down. I had a meeting with residents in Mile End Place many years ago, something to do with traffic calming I think. The wall at the end of the street is part of the boundary wall of a very old Jewish cemetery. In use from 1697 to 1852. I was told that the descendants of the buried visit from all over the world and whilst trying to find the entrance they sometimes end up in Mile End Place, the real very small gate is 3 streets away. He said they sometimes run up and down praying due to some sort of time contraint, not sure if that is true or not. My then boss said what the street needed was Jew calming rather than traffic calming. This is the same boss who attended a meeting with the Buddhists and the owners of a vegetarian restaurant whilst eating a bacon roll.

Uncle Harry came back from the Boer War when he was not allowed to sleep with the other boys. For reasons left unexplained, he was banished to the front room and told he had better get married sharpish – which he did. Another cracker. Mile End Place is still there, I know it well. In the late 80s I had to a street light scout in the area every 2 weeks and I learnt early on to park in Mile End Road and walk in, because if the lights were out you couldn't see to turn the car around without taking out a garden wall. Spin round to see the covered entrance. https://goo.gl/maps/ZX54kF36Nw66iMgcA https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/09/22/at-mile-end-place-x/

No idea. I was only there a few hours. I saw lots of Portaloos, but they all seemed to be inside a fenced off area, so not sure how people coped. Having said that, it was very relaxed, everyone was well behaved. I was a bit shocked at the rusty evil looking spikes on top of the wall around the Buck House gardens as we walked away from the area. You couldn't put those up now on a new build.

Blackie. The last Spitalfields Market Cat https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/09/18/blackie-the-last-spitalfields-market-cat-o/ I remember the last days of the market. The raod and footway would be slick with slippery squashed fruit and vegetables. Tramps would sit around burning pallets and banana boxes in the middle of the road (9it does the asphalt no good you know). I got chased by one tramp with a broken bottle in his hand once. My FJ1200 had something wrong with it at the time, the starter motor kept sticking. After I ran to it and threw myself on it, It took me two attempts to start it as he ran screaming at me. When it did start I think I left rubber on the road as I wheel span off just out of his reach.