Category Archives: Bits and Pieces

Anglo-Indian

When people ask about my surname and all that jazz I eventually get asked what Anglo-Indian means.  Whilst classically this is more relevant to Al, I generally consider myself under the umbrella of the term given the broader use these days.

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Wallington

Yep, bored again.  Think my brain has switched off due to all the work I’ve been doing lately, and of course in anticipation of having a nice holiday.

I have often heard rumours that my local town hall in Wallington, Surrey housed various concerts and gigs fronted by some of my favourite bands.  According to local sources Hendrix, The Who, Eric Clapton (blah blah blah……) have all played there so I decided to google it.

I didn’t find anything I could view at work (bloody I.T.!) but I found a couple of reasonably interesting facts about my hometown.

The name ‘Wallington’ derives from the Anglo Saxon “Waleton” meaning “Village of the Britons”.  The part of Wallington that I live in is called Waleton Acres so I found that rather quaint.  I’ve always known that Carshalton (the town next to Wallington and place of my birth) is in the Domesday Book, but Wallington appears as of 1086 and was held by William the Conqueror.  He must have had big hands?

The local area itself has a great deal of history, especially Carew Manor which once accomodated Anne Boleyn, eventual wife (poor thing) to Henry VIII.  Oliver Cromwell also passed through Beddington park; you can find various bust and scultpures of Cromwell on buildings in the area.  Lavender oil was also produced on farms locally.  Lovely.

Perhaps my favourite bit of local history is that Jeff Beck, guitarist with 60’s group the Yardbirds, was born in Wallington and lived in Demense road which is quite literally the road next to mine.  How funky is that?!?!

If only I had been born 20 years earlier.  “Hello Jeff, fancy being in my band mate?  Yep?”  twaaaaang!!  “ROCK!”

Travelling

Howdy!

Thought I’d pop on a new category in anticipation for when I go on hols to America in March (It’ll be my first time back in the States since August 1999…..and I can’t wait!). 

Alex and I enjoy travelling a great deal (inside the UK as well as outside of good old blighty) and we both wanted to post various bits and pieces of previous trips, places we find funky or even blog whilst we’re on the move (inspired by Great Uncle Travelling Mac from The Fraggles)!

Anyroad, I’ll hopefully be posting whilst away at somepoint to let you know how portly I’m getting on the steak. 

Yaaaaahooooooooooo!

Photography – Sunsets

Thought I’d start off a category on photography as both Al and I are keen amateur photographers. This is a slight irony given that Alex and I were both working in a photo development lab when we became friends. Still makes me chuckle when I remember getting a subtle nudge or look from Al to suggest an attractive woman had just come in to pick up her submitted amateur glamour photographs. We eventually made up a serious of signal words for this (I remember the word Japonica being one for a woman who had submitted an eye catching set of pictures clad in PVC) and other photography faux pas related situations.

I was staring out the window at work today when my boss and good friend Alan pointed out that the evenings were getting longer (yes, it had gotten to that time when we both wanted to sod off for the day). I noticed Croydon actually had a reasonably nice sunset for a change given that it’d been pretty cloudy and rainy of late (I have a slight obsession with the sky you see) and that in turn made me think of the sky in Kansas where I’m going Stateside in March 2008 for the first time in over 8 years.

Kansas being so flat gives the most amazing view of the stars and sunset, sunrise, tornados, lightning storms, you name it. So I was inspired to dig out the picture below which I took on my old Canon AE-01 back in 1997 during my first visit. The shot was taken on the outside my favourite steak shack before driving back to Amy’s house and I think it totally captures my initial default mental image of America. I was always really chuffed with this shot and I still like it a lot now; especially with the pickup and the light on the bonnet. Gravy.

The other pic in this thread is a shot I took out of the window from my bedroom around Christmas 2007 using my Sony Cybershot DSC W55 7.2 Mega Pixel camera which I think is a very funky little gadget indeed and would heartily recommend. I adjusted the aperture slightly and that’s how I got the silhouette effect with the houses to emphasise the sky. I really like this shot, especially the obscure detail on the leaves on the left hand side of the shot.