found at last ...

in a book stall at salehurst church ... marvelously musty but at an affordable price, nearly thirty years since first admiring the contents ... and having just found it, i then fell off the tiny wobbly seat in the bookstall, grazing my knuckles, banging my pelvis ( ischium ) on the sharp edge of a stone step, twisting the knee that had surgery two years ago, and whacking the side of my skull on a stone pillar ... my common expletive roared out and is probably still echoing around .. but ... mustn't grumble !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oxford_Companion_to_English_Literature

how the church accumulates land and capital ... two thousand years on, latifundia still rears its ugly head in spain

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/escuela/era/obispo/elpepisoc/20110716elpepisoc_4/Tes

workmate kev, with some family heirlooms

keeping the grass tidy in salehurst churchyard

a harmer plaque in salehurst churchyard

http://www.villagenet.co.uk/history/1799-harmer.html

today is the official birthday of "lady lavender" aka "the loved one", librarian to the stars ... we may pop in to town

3BT

Paul, a real Old Kent Road type with no inhibitions, and I, are standing in the yard with our trucks at dawn, wearing our new high-visibility jackets.  A jumbo jet approaches from the south, over Brixton Prison, when it should be approaching from the east.  We call out and wave our arms.  Catching sight of us, the pilot executes a steep turn, just in time to line up with the runway at Heathrow.  Job done !

Two old customers, big hotels sadly missed for the last year or two, begin to order from us once more.  Especially cheering because each has a charming, intelligent, personable individual doing the “goods in” job.

New potatoes, boiled in their skins, then chilled and smothered in garlic mayonnaise.  Enough calories for me to run a marathon, were I so inclined.

3BT

A flock of light brown sparrows chaotically zig-zagging across a light brown field of wheat that is bending and waving before a hot southern wind.

Looking up to the first pink clouds at dawn in Brixton and seeing the swifts are already flying high.

Entering the darkened kitchen after nightfall to wash the dishes and having my eyeballs unexpectedly tickled by the silent shimmer of a distant firework display.

hungry ? ... angela lansbury catering in the days before red tape was invented ... brush up on your spanish at the same time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_jc8_P8X0

a rare bargain from oxfam in reigate, a charity book shop where the working classes can no longer expect to find a bargain

the usual suspects

a passing acquaintance ...

stop press wedding of the century .... laura and roy

a startling message from beyond the gravy by the indefatigably workaholic richard nye

i'm not yet quite sure how to trigger the animation ... click on it ?