Wednesday 14 September 2011

Tree butchery; Olympic Walk; garden landscaping

Ruth took the rabbits for jabs a week or so ago and was informed by the vet that Harley should really have surgery to file down some spurs that are growing on his teeth. Rabbits, being to my mind peculiarly badly designed creatures, have teeth that never stop growing and can eventually spout monster sharp ends that can potentially pierce their own cheeks. I think we have grudgingly conceded that we wouldn’t wish this on him, though we may be asking him to get a part-time job.

Was completely gutted to arrive home from work last Friday evening to discover that the beautiful silver birch tree outside the back of my flat had been chopped down during the day. Bloody council. I fired off a blistering, and probably somewhat over-emotional, email to them, but they haven’t replied as yet. Here’s a picture of it as it was, around the time I moved in. Ray did note that silver birches are not long-lived trees (though the tree looked perkily green to me) and sometimes have to be taken out before they become dangerous and their branches start dropping, but I’m not convinced. Am expecting the bureaucratic philistines at the council to claim that it was posing an imminent threat either to the buildings or the inhabitants, which I will of course suspect to be complete bollocks – in any case, these are hardly listed buildings and many of my neighbours look fairly expendable. Anyway. Rant over.

Had a day in London on Saturday (pictures here) which started badly due to me setting the wrong alarm, missing my planned bus and when I finally arrived at MK Central, buying two train tickets in a fit of hysteria (don’t ask - I blame grieving for the tree). After meeting Ray and calming down over a lovely breakfast at Carluccio’s at St Pancras, we made our way to Bromley-by-Bow tube station for 11am to meet the tour group and guide for the day’s Daily Olympic Walk, tours led by Blue Badge Tourist Guides around the environs of the Olympic Park, ending up with a viewpoint into the park’s interior (the public can’t actually go inside, except on a special bus tour which apparently gets booked up months ahead). The walk itself took in the area of the Lower Lea Valley that surrounds the Olympic site, starting off at Three Mills Island and the recently-regenerated Three Mills Green, then proceeding along Three Mills Wall River, across Stratford High Street, past the newly regenerated City Mill Lock and up Pudding Mill Lane to the Olympic site, where we were let in along with a number of other tour groups to what is evidently the official viewing point. All quite interesting, though I was more interested in the history and regeneration of the area than in anything actually to do with the Olympics. We both thought the tour guide went on a bit, but I guess that’s what they get paid to do.

After being released from the tour group, we took the DLR to Canary Wharf and had lunch at Strada (pretty but disappointingly tasteless pasta dish; nice rosé though) before going to have a poke around Limehouse Basin and the mouth of the Regent's Canal. We walked a little way up the Regent's Canal before deciding that it really wasn't a very scenic walk, so turned off towards Mile End Park. We caught the 205 bus from Mile End Road back to our respective stations.

Thankfully, the Hoppa Bags are finally gone, thanks to Frank of Thatcham-based FE Decking, who has been carrying out some work in the garden over the last week or so extending the patio and building a new block and render wall, which is due to be painted white just as soon as the render dries. Ruth finally fired Mr Hoppa last week, as his promises to come and collect the bags never looked like materialising and Frank evidently got ticked off with having to work around them and arranged for a mate of his to come and collect them, for an extra 20 quid. Makes you wonder what was so difficult in the first place. Although harbouring some concerns that having work done on the garden was hardly the priority for our property, I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product this coming weekend.