Sunday lunchtime
Warm, fluffy clouds, bursts of sunshine
Pint in prince of whales opp Wimbledon station
Tube to earls’ court
Piccadilly line to Ealing Broadway
Get off at Acton town (bladder bursting)
Turn left out of station in search of pub
Lots of Asian people walking same way as me
Must have stumbled across Mela
Cross North Circular Road/ Gunnersbury Avenue
Still no pub
Mela in park on corner
Walk past park
Many Asian people now walking towards me
Find pub called “W5”
Have pint
Manager & boyfriend playing CD of whole session tape: Ella Fitzgerald “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love”
Walk into Gunnersbury Park
Loud music in distance
Carshalton Carnival with samosas.
Small stage: vocalist, man on record decks, keyboard/ computer operator, tabla player (average)
Main stage: bloke with turban singing, Punjabi drum player, keys, bass, drums, guitar (very good)
Lots of stalls selling bog standard tandoori chicken/ samosas/ pakoras
One dosa stall
Hamburgers/ fish’n’chips/ pizza/ even English breakfast
Few sari/ fabric shops
Scarves
Henna hand decoration (all white women queuing up)
Classical/ Trad tent: full Indian “orchestra”- drums/ tabla/ sitar/ veena/ fiddles/ flutes/ vocalist (excellent)
Leave park in downpour
Walk under elevated M4 to pub near northside of Kew Bridge
Have pint
Have some fresh air by river
Walk over Thames to Kew Green
Pint in Greyhound
Champagne by the glass £4-45- how sad
Pint in Coach & Horses- so different from 1974 when it was the lunchtime place when working at Kew Gardens
65 Bus to Richmond
Pass Pagoda and rest of Kew Gardens
Pint in Orange Tree
Pint in Princes Head on Green
Sun on the rainy pavements and the trees looks like a Renoir
Shop on corner why Dymore used to work, now worth millions!
More showers
Pint in pub in small road on way to White Cross Hotel
Pint in White Cross Hotel
Walk towards Richmond Hill
Ex-Indian Restaurant I used to go to with Thea (1970’s) now an insurance office!
Pint in pub at start of hill
Pint in Station Hotel
Imaging Rolling Stones gig in 1964 (I wasn’t there!)
Walk over to Richmond Station & get ticket
On platform imagine Long John Baldry discovering Rod Stewart (I wasn’t there!)
Train to Putney
Announcer makes it sound like Hupney
At Putney 93 bus to Kilkenny, have pint
Order sea food fried string hoppers and dhal
Pint in Nelson Arms
Pick up food, walk home
Purchase Polish beer and K Cider
Eat food 11.30 pm
One Mela, a lot of walking and about thirteen pints!