Wednesday Sept 27th
To Carshalton, where Mother and I had sandwiches and coffee at Honeywood Lodge overlooking the Ponds. I first walked round this way several decades ago, in the brown school uniform of St Philomena's - the girls still wear something fairly similar tho' without the big velour hats - and have always loved the village, the High Street, and Grove Park especially in September with the glossy conkers falling on the grass. Apart from the traffic, the view across the ponds to the old church can't have changed much in a couple of hundred years.

Display of local paintings at Honeywood - people crossing the ponds by the old Ford, just near where we lunched, or watering their horses further over, where the War memorial now stands.

I bought lavender oil at a shop in the village where Mother and I always stop to enjoy the scents, and then M. caught the 157 bus back to her house and I cycled on to Sutton to work on the computers in the library. There is a big computer-centre here now, next to the office where I did all my first research for books on local history years and years ago.....