Queuing - what queue?

When the latest round of Post Office closures were being discussed one of the main concerns was over queuing at the surviving branches.

It was an issue we took up and one that I shared concerns over. However, the reality is that I work long office hours and therefore don't access Post Offices during the peak hours so I might have been wrong.

Last Friday morning I nipped into my local Post Office and what did I find? A huge almighty queue - now I ought to warn that the picture isn't of the queue I saw - the picture is a local Post Office queue that I sneaked a while back. Post Offices are being very coy and nervous about being caught with long queues - oh to be a mystery shopper.

But the reality I experienced last Friday morning was a big queue and a long wait for a task that was actually genuinely 10 minutes max - as it was it took 20 minutes - aaaggghhhh.

But at least I didn't have to walk from Parliament Hill, past the closed post office in South End Green and then up to the top of the hill in Hampstead High Street!

At home with George Orwell

I have posted before about the shop in South End green where George Orwell worked - well of course, if he worked there - he must probably have lived nearby?

And sure enough up on Parliament Hill is the answer...

This house right at the top of the road is the house - currently a multi-occ house. it got me thinking about what it was like when orwell lived there - was it a student house, rented to 6-8 people who didn't really know each other, who just perched here in one of london's many student houses... he would have been 30-32 years old.

Of course the plaque is great - I'm a great supporter of commemorative plaques but it doesn't record the nature of the stay and I'm reminded the several houses of John Constable, from a time when he moved around a lot and they effectively reflect his summer haunts.

This is the house where he is credited with writing 'Keep the apidistra flying' and the plaque at South End Green hints at my hunch that this was a place of residence for say 9-18 months before he moved on...

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/keep-aspidistra-flying.html

The types of street name plates

Usually I am reporting the historical change of street names - yet here we have a charming compliment to the post of the other day.


http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/03/changing-of-street-names.html

Dynham Rd. N.W.6. - in the old style, just inches below the even older style of DYNHAM ROAD NW painted onto the wall.

There are a few other examples, but most seem to be the painted old name and then the tiled new name.

Should the painted signs be restored? Are they part of our local heritage?

In appreciation of the 'ye olde innocent road name sign' I'm attaching these nice pics below on the otherside of town - furthest flung Hampstead - of Tanza Road, Parliament Hill, South End Green.

I posted earlier about how I like Platt's Lane as a name - Tanza sounds pretty exotic...

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

Alas however, there is a much simpler origin it would seem.

Tanza was built in 1890 and was spelt Tanser Road, it was changed in 1894 and the new spelling agreed with the Borough - it is thought that the original spelling might originate from Tansor, a village in Northamptonshire, just south of the village of Nassington. Though I'm unclear of the actual linkage with Northamptonshire...

Other name change and name development postings:
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/03/origins-of-platts-and-kidderpore.html