Out-takes 1: Day Zero - Maberley Road, SE19

Went to the doctor's this morning and she told me I have a chest infection, sort of an "additional extra" from my 'flu. Antibiotics were prescribed and not going to work was "strongly advised".

With holidays and illness I feel I've been producing fewer pictures recently than I should, so I thought now was the time to share some of those pictures that didn't make the cut the first time. So here's one from 4 June, 2007 - Day Zero of this blog. This is the other side of the Christmas Tree/Bed urban sculpture and is a lovely example of the oft-spotted Maberley Road Mattress.

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Seven - Maberley Road, SE19

I swear I didn't move them.

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Six - Maberley Road, SE19

New week, new mattress. The old one is still there, by the way, just a bit further along and frustratingly round a slight curve in the hedge which means I can't get one shot of both of them.

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Five - Maberley Road, SE19

Mattress by night.

(with echoes of this)

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Four - Maberley Road, SE19

More mattress madness by the allotments. A dog (I hope it was a dog) has made his feeling quite clear on this growing urban problem.

Not to be confused with Irving Nattrass, a footballer ("the Fishburn Flyer", apparently) I was mildly obsessed with in the mid-seventies as a combination of his odd name and me having a Topps football card (this one) with him on.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Seven - Maberley Road, SE19

Storm damage at the allotments.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Three - Maberley Road, SE19

They've been putting it up since Monday, you'd think it'd be complete by now.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Eight - Maberley Road, SE19

Moody.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five - Maberley Road, SE19

Cultural stereotypes, part 684.

Day One Hundred and Nineteen - Maberley Road, SE19

Scarily human-looking tree. It's Lord of the Rings all over again.

Day One Hundred and Eighteen - Maberley Road, SE19

Still there.

Day One Hundred and Fifteen - Maberley Road, SE19

Rain, rain, rain. So much that the drains can't cope and Maberley Road is flooded again. I love the effect the light, rain and high ASA have had on this picture - looks even better bigger (click on the photo to enlarge).

More abstract tomfoolery from the same spot (this time with a bus, just after the driver stopped to ask me if I was alright, taking pictures of a puddle in the pouring rain as I was) here.

Day One Hundred and Five - Maberley Road, SE19

A Happy New Year to all our readers!

In the last year or two they've put these new timetable boards on lots of the darker, more secluded bus stops around here which, when it gets dark, glow slightly and can be illuminated by the touch of a button. On drunken evenings I've been known to press the buttons recklessly, with no thought of catching a bus. Ah, late-thirties rebellion!

Day Seventy-Three - Maberley Road, SE19

This nub of a milestone denotes the boundary between the London Boroughs of Bromley and Croydon. Auckland Road gets shiny metal signs, but Maberley Road is left with this historic but virtually invisible marker.

On the discman today: AM - Neu! Neu! 2 PM - Lol Coxhill/Steve Miller Coxhill/Miller Miller/Coxhill

Day Forty-Eight - Maberley Road, SE19

I've walked past this van every day for years and often tutted about how dirty the front is. I've only just realised that it's an old BT van! I knew it was worth getting a pair of glasses...

(August Bank Holiday yesterday, hence no post)

On the discman today: AM - Michael Nesmith And The Hits Just Keep On Comin' PM - Michael Nesmith Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash

Day Forty-Two - Maberley Road, SE19

Upper Norwood Tardis.

(London Loo Co, please come and pick this up as it's been here for as long as I can remember.)

On the discman today: AM and PM - Simon Dupree and the Big Sound Part of my Past: the Simon Dupree and the Big Sound Anthology

Day Forty - Maberley Road, SE19

People from outside Europe (and people from posh suburbs) are often amused and perplexed by the idea of allotments, but in big cities where gardens are small or non-existent they provide an opportunity for people to grown their own produce and serve as a focal point for communities. Of course (huge generalisations on the way) working class city dwellers now subsist entirely on frozen ready meals and lard, so the annoying urban middle-middle-class have taken over whole swathes of allotments to supplement their organic vegetable delivery boxes.

I think the miserable weather is affecting my mood.

On the discman today: AM and PM - Daphne Oram Oramics

Day Twenty-Five - Maberley Road, SE19

When it rains heavily (and boy, has it been raining heavily recently - although not as bad here as in Gloucestershire, it did mean England were denied a victory over India in the cricket which had me rather miffed) all the soil from gardens around the junction of Maberley Road and Maberley Crescent runs down into the hollow where the roads meet, clogging the drains. It takes a while to go away, and meanwhile it smells of an odd mix of earthiness and, um, sewage. Lovely.

(worked from home on Friday as I had to be in for the loss adjuster to do his thing. This week I should be in work all five days, which must be a recent record)

On the discman today: AM - Jacques Lejeune Blanche Neige - suite musicale en 14 tableaux de jacques lejeune pour dire le conte et danser avec les enfants PM - Gil Melle The Andromeda Strain OST (twice - it's short)

Day Twenty-Two - Maberley Road, SE19

Maberley Road is full of cats. The look this one gave me when I tried to take its photo was as nothing compared to the look the schoolchildren gave me as they watched me take the picture.

On the discman today: AM - REM Lifes Rich Pageant PM - Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada

Day Eighteen - Maberley Road, SE19

Ah, an Abel & Cole van. Told you I lived in an area full of young, affluent middle-class Guardian readers. The joy of London is that we're freely interspersed with the kind of people who leave mattresses in the road. It's still there, by the way.

On the discman today: nothing, as I had a headache.