[Leica] Where we post from

[Malcolm McCullough <MM4@mm-croy.mottmac.com>]

The London Borough of Croydon, England.

Croydon is widely considered to be one of the most uninteresting places in 
the UK. This is just not true.
We have interesting 1960s office blocks full of interesting people in 
interesting suits. A few of the men are so radical that they don't even wear 
ties. We also have very interesting office blocks built even more recently 
than the 1960s. Some of these are made of green glass. Not only do we have 
an underpass (interestingly named The Croydon Underpass) but we also have a 
flyover (bet you can't guess what that is called!). Our main street, 
Wellesley Road, is the same width as the Champs Elysees, but it is in 
Croydon, not Paris. We have very interesting trams with proper tram bells, 
and a Leica shop, interestingly called 'High Street Radio'. We have two 
branches of Jessops* and one branch of Anne Summers**. We used to have one 
branch of Jessops and two branches of Anne Summers, but one AS closed due to 
lack of support. Croydon's main claim to fame, apart from being the home of 
the Home Office Immigration Department and Nestle' UK, is that David Lean 
came from here (he left quite quickly), and someone once claimed that he 
thought that Desmond Dekker might have lived here. The Queen Mother worked 
as a part-time barmaid in one of our oldest pubs, The Dog and Bull. They 
have a picture on the wall of her pulling a pint. She demonstrates the 
correct protocol for pulling a pint when one is wearing white dress gloves. 
Prince Charles also visited the pub. I don't think Lady Di would have been 
seen de..., er, I mean, the Dog and Bull wasn't Lady Di's sort of place.

I also live in Dover, but spend more time in Croydon. Before living (call 
this living?) in the south of England I lived in the north: Worsley (near 
Manchester),  Wooler (near the Scottish border), Lemington, Kenton (both 
near Newcastle), Oxford (definitely not near Cambridge), Barnsley (near 
Barnsley. There's nowhere more famous than Barnsley) Hemsworth, Fitzwilliam 
and Wakefield (near each other in the West Riding of Yorkshire). I spent 14 
years as a coal miner, you see. I also spent three years in Singapore - 
which does not have any coal mines.

Regards,
Malcolm
*Jessops was once a mail order discount photographic retailer that undercut 
the high street shops. Now they have taken over most of the high street 
shops.
**Anne Summers is a sort of semi-respectable high street vendor of ladies' 
necessities, including practical, lightweight underwear and, I believe, 
various mechanical contrivances intended for the purposes of uncomplicated 
amusement. Anne Summers parties are said to be almost as exciting as 
Tupperware parties, but as I have not yet been able to successfully 
gatecrash either I am unable to comment.