Go West!

I spent a bit of time in West London this weekend.

First up was a trip to Ealing because the boy had been on a three-day course at Thames Valley University so me and the missus went along to see his presentation.

My only two Ealing facts before this outing were: (i) several seminal British comedy films were made there and; (ii) that a very well-spoken former theatre acquaintance also lived there. Consequently I always imagined Ealing was a bit of a posh affair with Terry-Thomas types guffawing all over the shop and my mate and her chums drinking lattes while sitting in street-corner cafes reading Isabelle Allende books. I also always imagined Ealing in black and white…

On arrival, though, I found that Ealing exists in full techni-colour and it seemed quite thriving. Me and the girl even pondered moving there purely on the basis that it has its own Oxfam bookshop. We reckoned that Ealing must be pretty decent if everyone there is so well read that the constant supply of charity literature needs its own shop.

Sadly as we were walking by a mother was standing with her toddler near a shop and I (and everyone else on the street too) happened to hear her say: ‘That book in the window says “Twinkle, twinkle little car.” Now is that right Jemimah? Jemimah, darling? Tell mummy. Is that right?’ Anyway the last thing that I remember of Ealing was my neck doing a spasming thing and my voice going all Exorcist…

On Sunday I had a pool match in Chiswick and I was rubbish but still won three frames out of four. Sadly I cannot offer an opinion on Chiswick itself as the only bits I’ve seen of it are a snooker hall on an industrial estate and a curry house. But I reckon Chiswick is pretty posh too – although since my mate who looks like Fred West has moved into the area I bet the property prices have gone down…