Blue Maid

About a year ago, I paid a visit to a house in Borough called the Blue Maid. About ten days ago, I managed to get back there. It was also an opportunity to build on my return to the world of Bullingdons after a rather long gap.

Started off by managing to buy the wrong sort of  'London terminals' ticket, an error which meant that I paid pretty much for this ticket as I would have paid for my more usual Travelcard. The clerk explained a few days later that, given the way the screens were laid out, it was an easy enough mistake to make.

Onto my Aterio train, on which the announcements were in full and fully-irritating working order, but the litter bin was full to overflowing. Will I ever get around to finding out to whom I should be complaining about the announcements?

We also had an older man, sitting in a block of seats by himself, enthusiastically watching his very noisy telephone. When I suggested to him that it was rather loud, he just shrugged and carried on grinning inanely at his telephone. I decided that it was not worth a row and moved instead - there were, as it happens, some free seats at a safe distance. What a prat.

I then tried to load up the TFL map of Bullingdon stands, which I have used on my telephone before, but failed on this occasion. I eventually got to the map but it was far too unreliable to be usable. Maybe the on-train wifi is a bit unreliable - not something that I make much use of.

Pulled a Bullingdon off the ramp without trouble and pedalled down the ramp, over the roundabout and off to London Bridge. Passing a lot of noise by something which might have been the Flat Iron Market and which might have been to do with football.

Managed to remember to post the important letter with which I had been entrusted by BH, in Southwark Street.

Cycling in Borough at this time of day proved a bit hairy, with all kinds of cycles whizzing past me on both sides. All a bit unnerving, but I survived unscathed.

Rather to my surprise, not only was P&V at Borough (reference 2) open, it was open until 21:00 or something. So I was able to stock up on the sausage, previously noticed at reference 3.

Onto the Blue Maid, which seemed to cater to a modest, but regular trade at this time of day. And they had caved in on the food front to the extent of making delivery arrangements with neighbouring fast food outlets.

A couple of pints there and then back to P&V where we thought we might take a sandwich. There were chairs outside. No sandwiches left, but they could sell us a small baguette with pointed ends and make it up into a couple of salami sandwiches. Which were truly very good: excellent bread and excellent salami. Large format stuff, maybe four inches in diameter which I had not come across before. No need for butter.

One of the two sandwiches, opened up, snapped above. I thought about buying a bottle of wine to go with them, there being a good supply of same, but didn't. But I did associate to a long ago visit to France on a coach, where we stopped at a service station for a pit-stop. They explained to me that they did not sell opened bottles to people on coaches, but I think I managed somehow.

From thence to a very old-style boozer tucked in somewhere behind Guy's Hospital, complete with what looked like a scatter of older buildings owned by Guy's and waiting on redevelopment. But for all its old-style appearance, it still runs to the website at reference 4. The Old King's Head.

Presumably, in the old days, a haunt of medicos from the hospital, boozers and smokers all. Times have changed! But still a very decent place and odd that I don't remember using it before.

In the margins, I learned that there is an images angle to Gemini now, which I have yet to give a try. It will attempt things like estimating the height of trees from shadows, people and buildings. One more thing to be looked into someday.

There was also the suggestion that Gemini is good on stuff that lots of people ask about, which seems obvious enough, now that it has been pointed out. Perhaps I will ask him about the sort of things that other people talk to him about.

And another, originating from a chap from Singapore, that one should be careful with one's heritage. There are lots of places in the world without anything much in the way of heritage at all, and they are the poorer for it. All a question of striking the right balance, I suppose.

A bit later on, I thought about catching a train from London Bridge, but settled for a second Bullingdon. Out of practise, and I did notice that cycling up-river was uphill, a first, and I did not make all the way up the ramp at Waterloo. But all things considered, I thought I managed pretty well.

Fair bit of fancy dress to be seen on the mid-evening streets, Monday notwithstanding.

Just the two vacant slots on the ramp. I suppose that they had already stocked up for the morning rush hour to come. The stand in nearby Stamford Street had been very near full too.

References.

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/05/on-bike.html.

Reference 2: https://www.prezzemoloevitale.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/06/two-tier-serration.html.

Reference 4: https://www.theoldkingsheadlondon.co.uk/.