A Walk on the Wild Side
I have just returned from a day trip to London for a hospital appointment.
The train from Newbury takes about an hour to Paddington and I had time to walk around Paddington Basin before taking the 205 bus to Old Street.
Not many boats moored but a little activity on the opposite bank. By the road bridge there is a patch of undergrowth in which a man has been living for about seven years. I do not know the why or wherefore but we have seen evidence of his habitation on our visits.

Today, however, the council are clearing the area.
Apparently the previous occupant is in prison.






A BW employee told me that it is not BW land and she did not know why the council had not been able to remove the incumbent sooner.  She added that the workmen had found about 200 suitcases in the debris they were clearing. The suggestion is that he had been claiming lost property from Paddington Station.

Further down I discovered that on Tuesdays there is now a food market with about half a dozen stalls selling various foreign delights.

Not to be outdone by Bradford-upon-Avon the operators of Merchants' Square have their own Pea Soup.

The moorhens are entering into the spirit of competition and demonstrating how they cope with it.

When the residents of the surrounding property chose to exclude canal boats from the basin was this their preferred choice?