No Roderick, GP or even Hammy. Not even a real riverbank – but Yertle the Turtle in a pond, in a contrived, trans-cultural, popular media collision.
What would Johnny Morris have said?
Not only Yertle either, since he seems to be having it away with Myrtle… unless he is trying to reach the moon because it is higher than him (see Dr Seuss). That could be Mack beneath him, about to burp.
These were no small turtles either! I didn’t realise they lived wild or got this big.
Let us not forget that we do of course have quite a famous river bank in Deptford…
Almost opposite the pond in Folkestone gardens I came across these seats:
Scary seats
Not the most relaxing place to sit. Looks like a torture chamber.
There were more alarming chairs as we went round the corner to the dog park on the Evelyn Estate:
Hung not thrown
Another for the Lartigue collection, except this one is as found, not thrown. The dog park, dry as tinder, was (unusually) chock full of dogshit. Even the dog lacked the enthusiasm to play in there today.
And today the area was also more like a chair graveyard…
Where chairs go to die
The wording on this post by Margaret McMillan Park on Idonia Street may be misleading :
Local food?
I think it is a sewer vent and it has probably been there since before Margaret McMillan and her sister set themselves up in Deptford and SE London. They may well have walked past it too, wondering about ‘HAM BAKE’.
Thanks to The Deptford Dame in the comments for pointing me towards Caroline’s Miscellany for more about this stink pipe.
Silly me though, I forgot to look behind it and read what else it really said.
by skinnyvoice
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Love this: Yertle the Turtle in action in Deptford: http://bit.ly/dxjkhV (@skinnyvoice)
RT @hangbitch: Love this: Yertle the Turtle in action in Deptford: http://bit.ly/dxjkhV (@skinnyvoice)
RT @skinnyvoice: New at deptfordvisions: Tales Of The (Deptford) Riverbank And Beyond http://bit.ly/aAP0Jk featuring turtles #photograph …
I wondered if the turtles were still in that pond – pass it every day on the bike and haven’t had any sightings this year. Love the torture chairs – presumably they are in that alley along the side of the rail viaduct?
As for the dog park, I find it a most depressing example of how to turn a lovely grassy area into a shitty heap, quite literally. I know responsible dog owners will pick up after their dogs wherever they are; creating a ‘dog park’ just gives the irresponsible ones a focus.
By the way, Caroline has written about the stink pipe and its quirkily-named manufacturer here http://carolineld.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html
Thanks, I’ve updated the post to include the link
There used to be turtles in Surrey Quays. If I recall, they got into trouble for snacking on the (presumably) tasty ducklings legs as they floated below them.
The chairs are indeed along the viaduct