The Inflatable Pool

I shot this on our walk back home after seeing "Blackkklansman" Saturday night. It would be better with a person walking through that alley -- if I'd thought about it I'd have had Dave walk down there and back again. Maybe I'll go back with my camera some evening soon. This was shot on an iPhone, which once again leaves me impressed at the quality of the phone camera.

Speaking of "Blackkklansman," I forgot to tell you the best part of the story -- I used my health insurance points and got a FREE MOVIE TICKET! Finally, I'm figuring out how to make that insurance rewards program pay off.

Yesterday Olga and I took a walk in the morning behind that new apartment complex where several balconies burned in a fire back in July. (The affected balconies, by the way, are now shrouded in scaffolding and presumably being repaired.) The development is on a wedge of land between two train lines, the tube and the London Overground, and although the buildings seem nice, the windows are dirty and I think that must come from those trains. We walked all the way to the back, where behind a gate there's a little triangle of land that looks like this:

There are a couple of benches, so clearly people are supposed to be able to go in there and sit, but the weeds are so high that it's hard to imagine walking around. It's probably great for bugs and critters, though. Maybe it's meant to be a wildlife garden? The inflatable pool looks like a resident's afterthought, and it was empty when I was there.

Don't say I never show you the hidden corners of West Hampstead.

I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing and archiving photos -- which takes a surprisingly long time -- and walking Olga to the cemetery and back. Then we watched "National Lampoon's European Vacation," which I hadn't seen in years. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen it. Dave's sister and brother-in-law mentioned it on their recent stay, when we took Olga down to Westminster, and then when I posted the photos a friend mentioned it on Facebook. I took that as a cosmic hint that I was meant to see it. The humor seems so innocent, even the somewhat bawdy parts -- but it's definitely good for a laugh. (To think Chevy Chase is 74 years old now -- how did that happen?!)