More than you want to know about my greenhouse: a widget from Pinterest

Just testing Pinterest's widget, this one linking to a Pinterest board to do with my other blog, about my new greenhouse. Enjoy the pics, and see if you can be bothered to follow the link to the greenhouse blog.

Follow Charles's board The transparent shed on Pinterest.

If you can't, let me make it easy for you: just click here.

No wonder Dickens liked Richmond

Dickens' many associations with Richmond are helpfully documented by the town's library. He enjoyed holidays at the Star and Garter Hotel and refers to the Terrace in Pickwick Papers.

Tracey Tupman, having retired to Richmond, "walks constantly on The Terrace during the summer months, with a youthful and jaunty air which has rendered him the admiration of the numerous elderly ladies of single condition, who reside in the vicinity." Today, the Terrace was worth a walk for its famous view even though it's still January.

The rest of the town was looking good too. 

The best urban commute in the world?

Cycling to work yesterday morning I was thinking how lucky I am to have a commute in a big city that passes places like this:

And when I came home in the evening, I thought the same:

No it's not Africa; it's Richmond Park. Though we do have some genuine wildlife, albeit not particularly wild (also seen yesterday):

I really appreciate this kind of commuting when the rest of the day is spent computing.

Richmond Park is big: at two and a half thousand acres, it's three times the size of New York's Central Park and also three times as big as Hampstead Heath (which is not quite as big as Central Park). It's relatively peaceful during commuting hours, especially off the roads that cross it.

It's completely useless for jogging, walking and cycling, so please don't bother to visit.