Today was a pleasant two bus trip from Alperton to Golders Green and then on to Edgware, so it took in 3 tube stations. But, as you know, we prefer to be on the road rather than under ground. By the way, there is no 82 route, which is why we were on an 83 at about 9.55. Last time we were in Alperton, it was mainly warehouses and workshops. Now it's mainly apartments.
We immediately came to the beautiful Shri Swaminarayan Mandir and swept past it, through the very Asian shops and roadside banners of this part of London, towards Wembley. So many new blocks of flats are being built here that I have concerns for the utilities that underpin them. I assume 'luxury' in a description of a dwelling means one bathroom per person, which must put quite a strain on water and waste services.
We noted the Brent Indian Association's handsome mural, but were travelling too fast to take a picture, and then we passed the Wembley Central Mosque, before arriving in the middle of Wembley, where the tower blocks seem to get taller every time we visit.
The Al Pasha Supermarket was adorned with a picture of a man in a Fez, and I wondered if this was a portrait of Attaturk, the Father of Modern Turkey, but a fez and a moustache are not really sufficient clues for an identification. We glimpsed the Wembley Arch in the distance, but were more surprised by the name 'Fatburger' for an eatery. We were also interested in the banners that advertised Yeh Hai Chahatein, which proves to be a soap series on Star Plus of which you can watch a sample here.
On we went, past still more recent flats, to cross the Wealdstone Brook and reach Wembley Park Station. Here's what Diamond Geezer said about the Brook in 2015. If he revisited now he would find much more residential development, but still not much of a river.
The Ark Academy, in its smart new buildings, leads to some substantial detached houses, mostly with hardened front gardens; we did like the young plane tree with its last-year's fruits on its bare branches.
The George Pub seemed enormous, and brought us into Kingsbury, where we admired the Kingsbury Mandir, just across the road from the Holy Innocents Parish Church, before turning onto the Edgware Road.
Again, there were those yellow signs, which point to new-build estates, on every lamp post. When we passed a closed business labelled Japarts, I thought that the market for Japanese art had collapsed in t his area: but it proves to have been J A Parts which sold bits for motor cars.
We turned left and uphill to pass the Welsh Harp Boat centre though we did not glimpse the water. The trees had been fiercely pollarded; it always amazes us that they don't seem to mind such draconian haircuts.
Once we were over the North Circular, we came to Hendon Central Station. The former cinema which had become a Virgin Active Gym has now morphed into a Nuffield Health gym.
We were also interested to see a shop front for that remarkable organisation, Jews for Jesus. Remarkable because, as Swami Vivekananda said, 'See Christ and you are a Christian'; but I suppose the social and community ties of the Jewish faith still holds people.
We came over the fast flowing River Brent and into Golders Green, marked by a large number of Jewish Care Homes, as well as Grodzinski's Bakery, announcing that it had been hereabouts since 1888. We thought it likely that the terrible persecution of the pogroms in Russia in the 1880s triggered sufficient migration to make a Jewish Bakery a viable proposition.
The curving 1920s shopping parade brought us to the Clock war memorial roundabout, and to the end of this trip in Golders Green Station yard, after just about an hour.
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