God's wisdom is rightly unfathomable, but sometimes that of bureaucracy comes a close second. Why? Well, 2 incidents today may explain my comment.
The g. l. is wandering off abroad tomorrow for nearly 3 weeks, so I thought I would help her on her way with a cash injection of euros. Thus off I went to the Post Office. I told the cashier that I wanted to draw out a certain number of pounds in euros. No problem. I then asked her if I could pay for them with a credit card or did it have to be a debit card. She replied that either was permissible, but I would need to show either my passport or driving licence - even though it was not I who would be spending the money. No matter, I did not have either with me anyway. "In that case draw the necessary out from the little box by you and we'll be ok". Says I, "I thought it was only for travellers' cheques you needed a passport". "Ah", says she, in a conspiratorial manner, "some of our competitors demand that you produce a passport even when you're paying with cash!" It seemed strange to hear the P.O. speak of competitors.

Later I went to the Bank to inform them that the g.l. would be drawing the odd bit of cash out of our joint account whilst in foreign places. This required a phone call, but on eventually getting through I was informed that this could not be done unless she was with me, or else did her own phone call. "OK," says I, "What will she need to have when she makes the phone call?" "Oh, just the joint account sort code, and account number." "But I have them here...!"

However to be fair, to show there's more than one idiot in the world, this also happened. I came out of the Post office and turned into the Tube Station next door. Immediately I saw a big notice detailing the closure of most of the route for Saturday and Sunday. I thought oh dear, I had better work out another way to go to the West End. I collared a nearby official to ask if the route was open towards Walthamstow. He said yes but the rest is open too. But I argued the notice says Saturday, etc etc. So he replies ."That's right, but today is Friday!" When I apologised, he said not to worry, as I wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last!

Time for Reflection

During the walk described in the next blog I sat down for a break beside Monken Hadley's pond. I once heard that one is not supposed to feed bread to ducks, which was what was happening near me. But it certainly provided an excellent photo-opportunity!

A Walk along the Great North Road

For many years I thought that the A1000 was the Great North Road. In fact the great North Road was simply the name given to the road that for centuries led from London to Edinburgh. Last century saw bypasses built at certain places and the whole length was designated the A1. The section between Welwyn and Highgate was designated the A1000.

I started the walk at Woodside Lodge, one of the entrances to Hatfield House. Along this road (pic 1) would Bill Sykes have come on his flight , and from the opposite direction would have come Oliver Twist from his workhouse - see previous blogs.

The crossroads (pic 2) sees us crossing the Great North Road as it begins its diversion around Hatfield Park.

The rough looking track of pic 3 is an unmade road leading to a farm. It is the original route which is now blocked off and one has to make a diversion.

Soon we return to the A1000 (pic 4) as it disappears northward, still a busy road, but I managed to get pauses to photograph in.

Coming north out of Potters Bar (pic 5) looks dramatically steep, though I didn't notice it at the time!

I then crossed the SE-NW road between Southgate and South Mimms (pic 6) and nowadays leading to the M25 and A1 motorways).

Eventually I reached Monken Hadley, a mile from Barnet. Here is an obelisk (pic 7) set up by one Sir Jeremy Sambrook in memory of the death of the Earl of Warwick . This gentleman died around here in 1471 at the Battle of Barnet between the Yorkists and Lancastrians - also known as the War of the Roses (White v Red).

The sun was still bright but for fun I toned the ensuing road down (pic 8) which is where I imagined Oliver sitting all hungry, weary and depressed when the Artful Dodger comes along.

Finally we come into Chipping Barnet. The little terrace of small shops (pic9) must, I am sure, have been there in the first half of the nineteenth century. I did once see an old photograph of them but I cannot remember where in order to verify this.

A lovely day and a lovely walk - and my legs feet the effects of it still!

Oliver Twist and all that, extra

After this blog comes a further four tracing the movements of Bill Sykes from Charles Dickens's novel 'Oliver Twist'. I wanted to include these pictures in the blogs but Blogger allowed only four instead of five for some reason, so I have put them here as a taster!
This shows the section of the original road into Hatfield which now is part of the Hatfield House estate. Halfway along the lefthand side is a bend in the wall...
...where the original road has been blocked off and made into a private memorial garden.
You will see other pictures of the 'Eight Bells' pub where Bill Sykes ended up, and this is another view.
Evie in her blog talks of how she accompanied me on the outing, and this is to prove it, taken on the street leading down to the 'Eight Bells'.

Just think, when 'Oliver Twist' was written, cameras had only just been invented, car windows were a long way away, and the time and opportunity to do such an outing were beyond the ordinary person's dreams. And what's more to get there we travelled by train, which also were in their infancy. Bill Sykes walked over 20 miles. It says he was tired out. He had walked more than that straight 20. 'Tis more than I can do to do a quarter of that without resting!

Oliver Twist and all that, part 1

Oliver Twist is an orphan who coming to London becomes ensnared in the clutches of Fagin and his gang of child pickpockets. He has various adventures and scares until he lives happily ever after. Two other main characters are the thief Bill Sykes and his girlfriend Nancy. Towards the end of the book, believing Nancy has betrayed him, Bill kills her and flees London. After wandering around Hampstead Heath for some time, acompanied by his dog, Bullseye, "at last he got away, and shaped his course for Hatfield."


Hatfield is some 20 miles from London, and is reached by the Great North Road. The first picture shows the road passing in front of Hatfield House, featured in the second picture. This is because the road used in fact to run through the estate. A section by-passing it was opened in 1850.


The final section of the road as it came into the village of Hatfield. The map leads you from the trees into the town, showing the old route and coming down into Fore Street, the location of many shops and businesses.

Oliver Twist and all that part 2

"It was nine o'clock at night when the man...turned down the hill by the church of the quiet village..."



The church is that of St Etheldreda's and has parts dating back to the 13th century. The house in front looks late 19th early, 20th century. In the third picture you see the gateway into the Old Palace of Hatfield, a medieval house for the Bishops of Ely. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII it came into royal possession. Elizabeth I was living there when she heard of her accession in 1558. James I swapped it for Robert Cecil's house, Theobalds, near Cheshunt. Robert pulled down most of it and replaced it with the current Hatfield House. It mostly comprises flats now.

Bill Sykes would have passed by its frontage and turning by the church he would have seen a street of shops, this being the main part of Hatfield at the time. These disappeared when the Great North Road was re-routed and business dried up.

Oliver Twist amd all that, part 3

"...the man, quite tired out, and the dog limping and lame from the unaccustomed exercise, turned down the hill..."



You can just see the pub Bill Sykes went into in the second picture. Notice the height of the door of the thatched house. Even though you step down to it anyone over five feet nine at the most will need to stoop.

Oliver Twist and all that, part 4

"...and creeping along the little street, crept into a small public house, whose scanty lights had guided them to the spot."
O


"There was a fire in the tap-room, and some labourers were drinking before it. they made room for the stranger, but he sat down in the farthest corner..." On the other side of this fireplace is a broader fireplace which would serve the context better but I could not photo it due to people near it.

Clearly the pub is somewhat smarter than it was in Dickens's day. There has been some rebuilding of the street and the tall yellow section is a later addition to the 'small public house'.