Gateway to the South

I drove to Balham today to collect a chicken coop that my daughter had got to acclimatise her cats to being in a garden for the first time. The cats are now happily inducted into the garden and so she's sold it to someone local to us. I delivered it when I got back. She was having lunch with an old friend in  Balham who drove her there as Adele has hurt her ankle again. The handover took place at the Sainsbury's car park which is where I saw the sign featured in today's blip. I don't know what the 'it' is that Balham does better but I always associate Balham with the spoof travelogue - Balham, Gateway to the South - that Peter Sellers recorded in 1958.  The record was produced by George Martin for Parlophone Records. At that time Parlophone was not a major label and George Martin was mostly involved in producing comedy records until he was asked one day to work with four young men from Liverpool. And the rest is history...