Kingston

Kingston. 

When I was small, going into Kingston was it a bit special. It usually meant we were shopping for something that we couldn't get on New Malden High Street, or "the Village" as it was known in our family. 

Later, when we came back from Hong Kong, I went to school in Kingston, and in the sixth form we were allowed to go out at lunchtimes, something that I think I did most days. 

I would typically visit one, some, or all of Books, Bits, and Bobs, The Record Shop, Our Price, Beggars Banquet, and Dave's record stall in the Apple Market, but that meant I covered a fair amount of the town. 

These days, though, if you parachuted me in, I wouldn't know where I was. I mean, I thought it was a big deal when they reversed the one-way system - and, actually, it was! - but so much has changed in the last, gulp, forty years. It's unrecognisable.

Anyway, we went in there at lunchtime, today, so that the Minx could buy some clothes for her meeting tomorrow. I was happy to tag along, especially once we discovered Onde Onde, a Malaysian café where we had a fantastic lunch.