Another nap interrupted

Friday 20 July 2012

At 14:29 the sun is threatening to come out.

Tanbrit Ultra

Friday 20 July 2012

At 12:31 Mrs Oldgreen’s car is parked at the kerb alongside the JGs’ house. On the roof-rack of the car, positioned longitudinally, there is a clamshell-type case. Other cars have gathered — for instance the Wormwoods’ estate car, which is half-way onto the pavement with its bonnet alongside the junction-box. It departs about three minutes later.
Somewhere by the school, perhaps near the middle entrance, a tiny tot runs onto the roadway and is snatched back by a young woman, no doubt its mother.
At 12:40 a man is ascending the far pavement. He is wearing glasses; his hair is close-cropped, dark but greying, and it is receding at the temples; his long-sleeve pullover is red, and his trousers are light brown. With him is a girl wearing a purple-pink anorak, hood down, and open at the front to reveal a patterned or polka-dot dress. She is aged perhaps 15 or 18 months. When they reach the Efords’ house, they pause, facing outboard. With thumb and forefinger he picks something up from the grass verge alongside the house. He shows the girl whatever it is that he has picked up — is it a snail?
The silver Fuji is still parked alongside number 33.
At 12:58 Mrs Oldgreen’s car has gone. A black 51-registration Ultra is parked at the kerb alongside number 8 and number 10.

Final adjustments

Friday 20 July 2012

A couple of minutes before 10:50, a rather stout middle-aged woman leaves her car and crosses the road towards the middle entrance of the school, at a slight downhill angle. Dangling from her right hand is a transparent or translucent plastic carrier-bag full of coloured items. Just as she reaches the far kerb, she stops, and returns to her car. Soon thereafter, she crosses the road again, and enters the school.

Double-act

Friday 20 July 2012

At 07:30 Mr Port’s van is on the drive, stationary but with the reversing lights on, for at least a minute. The van reverses off the drive, past the nose of Mrs Port’s silver Ultra which is parked at the kerb, and heads towards George Street.
At 07:40 a Mercedes C-class approaches, and parks at the boundary between the school-house garden and the precinct of the school. There is a big splash of water as it moves from the roadway onto the pavement; it ends up with the inboard sidewall of the offside front tyre almost touching the kerbstone. Two minutes later the Mercedes departs, but before it does so, a black Zero parks above it. After a couple of minutes, the Zero has gone. Minutes later another black Zero parks in much the same position as the first one; by 07:58 it too has gone.

More artwork

Thursday 19 July 2012

At 13:34 a small brown cat slowly crosses the road, from the Efords’ drive towards the tree. The 12-registration Ultra is absent.

Ultra, Fuji, Plum, Compass, Boxcar

Thursday 19 July 2012

At 10:55, no cars have yet arrived for the school-run. Vinnie’s blue bin is on the pavement to the right of his drive.
There is a silver hatchback, of recent manufacture, parked roughly opposite the middle entrance. A woman gets behind the wheel, and drives off, turning left at George Street. Just after 11:00, a black Ultra, possibly 56-registration, parks alongside the lower part of the school-house garden, with the inboard sidewall of the nearside rear tyre almost touching the kerb. Two minutes later, the Ultra moves to the space vacated by the silver hatchback.
It has been getting brighter, and the sun is now out.

One Nilpferd

Thursday 19 July 2012

It has been a wet night, and there is a wet start to the day.
At about 08:20 three people walk past Vinnie’s house, in the direction of the Thornboroughs’: two small girls, one older than the other, both dressed partly in red, sheltering under a small, partly green umbrella; and an older woman under a green-and-white umbrella, accompanied by a small dog on a lead. The woman is just behind the girls.

Two in the front, three in the back

Wednesday 18 July 2012

At 12:22 the burglar alarm somewhere on Acacia Grove has gone off again. It stops ringing at 12:40, but goes off again at 14:07.
At 14:20 an obese woman wearing a pink blouse and black knee-length trousers, and with a black shoulder-bag hanging from her right shoulder, walks past Vinnie’s house and the Thornboroughs’ house. There are two cars parked outside the Old Man’s house: a blue new-model Oignon to the left of the garden-gate, and an orange-red new-model Compass immediately to the right of the gate.

A different passenger

Wednesday 18 July 2012

At 10:45 Mr CJ starts pegging out washing in the CJs’ back garden. He starts with four big white bras.
At 11:01, a red Modulo is nose-to-sapling. A minute or two later, there is a black Peugeot over half-way onto the pavement to the other side of the sapling, just uphill of where Scarlett’s car was in the early morning school-run.

Three Escargots

Wednesday 18 July 2012

At 08:08, the cat crosses the road, from the middle entrance this time. It goes straight across, at a loping run.
The sky is overcast.
A few minutes later, a black Escargot parks alongside number 29. At the offside of the rear screen, there is a green-on-white probationer-plate.

Several minutes after that, the familiar three boys walk down the far pavement, in the same positions as yesterday. The inboard boy has a black duffel-bag on his back, with the strap over one shoulder.
At 08:22 or so, a boy and his younger sister (inboard of him) are descending the far pavement. The boy’s dark anorak is hanging off his right shoulder, revealing his red pullover. The girl is wearing a pink-and-white gingham dress, whose short sleeves have white cuffs; a dark anorak is slung over her right shoulder. It is clear that the boy is teasing or insulting her.
At 08:25, Mrs Pavane’s car approaches, performs a U-turn, and parks outside number 33. Meanwhile, a mother and child have crossed the road towards the school, from the black Escargot.
At 08:31 or so, Mrs Parker’s Escargot has already mounted the pavement alongside Vinnie’s; it finishes its manoeuvre with its rear half alongside the junction-box. When the Parker family heads off to the school, I see that Master Parker is carrying a red stuffed toy under his right arm. It looks like an anthropomorphic animal — perhaps a bear, perhaps a rabbit. Then a van bearing the logo of a tyre-depot parks to the rear of the Escargot.
The sky is still dull, but the temperature is mild.
At 08:35 Scarlett’s car passes the Old Man’s house, parks beyond the sapling (ascending the high kerb at roughly a 45-degree angle), then goes further forward and straightens up. The vehicle parked ahead moves off, and Scarlett finishes alongside the lower part of the school-house garden, well onto the pavement. Both boys get out of the offside rear — Tiny Boy enthusiastically jumps out. Small Boy is wearing a red long-sleeve top or pullover, and Tiny Boy a light-coloured top or anorak.
Small Boy is the first one through the middle entrance of the school, and Tiny Boy is, I think, the last. I glimpse Scarlett on the walkway. There is quite a gaggle of children on the pavement outside the middle entrance.
It is nearly fifteen minutes later that I see Scarlett walking up the pavement towards her car. She is dressed in a denim jacket, a black skirt that is short but not tight, and black leggings. As often, she has a couple of papers in her left hand; she unlocks the driver’s door with the key in her right hand.
When Scarlett departs, she descends the kerb with a bump, moves forward, then has to reverse (still at an angle) to let a silver car pass in the opposite direction. As she approaches George Street, she shapes up as though to turn left — but then she indicates right and turns right.
Between 09:35 and 10:10 I mow the back lawn. The rain holds off.