Illuminated Tree Outside The Broadwalk, Edgware, Middlesex

This illuminated tree livens up and lightens up the dark nights outside The Broadwalk, indoor shopping centre at Edgware, Middlesex, right beside the Edgware train station and bus garage.

When you venture outside the shopping mall and supermarket, you'll find lots more choice of things to do and places to eat up and down the main road, Station Road: The public library, Izgara Turkish food, Orli, Halal food, Kosher food, Polish food, Nando's chicken, a coffee shop and many more.

Edgware Library
I grew up in Edgware, living near the public library. Once I was doing my homework in the library when a boyfriend phoned me. In those days you did not pay by the minute. One old Penny in the box and you could talk indefinitely. So our German au pair girl, Hannelore, ran down to the library to fetch me back to answer the phone whilst the boy of the moment was still hanging on.

Spelling of Edgware
Note that there is no E in the middle of Edgware, only one E at the start and another at the end. Maybe back int he mists of time there was an e as in edge, but over time people got tired. Or perhaps the nam e was established in the middle ages when spelling was a free for all, before the dictionary established set spelling.

Origin of the Name Edgware
OK - I had to look it up in Wikipedia which says:
Edgware is a Saxon name meaning Ecgi's weir. Ecgi was a Saxon and the weir relates to a pond where Ecgi's people caught fish. Goodness, I associate Edgware with being the end of the Edgware Road which was an old Roman road, dead straight from the centre of London, leading north.

Railway Tavern, Edgware
Alas the old Railway tavern, a grand Victorian mock Tudor building is still boarded up, waiting for help (financial help, loving help). It's been siting there for years, empty. Every now and then a sign goes up praising redevelopment. One day. Meanwhile, let's cheer ourselves up thinking of the illuminated tree outside The Broadwalk.

Getting There
If you are driving, it's hard to find a free parking place and you risk getting fined in streets around the main road. However, behind the bus garage is a big public car park. It was free on Sundays last time I parked in Edgware (and went into London on the Northern line). I suggest you look up car parking and the latest car parks and times and charges if you plan to drive and stop there.

Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright, November 2016.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Spellings: Edgware, Hampstead, S t a n s t e d. Memory aids.

Spellings are vital. Use the wrong spelling and you can end up in the wrong country, at the wrong airport, or divert a coach from England to Wales.

Abbreviations are handy and harmless, right? Wrong. An American who asks for the bus to Oxford instead of Oxford Street will be sent off to the city of Oxford, not merely the road which once headed out of the smaller city of London towards Oxford in the north west.

In London the transport for London site or google maps will give you directions, but wisely check which of the numerous options you wish to use. Do you want the mainline overground station, the underground station, or some other point?

Your Satnav in your car or hire car often offers several options. So getting the spelling right is the first step to finding the right destination.

Edge is spelled with an e at the end. But in English place names we often, over many years, drop the punctuations marks such as apostrophes, as well as the superfluous letters.

So the Edgware road and the Edgware station and the Edgware Road have no E in the middle. This makes life difficult when you are hunting for a restaurant which wants to put an e in the middle.

(It also enables you to spot that Wedgwood  with an e in the middle is from a fake factory which has not used a spell checker, or checked the first half of the word.)

But how do you remember which is Hampstead and the spelling of S t a n s t e d.

Being from London, having lived in Hampstead, my instinct is to spell S t a n s t e d with a second a. Now that I know the correct spelling, how do I - and you - remember it?

Old Hampstead sticks to an old spelling. New airport has a new-fangled spelling.

Here's another mnemonic (memory aid). 'Do you want a bed in S t a n s t e d, Ted?' 'No thanks, I'll drive back to London to Hampstead instead.'

Typing my name and signature I notice another anomaly. I'm an English teacher. I teach English but I also come from England.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, English teacher.
Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In. (I have a speech on this subject which I have given to groups.)

McDonald's Chicken Or KFC?

Wonderful that I can now eat my favourite food, chicken, and without that bun.
   What's the chicken like at these two world famous chains? Frankly, I could not see or taste much difference. First two members of my family tried the drive-in 24 hour McDonald's in the Edgware Road.

McDonalds
   The pluses were:
1 24 hours - food guaranteed and time
2  The new super-fast system - stop at the first post to read the menu and choose by calling your order into the machine, then drive on and insert your payment, then drive on to collect your order.
3 You can pull into a car parking space and eat it there and then without risk of spilling food on clothes or car or distracting driver from driving.
4 I opted for chicken, 3 pieces, and got three pieces which felt like proper chicken, not mangled meat.
5 Sliced fruit option for afters takes off the unhealthy feeling.
     Apple slices and grapes in March 2014. Excellent.

Improve Please
   What could be improved? The batter on the outside is over-cooked. I admit it's pleasantly crunchy, and dry enough not to make a mess like greasy chip-shop batter. But I felt I was eating a coating of breakfast cereal cornflakes.
   Not a vegetable or even a garnish in sight.
   And what - no free toy? What happened to the McDonalds we patronised for a decade?
   
KFC
   The next day for a a change we tried KFC. If you like the old system where you speak to a girl in a window, I suppose its friendlier. And not that much slower. Maybe it just seems slower because you are stuck in one place chatting and waiting, rather than accelerating off to the next area for the next part of the transaction.
   The chicken seemed almost identical. Maybe just a touch moister. The crunch, crunch coating was almost the same as the previous day.
   We were outside their parking zone barrier but it was late at night so we were able to park in the street alongside.
   I'm a gourmet and a healthy eater. yes, I'd rather have a whole roast chicken from Morrison, a mixed salad from their salad bar with grated carrots and half a dozen sides, and a Marks and Spencer fresh fruit salad. But sometimes you need a fast food drive-in.
 
BURGER KING - Memories
  Burger King used to give me burgers with lots of vegetable stuff packed into the bun.

McD & KFC
   But now I've found chicken in two major chains I'm really happy. When you're hungry in a hurry, late at night, both McD and KFC are good enough for me.

TIPS
   Tips - ambiguous word. There no tipping needed, unlike restaurants. What I mean by tips is suggestions.

My tips/suggestions:
1 Have cash ready to pay.
2 If you're wearing a plastic-backed water and grease proof apron from doing cleaning or housework or house removals, keep the apron on. It protects your clothes when eating in the car.
3 Modify that unhealthy food by having a portion of fruit. (Or buy grapes earlier in the day and take grapes in the car.)
4 A plastic bag in the car takes the mess.

Update - check ingredients
   Somebody in the sauna warned me that companies can't say chicken when describing their nuggets and other food unless there is a minimum quantity of chicken.
   If you are a health freak and want whole chicken, you might feel better off with chicken legs from a supermarket which have bones in the middle.
   If you are eating out regularly, twice a day, you might want to check your fast food calories count and the ingredients.
   However, if you are looking for a place open at odd hours, not too bothered about what you are eating as it's a one-off not more than once a week, you in a tearing hurry, nobody else with you could care less about health scares and ingredients, and don't even want to get out of your car, this is a good option.

McDonald's, 157 Colindeep Lane, Colindale NW9 6DB. Tel 020 8205 4140
email: 00256@uk.mcd.com
www.mcdonalds.co.uk
KFC, The Hyde, Edgware road, Colindale, London Tel:0208 201 3010. Drive-thru.
www.YourKFC.co.uk (survey by KFC)