• The rather novel parking regulations recently introduced on roads south of Christ Church Green, which mean that both sides of Spratt Hall Road are reserved for residents’ parking (even though there are houses on only one side) resulting in the road being virtually deserted for several hours each day, even as Wanstead retailers cry out for customers, are apparently to be reviewed.

• Bus arrival information boards have been installed at some bus stops in Wanstead, though it seems their use is mostly observational rather than forecasting… ie if you’re waiting for a W12 it might or might not take the six minutes the sign indicates. It might come right away, or it might be stuck at six minutes for the next 10. Other reports are welcome.

• On an incidental but unrelated note, the newly completed pavement on the south side of Wanstead High Street is a very nice job indeed.

• If you want to collect a bit of Wanstead history, you might like to buy the pews currently being removed from the former Cambridge Park Methodist Church, which is being converted into a nursery. They’re on sale on eBay here.

• Richard Foster (@fozzie23) sends this photo of what promises to be a new tapas restaurant in the place of the missed El Toro Loco on Cambridge Park. Dama De Elche basically translates as Benidorm Bird, but actually refers to a statue from the fourth century BC.

• Two crime updates. Beware number plate thiefs – people removing plates so they can steal petrol from filling stations. There’s been a spate of thefts in the Counties roads. And there’s a report from one Wansteadium reader a daylight mugging taking place in Sylvan Road.

• And hedgehog update no. 1: Stavros Fotiadis writes that he saw a hedgehog on Friday afternoon at the north side of Wanstead Park, near Royston Gardens. He says: “A man I crossed paths with warned me his dog had just had a close encounter with a hedgehog. A couple of hundred yards further I came across the young hedgehog on the track, immobilised and listing to one side. Have a bad feeling it had been critically mauled, there was nothing I could do.”

• Facebook might be worth a hundred billion dollars. But that doesn’t mean there are never technical hitches. So if you are among the 300 or so people who “liked” Wansteadium on Facebook and thus got our updates in your newsfeed, you will need to “like” us again. It’s easily done…

Regular readers will know of Wansteadium’s affection for hedgehogs. Last summer we compiled a survey of readers’ sightings, ending up with two apparent clusters: one around Colvin Road on the Nightingale Estate and one around the George Green.

The first sighting of the year is reported by Frances Anderson who says her son and his friend saw a hedgehog on Wanstead Flats near the area opposite St Gabriel’s church.

We hope, though, that this is just the beginning. Keep your ears open for that distinctive snuffling sound in the late evening, and please do file a report. You can use this form.

Wansteadium reader Ruth Nation of Ingatestone Road found this object in her garden a few years ago. The question is… what is it?

She writes: “The mystery is, I suppose, that over the past 9 years or so I have shown it to virtually every visitor to my house and no-one has seen anything like it before. I knew it couldn’t be a coin as it is one-sided and it seemed too large and archaic looking to be a military medal.

“The second mystery is that I have spent countless hours online and in various museums and have not seen anything like it. The closest to it is a ‘pilgrim’s token’.

“It also seems to be mysteriously changing colour and the image that was very hard to make out is now very clear so I don’t what metal it could be made of.

“The last, tongue in cheek and most fun mystery is that no matter how many times I blow the image of it up, look at it with a magnifying glass or take rubbings I can’t make out the writing – it seems that my mysterious find is keeping hold of its secrets!”

So, people of Wanstead, here is the challenge. What is this mysterious item? What is the picture of? What does the writing say? And above all how might it have ended up in a Wanstead back garden? Suggestions welcome below…

Update: Carole Edrich writes:
I think it’s some kind of imprint or mould. Flip the image of the coin as I have in the one attached and some letters are legible. There’s an ‘-io’, possibly a ‘K’, then maybe an ‘in’ then something like ‘-iffe’ or ‘-effe’ so maybe ‘deffend’ Anyway, I’ve attached the image flipped and upped the contrast a bit so that it can be shared.

@Wansteadium if writing can't be made out, my suggestion is a seal stamp, possibly sthg to do with the original Wanstead House

May 12, 2012 1:13 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Redeyedvireo

SiMarciniak

UPDATE, Monday 14 May:

Frances Simmons of the Simmons Gallery of Art Numismatics and Metrology based in Leytonstone writes:

Following a prompt from a Wansteadium reader, we had a look at this and reckon it’s a 17th century brass badge (something you’d wear to show loyalty or fealty) although it could be earlier. Yes, it does look like St George and the dragon but where’s his horse? More like a knight slaying a lion. Lots of stuff like this and earlier has been dug up around the Thames. We’d recommend that even though it’s just base metal, you report it, as part of the Portable Antiquities Scheme to:
Katherine Creed, Finds Liaison Officer – London
Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive
Museum of London
150 London Wall
EC2Y 5HN
Work T: +44 (0) 20 7814 5733
The Museum of London has a tremendous collection and it would be easier to read the inscription from the real item rather than a photo. Probably oxidisation has occurred now the item is out of the ground (clay preserves things nicely) which is why it’s so difficult to read and is changing colour. I’m sure the Museum will be able to help out a bit more. Very interesting! It’s amazing what turns up.

Some scenes from the Wanstead Village Dog Show, held on Monday at Christ Church.

A classic headline from Friday’s Wanstead Guardian, and a question to which the answer must be “Er… crumbs… Well I guess it’s possible… But wouldn’t South Woodford feel left out?”

Following the news that the Wanstead Comedy Night is to move to Leytonstone, Jon Fentiman – its organiser and a Wansteadium reader – writes:

As a Wanstead lover myself, (Wansteadofile, just doesn’t quite sound right) it pains me that the ‘only comedy club in the village’ has crossed the border.

Perhaps I can suggest to Wansteadians whose noses bleed when they reach the top of Hollybush Hill (location of the obelisk marking entry into Leyton- stone, just past the Bosnian car wash and petrol station) that they do as I do. It is a relatively simple exercise and I find it usually does the trick.

As you drive past the obelisk, keep your foot on the accelerator but close your eyes and keep them shut. Slowly let images of Judith’s of Wanstead enter your mind and imagine yourself wearing one of their dresses (this should give your self esteem a much needed boost)

Now imagine you are floating on the froth of a huge cup of overpriced cappuccino. Take two long slow breaths and picture the Co-op on the corner, in the High Street. Pay attention to their prices. See yourself choosing 10 items that you know you could buy cheaper in Tescos. Pay for these items with a National Trust Credit Card. (this creative visualisation should give you a real feeling of real abundance, particularly if you then stop and chat with Monica, the Big Issue seller).

Finally, and without opening your eyes, repeat the following affirmation out loud.
“I am part of Wanstead and Wanstead is part of me. Knowing this helps me feel safe beyond the Green Man Roundabout.”
“I am part of Wanstead and Wanstead is part of me. Knowing this helps me feel safe beyond the Green Man Roundabout.”
“I am part of Wanstead and Wanstead is part of me. Knowing this helps me feel safe beyond the Green Man Roundabout.”

I would recommend repeating this around 50 times (This helps to convince your sub-conscious mind that whilst you may physically leave Wanstead spiritually you are ever-present – although it may well get you sectioned if you’re still chanting it in Matalan.)

Using this technique I have managed to negotiate the Green Man roundabout, buy everything a need at Tescos and return totally unscathed without actually believing I’ve left Wanstead’s borders.

Can I advise those attending Wanstead Comedy Night at Baburchi’s on 10th May (500 yards across the border, opposite O’Neal’s) and thinking of using my technique, that on a first attempt it’s probably best to actually keep your eyes open. Although, as you’ve probably noticed before, there’s likely to be many other drivers on the roundabout practicing their own ‘eyes shut’ method, unique to them. Each to their own, I say.

Hope you can make it, and safe journey, however you get there and wherever you’re from!

J

The Wanstead Comedy Night is no more, after organiser Jon Fentiman and venue Bar Room Bar on Wanstead High Street could not reach agreement over security levels. According to Jon, the bar was insisting he fund two bouncers for the door for the monthly event which was attracting healthy crowds and a high standard of performer.

Jon is hoping to keep faithful attenders happy by continuing events at an Indian restaurant in Leytonstone, but it has to be questioned whether this venue – open only to diners – will be able to retain the atmosphere of a comedy club. (Jon says: “Sorry, but it’s No curry No comedy!”) The next evening is on 10 May, details available at http://wansteadcomedynight.co.uk

If anyone has any better ideas of venues actually in Wanstead for the continuation of the Wanstead Comedy Night, now would be a good time to suggest them…

Wansteadium reader Hannah writes:

Dear Wansteadium
We had friends and family round on Sunday for a post-Marathon get-together, to celebrate our friends who were running (and my birthday). One of our runners is a mother-of-three who, to cut long story short, has the BRACA2 gene which means that unless she has a double mastectomy, she has an 80% chance of developing breast cancer. She’s only 29. This is why she was running for the Breast Cancer Campaign to help fund research so her children, hopefully, won’t have to endure what she is going through.

Two of her children are twins and she and her husband (my brother) left a double buggy outside my house in Cowley Road.

Best wishes

Hannah.

UPDATE, Saturday: Following Hannah’s letter, two Wansteadium readers offered to give double buggies to Hannah’s sister-in-law. She extends her thanks to them (as will people who like to think of Wanstead as the kind of place where someone would give a Bugaboo).

Wansteadium’s gardening blogger, Ron, 90, offers his thoughts on how to get ready for a summer without hosepipes.

Amusing, isn’t it, that the minute we have a hosepipe ban introduced it doesn’t stop raining for two weeks.

Still, it’s pretty clear that short of a miracle, we’re going to have to do our gardening without hosepipes this year. Carrying watering cans will, I suppose, give us all some exercise, but you’d be wise to be doing a bit of planning ahead.

Courgettes and sweet corn ne0ed a lot of water. Maybe give them a miss this year?

Tomatoes need to be watered every day to stand any hope of a good healthy crop. But they can very happily be grown in pots or tubs – especially the smaller varieties. So maybe that’s what to do this year – and keep the pots near the tap!

Runner beans do need a good amount of water, so I’m minded just to plant my beans and see what happens. Who knows, the forecasters might be wrong and we might have enough rain, but I don’t really anticipate giving them the water they really need, at least not with a watering can. You could dig lots of compost into the trench where you plan to plant out your bean plants, that might help retain some moisture. Or do what we used to do years ago, and scrunch up old newspapers and bury those in the trench beneath the soil and compost. It’s an old technique but might just be worth dusting off.

In the meantime, while we’re waiting for the finer weather, I’ve put every bin, pot and empty tub out in the open to catch as much rainwater as I can, and with heavy rain forecast for the rest of this week this is a good plan. I have got a water butt, but that’s already full. So I’m improvising with a plastic dustbin as a secondary butt, and I’m emptying all these pots into it whenever I can. It all might help.

And in the meantime I’m enjoying looking out over the greenest lawn I’ve ever had in the middle of a drought.

The following conversation has revealed a hitherto unrevealed glitch in the social norms, even in the ultra-child-friendly environment of Wanstead. Your thoughts on this modern life dilemma are welcome, via comments at the bottom of the page.

I don't have kids. Is it normal to get out a potty and let your kid take a piss in the middle of Starbucks?

April 20, 2012 3:48 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@iainaitch

Iain Aitch

@iainaitch No

April 20, 2012 3:53 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Tudorscribe

Nancy Bilyeau

@iainaitch Are you in the Stratford branch by any chance?

April 20, 2012 3:51 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@teninchwheels

Ten Inch Wheels

@teninchwheels Wanstead. I thought people were more posh over this way.

April 20, 2012 3:51 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@iainaitch

Iain Aitch

@iainaitch hahaha - I am surprised. I'll bring that up next time a Wanstead internet warrior accuses Leytonstone of being 'common'.

April 20, 2012 3:53 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@teninchwheels

Ten Inch Wheels

@teninchwheels what would Churchill say?

April 20, 2012 3:56 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@iainaitch

Iain Aitch

@iainaitch he'd probably say; 'I bet they don't let their kids piss in buckets round the corner in Belgique'.

April 20, 2012 4:01 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@teninchwheels

Ten Inch Wheels

@teninchwheels 'we shall wipe them on the beaches, in The Larder and in the children's dept in the Oxfam Bookshop.'

April 20, 2012 4:04 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@iainaitch

Iain Aitch