From the keyboard of Dr Jan

I was driving round the North Circular Road last weekend with Martyn.

I was totally shocked to find that my college had disappeared, replaced by a flotilla of new homes. Way back in 1982 I started at what was then Middlesex Polytechnic, at the Bounds Green campus (almost on the corner of Bounds Green Road and the North Circular Road), on a Mechanical and Electrical Engineering course.

The college building was an inspiration. It looked like it was converted from a modern warehouse into a learning establishment. From the outside it was a large, long grey box with occasional funky windows. The interior was amazing, with lots of bright prime colours and a very modern feel to the whole thing. I’ve just been searching for a photo with Google Images, but nothing so far As far as I remember, the film Wilt used the inside of the building for some of the college interior shots. It seems that all the Bounds Green departments have re-located to the Hendon site.
Whilst still reeling from the shock of a major part of my life just disappearing, we came to Edmonton eagerly anticipating Shadbolt‘s Veneer of the Week. Imagine how distraught we were to find the Shadbolt factory being demolished before our very eyes!

Shadbolt manufacture wood veneers, and every week they put up a new Veneer of the Week in a huge panel on the outside of their factory in Edmonton. Or at least, they used to. It turns out that they moved the factory to Braintree in Essex at the end of last year. I can’t comment on the availability of the Veneer of the Week on the new factory in Braintree

The Veneer of the Week was originally bought to my attention by Bob Mills, a late Sunday night host on what used to be the BBC’s GLR (now BBC London radio). It was a phone-in show and most weeks someone on the North Circular Road would phone in and tell us what the Veneer of the Week was.

So, that’s why there’s a link on my homepage to the Veneer of the Week. As I type, it’s Crown Cut Figured Maple. Now how classy does that sound?