Southall gasworks

Woking carbuncles now encroaching on the view

Strange that I'd (until now) never heard of Guildford Mount. It says that Henley Fort was used by the Guildford Home Guard during WWII, so my father must have known it.

The Mount is that hill you can see from the High Street. Can't miss it really.
There's a cemetery up there, where Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) is buried.

Yes, Mount Cemetery, also the last resting place of Flying Officer Frank Randall (obit. 1942). His name is engraved on the war memorial by the castle - I pay my respects whenever I'm there. One day I'll visit the cemetery.

One of your relatives?

No, but he could have been. He was my mother's boyfriend, and she grieved for him. His name is on the opposite (Tunsgate) side of the monument. Frank would now be 110, but still younger than you.

I'm planning a trip to Guildford at the beginning of May. I might be lucky, time-wise, for the tulips in the castle grounds, and will visit the cemetery, and see what picture I can get of Southall from up there.

Then he wouldn't have been your father, but maybe another little boy's.



5th May




I doubt you will see Southall from the Mount, as it was probably an exceptional trick of the light when I did. I didn't know what I was looking at, but worked it out afterwards.

1. True. Or a little girl's.
2. I've only ever once been there at the exact right time: www.flickr.com/photos/14463685@N07/8510034884

I was there at the right time - long long ago, when tulips were much taller.

Tulips were so very tall
When I was young and very small,
Tending each with wondrous gaze
In those long-lost halycon days.