Mick's Monopoly challenge

FREEDOM PASS WETHERSPOONS PART 9     I'm all finished. It took less time than I expected, although sweeping up the last few has been slow as I try to tie in local events. Also, I had to wait for fine weather for those I'd paired with  outdoor attractions. Now I know how General Eisenhower felt in 1944 as he waited for the skies to clear. It finally stopped raining in London on June 6,  exactly 80 years after D-Day,  and I was able to mobilise .... not towards Normandy, but The Tailor's Chalk in  Sid cup.     So I was able to complete my quest on June 16 - at the Crystal Palace Beer Festival, handily a couple of hours before England's Euro 2024 opener, an edgy 1-0 win over Serbia.     In part 10 I'll deliberate on what quest  to invent next to amuse myself (suggestions welcome) when I'm not watching the  football, T20 cricket and Olympics. It was a late kick-off but summer seems to be here at last . So, sitting in my garden with...

  CRYSTAL PALACE PARK       It may be in the deep south of London, but Crystal Palace Park is quite easy to get to -take the Elizabeth or District Line to Whitechapel then the Overground to Crystal Palace Station. Entrance is free.      The original Crystal Palace was built for the Great Exhibition  of 1851 in Hyde Park. It had the greatest area of glass ever seen in a building. After the exhibition closed, designer Joseph Paxton dismantled his gigantic structure and used the parts to construct an even bigger exhibition building within a sprawling leisure park in South East London .....       Queen Victoria opened the park in 1854. A huge  bust of Paxton (above, right), unveiled in 1873, stands in the park to this day. But his creation was sadly destroyed by a fire, which could be seen as far away as Brighton, on November 30, 1936. What remained was largely sold as scrap. Perhaps  the structure wouldn't have survive...