Valanced

An old set-stitched chair, valanced and fringed around with party-coloured worsted bobs, stood at the bed's head

As you approach the Thames, you are riding with the ghost of the London & South Western Railway, which built many of the stations used by the District for its westerly push. The clue lies in the valanced - or serrated - white wooden station canopies, which give some of the stops a country branch air.