Lifestyle – slightly weird

26th April 202122nd April 2021

A Chapter of Accidents or A Comedy of Errors

Wednesday, 22 April, 2021

In Turin I had a recurring theme of foiled plans. In my last blog I talked about another foiled plan. In the history of foiled plans (mine at least) today was the mother of foiled plans – see the title.

There was perhaps a precursor in the morning. After sewing up my very first no-mistakes postman’s glove, I realised I’d left no hole for the thumb. At first I dug down into my thread kit for a seam ripper, confident I could take out the stiches and sew things up properly. Wrong. I’d used the same wool to sew it up, and I’d used a nice tight stitch so it wouldn’t unravel. Try as I might, it was impossible to see where the stitches were among the knitted seams. Rather than keep trying, I stopped, left it as is, and knew I had to knit a third glove to replace it. Gloom, but it’s only a glove, right?

As the morning went on and Krish talked about his plans to get to Guys for his psoriasis treatment, I let him know that I thought I’d come too unless I’d slow him down too much. He seemed really pleased and said we’d leave earlier and take the bus. I got ready.

The real Chapter of Accidents begins.

Paragraph 1 – when checking for the next bus, my app let me know that ‘There are no buses expected in the next thirty minutes.’ Right. It’s OK really, we’d just walk to the bus we’d need to change to. As we went to the landing to get outdoor shoes and clothes, the app cheerfully told me the bus that wasn’t expected was now due. Too late.

Paragraph 2 – As we crossed the intersection for the closest bus, ours – the 254 – drove up and left before we could reach it. We dug our heels in and waited. Bus after bus came, but not the 254. Krish said that it might be tight once we reached our second bus. I told him, when we get there, you rush ahead, don’t wait for me. I’ll let you know when I arrive at London Bridge. And we waited some more. Time was ticking.

Paragraph 3 – After a little bit of waffling, we decided that Krish should go get the train and leave me at the bus stop. I’d never be able to keep up with him. It was my decision to either return home or continue with my plan. I decided to continue after hearing from Krish he was on the train. My bus came. There was a terrible traffic jam and we moved slowly down to our destination, my next bus (this would be a two-bus journey) when the driver announced a destination change. We would be stopping in Whitechapel. Not so bad, I thought, but we didn’t stop in Whitechapel. We stopped before that at a stop that would bring my bus count to three. And I waited there again.

Paragraph 4 – Now there were no buses coming, not for a while. People were fidgeting. At least I had my bus pass and the extra buses wouldn’t cost me anything, but it was getting later. The 106 arrived and I jumped on, as quickly as a person with a crutch can jump on. It would take me to a stop by London Hospital and from there I could walk around to the main road for another bus to take me to my last bus. Easy, you say? So did I. On the main road I was met with a Bus Stop Closed notice. I looked for a temporary stop but there was none. Already hurting, I walked determinedly for another several minutes, past Ambala and on to the next bus stop. The journey that had just taken me close to ninety minutes usually takes about twenty minutes .

A 'fun' sight as I waited for my second bus — A ‘fun’ sight as I waited for my second bus

The 106 stops at the London Hospital main entrance

The rest was easy. The bus stopped at the exact place to pick up my final bus. The reward for my pain and waiting came as we passed the Tower of London and across the Thames on Tower Bridge with the sight of City Hall and the Shard cheering me on.

The bus dropped me in a perfect location for my first plan of looking at how the George Inn was doing now it had some outdoor boozing. Encumbered by my backpack, my mask, my glasses, my crutch, the photos would be unlikely to do it justice but I’d made it.

The George Inn is the only surviving galleried London coaching inn. So there’s a long balcony along the stretch of the low building of connected bars. It was originally called George and the Dragon and was rebuilt in 1677 after a serious fire in 1676 that destroyed most of medieval Southwark. Its also featured in Dickens Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend. Dickens himself visited the site when it was a coffee house.

Different views from inside the George Inn Yard

Walking along Borough High Street, I felt a little dismayed at how shabby and broken down things were. This is a wonderful area and I’m not sure if some of the construction will be to spruce things up a bit. I do hope so. Across Southwark Road at Brindisa, an expensive tapas bar, people didn’t seem to mind that they were eating their £4 tomato bread and £17 lamb chops under the scaffolding and construction dust.

Enjoying their £4 tomato bread — Enjoying their £4 Brindisa tomato bread under the construction scaffold

I really like Park Street. It runs alongside the south end of Borough Market. I stopped liking the market when the crowds got too heavy, but on Park Street there was the colourful Market Porter pub, the great Monmouth Coffee Company, and Konditor cake shop. Then off of Park Street is Stoney Street and the wonderful Borough Market branch of Neal’s Yard Dairy.

There were outdoor Europe-style (tented) patios bustling with people in all the eating places. Monmouth Coffee Company, where there are normally long queues of people and packed tables was deserted. I knew they didn’t serve decaffeinated coffee but I also found out that they don’t serve anything but coffee so that was out. Sadly, too, Konditor had closed its doors, with a very sad note in the window.

Poor Konditor — Poor Konditur. They now have only two branches

On Park Street looking over to Stoney Street

Not the dining experience I really want - Park Street — Not the dining experience I really want – Park Street

Looking west along Park Street – the road ahead leads to the Golden Hind, the Clink, The Globe and the Tate Modern

On Stoney Street, I stopped at Neal’s Yard. Only half of the store is open now, and a Wait Here notice greeted me. A man was buying a lot of cheese, but I knew I had only my very squashable backpack so, when it was my turn, I chose carefully: a small pack of cheese curds – I’ll try my hard at some poutine! – a small clotted cream to make some scones and fruit, and a jar of rather lovely looking marinated (with garlic and thyme) soft raw cheese.

Maybe my chapter was getting brighter.

The empty shelves in the larger part of Neal's Yard Dairy — The empty shelves in the larger part of Neal’s Yard Dairy

I was quite shocked to see the market very quiet. I’ve become very used to it being so crowded and noisy that I’ve avoided it more and more. It was quite empty, other than a ‘hot food’ area that I kept away from. It was very odd to see it this way, although the big plus was that I could take photos with few obstacles. I looked at the fruits and vegetables, the cheeses, sausages, breads, and herbs, and the alcohol kiosks, the giant pan of paella cooking, the fish stands…it’s like a different market, but some things are still familiar.

All I bought was some ‘milk bread’ – I can’t carry a bag anymore because of my crutch. My backpack was full.

Paragraph 5 – I feel so encumbered by everything I have to remember and carry around when I go out – first the Pandemic and then the Knee Contingency. Since I can’t carry my credit cards in my little bag, so they go with my travel card into a pocket in my backpack. However, after so many changes of buses and dealing with increasing pain from the chopping, changing, and extra walking on my journey, I’d become frustrated and put the travel pass in my pocket. Except now it wasn’t there.

I had a flash of hope, that I’d tucked it away after I’d arrived by bus, but every place I looked at while juggling my crutch and mask and phone and camera and the food I’d just purchased was pass-less. It was gone. I walked around, hoping to see it laying somewhere. I went into Neal’s Yard Dairy asking if they had it – no. I decided to do one last walk into the market and on the ground I saw the little granola bar that had been in my pocket with the pass. It struck me someone had left the bar and pocketed the pass. Done!

Time to head to the hospital to find a toilet and meet Krish. My knee hurt quite a lot so I rested outside a rather magnificent building. I wrestled with my phone to take a photo or two but gave up and limped over to Guys.

Funny doughnut names on Borough High Street. I was tempted by the Bruno Mars

John Keats - educational! — John Keats – educational! He was apprenticed to a surgeon in 1811. He broke off the apprenticeship in 1814 and went to London, where he worked as a dresser, or junior house surgeon, at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ hospitals. His literary interests had crystallized by this time, and after 1817 he devoted himself entirely to poetry. He died at 25 – what a life! And I didn’t know about Henry Stephens who was an English doctor, surgeon, chemist, writer, poet, inventor and entrepreneur. At medical school in London he was a friend of, and shared rooms with, poet John Keats, later wrote treatises on hernia and cholera, and conducted experiments to improve writing fluids and wood stains. (Long caption!)

I sat in the Bermondsey Wing café drinking a hot chocolate and feeling a little sorry for myself. I tried to order a new pass online, but the payment option wouldn’t work so I’ll call that a half paragraph in my Chapter.

Paragraph 6 – This would be five paragraphs if I were to tell you everything, but you may be getting tired and I know I am. We grabbed the 343 to head to Whitechapel where Krish would buy some food and I would wait until we could both get the 254 home. Foiled again. Part way along the route, the bus stopped – ‘trouble at Aldgate’ – and we had to walk to the next bus, more walking on my knee (I should give my knee a name, it figures so large in stories these days). A second bus, the 205, over to where Krish would get out and I would wait. When Krish came back with his bags of food our 254 had dropped from 8 minutes to being 28 minutes away. We jumped on the next bus that would take us to the road for the fourth bus heading home…and sailed past where we needed to be, and more walking on my unnamed knee. The fourth bus was annoyingly the 254, having definitely not taken 28 minutes. It crept along – it was rush hour. And the very last leg saw me taking a fifth bus to our door with Krish going ahead on the bus we had been on – he’s more able to walk. I’d paid two fares, since one trip fare is for a maximum of an hour.

So, if you’ve not been adding up, that’s a total of nine buses – close to triple the time it usually takes for the round trip – and a lost travel pass costing me £12. Krish has decided that from now on, he’s going to the hospital alone. Who can blame him? And the anonymous knee feels guiltily pleased.

15th April 202116th April 2021

Guys Hospital – psoriasis adventures

Wednesday, 14 April, 2021

It’s been quite a year for Krish. During his eye ‘adventures,’ which I now realise I haven’t really talked about much, he developed plaque psoriasis.

No one is quite sure what cases psoriasis. Stress is a trigger, but so too is steroid use (from his eye treatment) which also means his vitamin D level was compromised. Darker skinned people naturally have lower vitamin D because of their skin pigmentation. The darker your skin the more protection you have from the sun’s UV radiation, and that protection limits your ability to absorb VitD. Both stress and low VitD contribute to suppressing the immune system. Psoriasis is an immune-driven, hyperactive response.

It started with a small patch and within weeks, it covered his scalp his trunk and legs. Lots of home skin slatherings from several ointments and lotions later, he was referred to Guys Dermatology Centre for some serious treatment. At first he saw a consultant, and the 13th he started in the clinic. I decided to go with him for this appointment. We made plans to go for what looked like a 90-minute session and then do a bit of exploring.

It didn’t quite go that way! More foiled plans…

Guys is about 5 miles away — Guys is about five miles away. We can see the Shard from our window

A bit busier than last time at Liverpool Street Station

More distancing at Liverpool Street Station

There'll be a new Eataly here! — There’ll be a new Eataly here! Outside Liverpool Street Station

Maybe it’s the pandemic and lack of chaos, but I kept noticing things on Bishopsgate that I’ve not seen before. I must have been there hundreds of times, so how could I have overlooked so much?

Fire Brigade Station – above the Tesco store on Bishopsgate

Great Eastern Railway Hotel, now the Andaz

So much to see hear but the appointment time was getting closer, so we got the bus over to London Bridge Station, a stone’s throw from Guy’s Hospital.

Pandemic or not, I’m always excited to see the river. In my travels I’ve realised that I need to live in (or at the edge, at least) of a city but that city must be on a river, by the ocean, or a lake. A coastal city would be ideal for me were I able to afford to live there. Today, circumstances didn’t allow me to gaze at the Thames for too long, but I loved knowing I was there.

Instead, we headed straight for the Dermatology Clinic at Guy’s. First we had to head towards the new London Bridge station entrance, right at the Shard, and down an escalator to St Thomas Street and the beginning of Great Maze Pond – what a great street name!

Bike stand at the station. No rival to Amsterdam bike racks, but this stand would normally be packed with bikes

Looking back at the bus station, London Bridge — Looking back at the London Bridge bus station, where our bus arrived

Ghost town at London Bridge station — It really was a ghost town at the usually all-day busy newly renovated London Bridge station. I need time to explore it all – this is just a small section

The Shard — Outside the station, looking up at the Shard – I can’t see the bottom or the very top

Down to St Thomas Street and straight ahead is Great Maze Pond

The plaque reads ‘The “Maze” Pond, which used to be situated at the southern end of the Guy’s site, was fed by a tributary of the River Thames, now known as ‘Guy’s Creek’. Archaeological excavation of the site has unearthed an early Romano-British boat and Roman timbers edging the creek.
In the Middle Ages farmers from Kent and Surrey used to drive their cattle up to London for sale at Smithfield Market. The fields around the Maze Pond were a focal point where the cattle were grazed and watered.
“Mr Guy’s Hospital for Incurables” was built on this site in 1725. John Rocque’s 1746 Map of London shows the pond still in existence. The local street-names then included “Maze Pond”, ” Little Maze Pond” and “The Maze pond”, which subsequently became Great Maze Pond – the name it still has today.’

The hospital itself has an interesting history as does the Dermatology Centre. The hospital was founded in 1721 by philanthropist Thomas Guy, who had made a fortune as a printer of Bibles and then speculated his money in the South Sea Bubble. At first the hospital was established to treat “incurables” discharged from St Thomas’ Hospital.

The dermatology department is the largest clinical dermatology department in the UK. John Milton founded St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin in 1863. He was a surgeon who suffered from hand eczema so severe it ended his career. His personal experience with skin disease triggered his interest in dermatology. St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin moved to St Thomas’ Hospital in the mid-1980s. Soon after, it was formally renamed St John’s Institute of Dermatology.

At the Derm Centre — Standing on Great Maze Pond with the Shard straight ahead and the entrance to the hospital on my right

Immediate skyline from Guys - the Shard pointing to the sky — Immediate skyline from Guys – the Shard pointing to the sky

There’s not a lot of fuss at Guy’s Hospital compared to my visit to Barts. There are a few banks of hand cleaners and a table with a few people in attendance. No one checked if I had an appointment and no one offered me a new mask, asked me symptoms questions or took my temperature. This surprised me. We went through this casual ‘barrier’ and on to Bermondsey Wing where the Dermatology Centre is.

Again, there’s a simple table and a guard but she doesn’t ask us anything, so Krish checks in at the desk, and we sit down in the atrium waiting area and start looking for Krish’s name to appear on the board.

The quiet waiting area at the Dermatology Clinic

Inside the atrium of the waiting area, and a view of the Shard summit — Inside the atrium from my seat, there’s a lovely view of the top of the Shard

And wait we did. Eventually a nurse came looking for him – his name had never appeared. Off he went, while I waited. After a bit the messages started to arrive

-I’m sitting waiting now
-Totally covered
-Sticky
-Head to toe
-Wrapped head

I thought about this for a minute then I said

-Take a selfie

It occurred to me that social media phobic Krish may not know how to take a selfie, but he did. I’ll spare his dignity and your eyes by not posting those photos here but his treatment will be head to toe emollient, one hour wait, applied pure coal tar (which he described and sounded like a hot wax treatment complete with popsicle sticks), one hour wait, then a shower, then steroid ointment before leaving. He’ll be going back for this three times a week for three weeks (minimum). So, if you get severe psoriasis, expect some or all of the same.

His appointment is five hours and the plan to walk about afterwards is vanishing. Walking painfully with a crutch means I really won’t attempt it alone, but I’m OK. Instead I go for a very short look outside and to try to find a snack. I didn’t find one out there but I did take a look for as long as my legs would carry me. And there’s a lot including a reference to a buried Roman boat under the Cancer Care Centre, and some fantastic ironwork opposite the main entrance. Otherwise, it’s a bland council estate area with nothing remarkable, at first glance anyway. Continue reading “Guys Hospital – psoriasis adventures”

10th April 2021

COVID – Restlessness and Lethargy

Thursday, 8th April, 2021

I think about my blog every day. I think about writing for it every day. A day becomes a week becomes a month. I’m at once restless and lethargic, and how do I come to terms with that?

I’m not exactly sure.

My mother always told me, Janice, you think too much. She was right. What I think most about is other people. Who are they? What are they doing? Why don’t I know them? Where do they live? What do they eat? What are their lives when they are not in front of me, inside my head? Yes, all of that and more.

The short version of the story is I’m not getting out much and I’m not seeing that many people. Lockdowns combined with a deteriorating knee keep me indoors and away from things I normally love to do. I try to think about people who have written whole books while being (what I consider) prisoners of home and even bed. My hat’s off to them. Yes, the stories are still in my head but I lack the motivation. I’ve heard that inspiration is something being taken in, and motivation is about movement – a driving force. Motivation is more closely connected to external stimuli, while inspiration is based on the internal stimuli. I’d say that right now I do feel inspired, but not really motivated. So if I’m not getting out that much, external stimuli are dampened, and the thoughts stay inside my head. So let’s get them out a bit.

I say I haven’t been out much, but I’m blessed by living in an area that is infinitely walkable (even now, and even though that might be limited) and infinitely fascinating. Those who feel at one with nature have a hard time understanding that. In nature I understand the peace and beauty, but as large as the vista might be, it’s harder for me to examine. Where are the people? Maybe I don’t want to face the person who is there – me. Hmm.

Right now ‘me’ is a person who can barely walk. My knee has given up and more than a few minutes on it becomes unbearably painful. Except I do bear it, and don’t want to. I’m doing my best. If I don’t try, then I’m missing out on so many things. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve managed what I could. Now my radius is shrinking and I’ll still do what I can. So let’s look at what I’ve managed to do and think positive and look ahead.

Not in order but a smattering of life chez moi at the moment.

We are still mourning the loss of a favourite haunt, Poetto – a nice pizza and pasta with friendly service. Gone a few months before lockdown. Maybe it was a blessing for them.

Dragon guarding Upper Clapton Road — Krish noticed a dragon standing over a building – now building supplies but we’d love to know what it was before. I’ll keep researching!

Tram Depot — There was apparently a tram depot in Clapton and this is the yard. Nowadays it’s a collection of rental studios for film and photography called Hackney Studios. Notice the ghost sign, centre right.

Tram Store — After the tram depot, we visited Tram Shop. You can normally have a meal here, but right now it’s a general store. We found a few things to buy, none were food.

On the way to The Dusty Knuckle — I wanted to buy something at the Dusty Knuckle in Dalston. By the time I made it there (damn you, bad knee) the shelves were bare. Absolutely everything had sold out. This is the alley leading down to the bakery yard.

Stik in the Curve Garden — I hadn’t been in the Curve Garden for months! It was looking very green and wasn’t too busy. So Melodie and I sat by the Stik wallart and Melodie, who used to be his landlady, sent him texts, unanswered. I’m still a groupie, it seems.

When Krish had his vaccination, we made time to visit Fremont Street, home of my great grandmother and father, and where my maternal grandmother was born. Along the way we saw Five King Edwards Road, once a women’s fashion factory, now fancy flats.

Some elegant stonework. — We think this grand facade was likely the offices for the factory. Such elegant stonework.

6 Fremont Street. My maternal great grandparents lived here. It seems strange that I am now only 1km away from an ancestral home. Strange but fitting.

Nan and her mum — My maternal great grandmother, Phoebe, with my maternal grandmother, Charlotte (looking incredibly like my mum)

Tesco

Tesco Morning Lane. In just one year the world has changed. Shopping is a new experience and sometimes it feels like it was always like this, especially when I see people looking like they are used to it.

Knitting — I have always been a bad needleworker, but I enjoy creating things, watching them take shape. I made these ‘postwoman’s gloves’ from a simple pattern and decorated them. I’ve now made a third pair in light orange.

Stik at Homerton — I went for an XRay on my knee and made sure I stayed a while in front of the Stik mural in one of the courtyards.

Daylight Savings Time — On 28 March the clocks went forward in the UK. The evenings are longer. The trees on Sandringham Avenue will soon be in leaf, and the skies will stay lighter.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have taken cars away from some smaller streets and forced them to the larger streets, like mine. Every day starting around 3pm the parade of cars begins, ending almost four hours later.

29th January 202129th January 2021

A walk in the past and the present

Wednesday, 27th January, 2021

Still strange to see 2021 written down but here it is. I’m finding it hard to think of things to write and staying local means there are fewer photos to spark my imagination. I’m taking them, though. Each one tells a story. So perhaps something newsy isn’t such a bad way to go. Somehow I know that other thoughts must blossom from this.

Today I’m feeling sad and thinking about loss. It’s Holocaust Day and I attended the online Memorial for Hackney. The stories were poignant – I’ve lit a candle. Yesterday I finished watching the series ‘It’s a Sin’ – a mini series about HIV/AIDS in the 80s in the UK. Lots of memories flooded my brain – of my brother in law declining and eventually dying of AIDS, of fleeting friends dying of it in Toronto – it felt like droves, of a friend who died of advanced breast cancer back in the early 1990s when they didn’t save as many women, and of my brother and I helping my dad through his days with pancreatic cancer. So, yes, sad.

Anyway, we are in another lockdown – is that three or four? No end date that I’ve heard of but possibly March, maybe April. Someone muttered ‘Easter.’ In short, who knows? It’s not quiet like last March but it’s quieter than last February so I’ll take what I can get. I order groceries for delivery, fill in with short jaunts to the very local and the somewhat local shops, and I stay in keeping myself busy or at least entertained.

With that in mind, my last exploration walk was a short one that I’d been putting off for some time. It’s a walk along the very short Spurstowe Terrace. I’d been thinking about walking along there for some time. It’s been ages since I did that. The crazy (or not so, really) thing was how different it looks from that last time.

My first question was who was Spurstowe? William Spurstowe lived from 1605–1666) and was a Calvinist clergyman, theologian, and member of the Westminster Assembly. He became vicar of Hackney in 1643. In 1662 the Uniformity Act was introduced and he was one of over 2,000 clergymen who refused to take the oath (the Great Ejection) so was ejected from his parish of Hackney for nonconformity. He remained in Hackney and built six almshouses there, work starting shortly before his death. Those almshouses are behind the Hackney Empire but he owned a great deal of ‘charity land’ in Hackney and I’m not sure if it would have included the space that Spurstowe Terrace occupies. More than likely it did, though, since some of his charity land was along Navarino Road. If you cross Graham Road, walking along Navarino Road, it intersects with Wilton Way and here you’ll find a very nice pub, the Spurstowe Arms. (I didn’t go that far.)

Hackney Downs Station on Dalston Lane at Amhurst Road

To the right of the station is our Tesco Express. If we wanted we could do all our shopping here

Spurstowe Terrace

Spurstowe Terrace off Dalston Lane

A bit of the old peeking through — Much of Spurstowe Terrace is now modern or mid-century. However, behind the constructions and gates and hoarding, I got a peek of this older building. It seems to be an old factory or workshop

Back of Dalston Lane — I was quite fascinated by the smaller back gardens of these houses on Dalston Lane from Spurstowe Terrace.

I found this photo while researching. Doesn’t it look like the Dole Office was right against these houses on Dalston Lane? Those posts and gate have gone, if so

A glimpse of Navarino Mansions — From Spurstowe terrace, a parking area gave me a good view of Navarino Mansions

At the end of Spurstowe Terrace

At the end of Spurstowe Terrace were these housing authority houses – probably mid-century

Modern living but not much of a view. You can just see Navarino Mansions. Wm Spurstowe had charity land on Navarino Road and perhaps here too

I did mention this street is no pretty sight! Would would William think?

Before Christmas they tore up the street in front of the house. It was very noisy and disruptive including the fact that the bus stops on either side of the ride were closed. This made going out shopping or making lighter of short exploration trips more difficult. Just before Christmas they filled everything in and we were back to normal. Not for too long, though. Not long after New Year’s Day back came the barricades and diggers. They closed off the area in front of the house, this time a larger area, and now the street facing down towards the house is also a construction site, no access for vehicles. This will go on until late February, but at least it’s been less noisy. I miss my bus stops!

So on the way home from a short Tesco shopping trip, I walked along most of the construction site and made a video of what I see along my way (red line). Huge apologies and a warning here. I watched this myself and got very seasick. Wearing a mask, carrying a shopping bag, and with my glasses fogged up, I hadn’t accounted for the amount of rocking motion that would be in the video. (And in the beginning, I clearly wasn’t capturing the whole whole view. Oops.) But there is a bonus – a quick side-trip to my closest corner store (so exciting). Anyway, grab your seasick pills or take it in stages!

Enough seasickness?

13th September 202013th September 2020

Hackney Road and Columbia Road – incredible histories

Thursday, 8 September, 2020

Every now and again I take a walk down Hackney Road. It was on my list of places to revisit and Krish suggested adding in Columbia Road on a non-market day. Add to that my increasing ‘need’ for Vietnamese food and we had a deal.

Home at the top and the areas I visited at the bottom of the map

My route along Hackney Road and Columbia Road. It was slightly twistier than this but it’s close enough. It felt like a long way

The days are shorter and the temperature is staying in the 17 to 20C range. It suits me well. Any warmer than 23 and I’m not so happy being out for long walking. There’s an added layer to being out these days. The kids have gone back to school. In the mornings and around 3:30, the buses and roads get much busier. I’ve read that they are suggesting as many students as possible ride bikes or walk to school and stay off public transport. While this must be happening, it’s also true that car traffic has increased. There must be a lot of parents driving students to school and, at peak times, there’s a lot of stop and go traffic outside the window.

At any rate, added to the ‘Covid caveats’ of avoid the post office on a Friday and Monday, stay away from the supermarket on the weekend, don’t walk on the Narrow Way unless you have no choice, I’m adding don’t travel on the buses till after 10am or between 3:15 to 4pm.

Look how many buses on Dalston Lane by The Pembury! This is almost as bad as it usually gets on Oxford Street. They increased the number of buses for the returning students

We missed most of the buses but then one showed up and we got in as far as Cambridge Heath Station. That’s where Hackney Road begins. Hackney Road is thought to follow a prehistoric route and into the 1700s was farmland with very few homes. During the 19th century this changed dramatically, as commercialisation became more the norm, and it took on a very urban look.

Before we set out we explored Clare Street, which runs along the Cambridge Heath railway arches. We had a little chat with some guys in the motorcycle shop. They reported business was quiet.

Motorcycle shop under the arches at Clare Street

There's always a lot of art on Clare Street

We took a little walk back towards Hackney Road again passing new and old buildings and some which seemed a mix.

This building looked like they’d built modern stories on top of the original house

The old-new building turned out to be the ex Duke of Cambridge. Krish pointed out that was at Cambridge Heath and that was how it was named

The last time we went down Hackney Road, we hadn’t enjoyed it as much as usual so this time we wandered slightly off the road and looked at what was around the corners. There were some cool discoveries along the way.

This has been a hotel for a while and now it’s a Mama Shelter. This chain calls itself an urban refuge – lively, unique and quirky There are hotels in 12 cities and 7 countries

Colourful houses on Pritchard's Road — Colourful houses on Pritchard’s Road, and the east end hold-out, Billy’s Cafe

Old council flats on Coate Street. The balconies seemed random

Lovely old Charrington's Pub on Coate Street — Lovely old Charrington’s Pub on Coate Street. Around here there would have been pubs on almost every corner

We also came across two very interesting buildings as we turned back to Hackney Road. On the corner with Garnet Street is the former Adelphi Chapel School date “1853, enlarged 1868”. This was a missionary school with 30 pupils built as a day and Sunday school, but also used as a chapel. And then we saw a baby blue building and couldn’t decide if it was cool or just ugly. It turned out to be a significant building. Built for £300,000 in 2002, FAT’s Blue House is a live-work house with an over-emphasised street-facing façade. The practice considers it to be one of the most important houses of the 21st century, or so the FAT website says.

Adelphi Chapel School building

The plan to divert occasionally was working out really well, but we were back on the main road and headed towards Columbia Road. At Goldsmith’s Row, there are two more treasures. First the old Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital. Also known as the North-Eastern Hospital for Sick Children, it was founded in 1867 and admitted 10,000 patients each year. For years we would walk past this then-derelict building. It was large and sombre. Then one day we noticed it was going to be developed into new flats. I seem to remember feeling a bit crestfallen that the blackened historical building would be gone. It’s not so bad, though.

It’s called Mettle & Poise, and was a sell-out success, with every new home sold off plan two years before the completion of the redevelopment in 2017.

On the other side from the old hospital (now M&P) is the lovely wooded Hackney City Farm. It was established in 1984 as a community and educational resource and to give borough residents, particularly young people, experience of animals. There’s a farmyard, area for grazing, garden and a tree nursery with butterfly house. The farm is home to a range of animals, including poultry, sheep, rabbits, bees, pigs and a donkey. Hackney City Farm also runs workshops and sells honey and free range eggs, among other things. A city oasis.

As you can probably tell, this is another area of Hackney (bordering on Tower Hamlets) that was overwhelming to read about. I’ve done my best!

There was one more stop for us before we found Columbia Road – the Phlegm mural on the Portuguese Love Affair cafe.

The Phlegm wall art in Ion Square on the Portuguese Love Affair Cafe building

Continue reading “Hackney Road and Columbia Road – incredible histories”