Shopping – slightly weird

17th July 202417th July 2024

When a highlight is a lowlight

Sunday, July 14, 2024

It was a pretty quiet week, the highlight being a bit of a lowlight.

(Restaurant review alert…)

That was going out for dinner the day after Krish’s birthday. We chose a Philipino restaurant we’d thought about for a while now. We’ve not liked the idea of this cuisine but then enjoyed the Philipino fast food we’ve had so were going for a real restaurant this time. I think we should have stuck to the fast food counters! We chose one prix fixe and one a la carte item. We started with grilled oysters, buttery and cheesy. I liked them. This was followed by a skimpy belly pork with some rice and a vinegary cucumber and tomato salad (more like a relish) and some sizzling kalbi ribs. The cassava and coconut cake finish was sweet and interesting. We enjoyed the kalbi ribs the most but at $26 we might have done better at the Korean place across the street and had some banchan to round it out. On top of this, the meats were dripping with grease and I ruined my new favourite top.

Pork belly with rice and tomato and cucumber salad

Cassava and coconut cake served in a banana leaf

However, silver lining, we got OUT. Was nice being adults for the evening. And this week we are going back to Batibot the Philipino food counter down the street for some adobo pork – lots of it at a fraction of the price. (Well, I think we are.)

Not much happened until Saturday and that was a thrilling walk to a bargain supermarket down the street. Freshco has cheaper prices but we go there mainly because they have a lot of ethnic food on sale, like freezers full of Chinese dumplings, Korean noodles, Indian snacks and meals.

To get to the Freshco we have to walk under the railway bridge at Dufferin Street. I dread that bit of the journey but it’s the only way. To think how much I enjoyed walking through the Blackwall Tunnel and the underpass to the Isle of Dogs when I was a child. Now walking through these longer tunnels are somewhat terrifying. At least no trains thundered overhead.

At the east end of the tunnel is an engraved plaque that confuses many Torontonians since there is already a Queen Street subway station on the Yonge-University line. This, however, is the name of the tunnel – subway meaning underpass.

Once through the tunnel, Gladstone House, now a hotel greets you. It’s Toronto’s longest continuously operating hotel Built in 1889, it has traditional light hardwood floors, restored exposed brick walls and works by local artists throughout the building.

By the Freshco is Island Foods, a popular Trinidadian roti shop In 1974, the first Island Foods. This isn’t the original location, of course. That was opened in Ruth and Ramasar Sawh, who arrived in Canada in 1968 with no previous restaurant experience, but with a desire to build a bright future for their family. Krish knows them well and we go by sometimes for their doubles and roti.

Shepard Fairey (@obeygiant) art by the Freshco

I finished The Giver of Stars. I’d tried it twice before and not got very far before abandoning it. This time I stuck with it and, although the Kentucky mountain accents put me off at first, I quickly began to enjoy the character and story development. It got very gritty towards the end and that surprised me. Recommended. After that heavier-than-my-usual read, I started a fluffy romance from Christina Lauren, whose books are fun to read if you don’t mind her common themes and frequent forays into soft-almost-hard pornographic paragraphs. Denise has sent me the entire audiobook of The Perfect Mother (Caroline Mitchell) so @Denise (hi!) , OK I will but you now have to promise to read a Jojo Moyes in return – unwritten law.

I have a very busy week coming up. I’m seeing a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist ( on the same day) a consultation for lens replacement, and getting a phone call from the Women’s College Breast Centre, as well going to lunch with my sister.

The fasting is going OK. Most days I can make it till noon, but there are definitely some rough patches. If I don’t make it a religion and circumstances allow, I’ll continue. Do I feel any different? I don’t think so. However, I am thinking about meals, mostly out. Where should I go next? Well, there’s lunch with Ruth but maybe also somewhere else. Thinking.

Stay tuned, I guess.

29th January 20231st February 2023

Gaia – “My Earth” exhibit and a flying visit to Borough Market

Friday, October 14, 2022

October 14 is our anniversary. We usually go somewhere to eat, but I find unless we’ve booked it, it often doesn’t happen. We did make an attempt though, looking for a roast or even just a cream tea somewhere.

We were well into our clearing out and packing days during our anniversary week. I’d say that we wouldn’t ordinarily choose to go to London Bridge for such an occasion but I’d booked a couple of months earlier to go see the Gaia My Earth exhibit at Southwark Cathedral. The cathedral is somewhere that we’ve always loved and the place Krish had met our close friend Emma and her husband many years earlier.

Anyway, I’d been wanting to see the Gaia and London Bridge and the cathedral ticked a bunch of boxes so we were going.

Looking down on Southwark cathedral from London Bridge

There’s no way to avoid the crammed passage of eating places bordering Borough Market when you climb down from the bridge

The cathedral is at the edge of the market and there was the usual well-organised entry path. No one asked to look at our tickets so in we went.

Then as you clear the entrance, there floats Gaia.

Gaia was created by UK artist Luke Jerram. It’s a suspended, revolving seven metre diameter model of earth. The artwork has been touring around the world for some time. In Greek Mythology Gaia is the personification of the Earth

There’s also audio – music and voices, including many who are at once awed and fearful of our earth and its future. The model wants to create more respect and responsibility for each other and our planet.

As large as it is, this Earth is “1.8 million times smaller than the real Earth with each centimetre of the internally lit sculpture describing 18km of the Earth’s surface. By standing 211m away from the artwork, the public will be able to see the Earth as it appears from the moon.”.

The atmosphere in the cathedral was hushed. People stood and watched it, some walking around to view it from all sides. At one point a group of school children were escorted in and each one gasped at seeing it for the first time because, yes, it’s very impressive. The backdrop of the cathedral was quite lovely. I’d actually like to have seen it in dimmer light.

The cathedral has some great artefacts scattered about, items that have been found and kept from its earlier days. Originally called St Mary Overie, then St Saviours, there’s been a church here since the early 12th century, but over the years it has been added to and restored. It became a cathedral in 1905. Since Shakespeare lived in Southwark, he also has a memorial here – a statue and stained glass window – so many visitors think he is buried here. He isn’t but his brother Edmund who died in 1607 at the age of 27 is. Each year on Williams’s birthday there’s a memorial celebration here in the cathedral. I’ve never managed to be there for it.

When I came to London in 2002, I’d often go to Borough Market. I loved walking along from St Pauls, over the Millennium Bridge and eastwards from the Tate Gallery – my favourite part was between the Globe Theatre and London Bridge so took in all of the market. Over the years the market has become busier and more trendy, with more and more cooked food stalls popping up. This is true of most markets but it changes the ambience and attracts more crowds of young people. It’s still fun to go there when it’s not so crowded and I tend to stick to the shops in the surrounding streets, like Neals Yard Dairy. I really do try to stay away during lunch hours and weekends.

The very modern Shard presides over the very old market

It was one of those days when nothing appealed in the way of food. We checked out some menus and turned away. We looked at the menu for Roast, inside the market, but again turned away. I grabbed a sausage roll for the bus home and I no longer remember what we ate that night but I think someone still owes me an anniversary dinner!

25th January 202327th January 2023

Things I needed to do – Liberty and the Elizabeth Line

Monday, 24 October, 2023

It was almost crazy to think about doing anything during the last week in London. We were absolutely snowed under and stressed out with everything we needed to do, but we had promised each other that we would try to get away from all the work once or twice a week, even if just for an hour or two.

When Krish asked me what things I needed to do before leaving, I thought first about Liberty. And then I thought about the new Elizabeth underground line which had just opened. I didn’t want to leave without seeing it.

It’s just two stops from Liverpool Street to Tottenham Court Road, the closest station to Liberty. The Bond Street station would have worked, but it hadn’t opened yet. With more time I’d have travelled to Paddington.

The Elizabeth line opened for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I was excited to see it and hadn’t wanted to go in the first week or so when everyone else would be flocking to it. Liverpool Street had a separate entrance for the line on Old Broad Street and we’d walked past and photographed it many times when it was being built so it was easy enough to find.

Leaving Liverpool Street by the Broadgate exit and heading towards the Elizabeth Line entrance

The corridors are long once you’ve gone through the turnstiles. I was wishing for a moving walkway

The platform was like the Jubilee Line and we thought of Torino, which has a similar system with gates lining the platform instead of an open track

The carriage seats are large and clean and felt more comfortable than on other lines. The colours are grey and purple

Once out of the station we made our way through Soho towards Carnaby Street. We were feeling nostalgic and happy to be out. The sky was a beautiful blue that day and lifted our spirits as we walked along.

Soho has been weird in the last several years. Somehow, despite the money that must have poured into the area, it’s become a little sadder and more rundown for a while. There’s a bunch of construction – the roads, some buildings – and I wonder if I will ever see it finished. The rundownness is part of its charm of course, and it’s filled with history and memories, and so I still love it and its ability to get me a bit lost no matter how many times I’ve been there. That day we were just weaving our way through past street art, chaotic popculture shopfronts and Berwick Street Market with little time to spare on our way to Liberty.

Liberty, a London luxury, is a sharp contrast to the often shabby back streets of Soho. But it also backs onto Carnaby Street and, along with the rest of the world, in 1960s London I loved any excuse to at least window shop there. Carnaby Street isn’t the untidy jumble of independent shops it used to be. Now it’s full of midrange franchises with only a touch of the bohemian and bizarre. It is a passage that feels transitional, merging beatnik Soho gently into Regent Street splendour.

The back door of Liberty on Carnaby Street

Liberty is a department store in central London off Regent Street, the West End. It’s iconic and beautiful – a faux Tudor style building. When I was a teenager and able to travel into town on my own, Liberty was top of my list at Christmas time. I’d head for the basement. Down there you could find magical, gorgeous stationery and cards and wrapping paper. On the ground floor, which is overlooked by mahogany balconies each one leading to small rooms of goods, I’d buy small things but never any of the richly coloured and patterned silks. I could never afford those. Once I bought two pairs of small silver scissors and some peg dolls. Lovely things. When a friend of mine visited London and brought back a small silk Liberty print scarf for me, I gasped. I still treasure it. When my brother’s mother in law was downsizing and parting with many of her scarves, he asked me if I wanted any. ‘Anything Liberty,’ I said, without hesitation.

From the front of Liberty you can already guess you are in for something a little different. When I was younger I was fooled by its Tudor look, thinking it very old and historic. In fact, it’s about 100 years old, built in 1922. You can read about how it came to be built on the store page. Just a teaser so you can understand the abundance of wood and why it has a much older air: “. In 1922, the builders Messrs Higgs & Hill were given a lump sum of £198,000 to construct it, which they did from the timbers of two ancient ‘three-decker’ battle ships.”

Every time I go through the lobby, which reminds me of a fine hotel and often has a florist in place, it just about takes my breath away. The polished mahogany trim, balconies, and staircases throw off an air of luxury and indulgence.

There are lifts (or just one?) leading upstairs but I like walking up the stairs. It feels like I am inside a country manor but, now I know the history, a large ship or ocean liner. The upper floors have rooms leading off from the balcony, each small and housing small but lavish collections of things. That day I covered just one small section so that I could peek inside, check out the freestanding racks of designer clothing – I only once looked at the price tags and…never again – and take a photo or two looking down to the main floor.

We set off again, through the arch and over to Regent Street, down to Piccadilly Circus, bus to Tottenham Court Road and back to Liverpool Street on the Elizabeth line.

And home. When we arrived at Hackney Downs from Liverpool Street (eight minutes away) I thought, this could be the last time I’m on this platform, so I stood a minute. And it was…for this time.

I’m grateful now that I chose Liberty for ‘my last look.’ While the west end used to delight me, a special treat, it hasn’t factored into my list of things to do in London for years. Yet Liberty lingers, and I will never tire of it.

(Afterthought – I’m on catch-up here. I’ve skipped editing duties. The photos are sometimes overexposed, sometimes in too much shadow, and some are my usual slanted view (I lean). My habit is to ‘point, click, and pray.’ It suits my lopsided stance and limited ability to stand, balance, or wait around generally. The important thing is to capture the moment as it is, no excuses. Could you tell? If there are duplicates, let me know.)

14th February 202222nd February 2022

Going west – Belgravia

Monday, 14 February, 2022

I took a rest day on Valentine’s Day. It’s just a coincidence that I took that particular day. However, it occurred to me that if we did something we might end up eating something nice, somewhere.

The winter has been pretty grey with lots of rain, but on Valentine’s Day, although it wasn’t sunny, it wasn’t raining either. We decided that it might be a good day to take the number 38 bus all the way to the end – from Hackney to Victoria. It’s a well-known route. We’ve done it many times before, but typically we get off when we reach Shaftesbury Avenue, a street which runs parallel to Oxford Street – one one side is Soho, and on the other Chinatown. Lively in every direction. Going to Victoria takes you along fancy Piccadilly and past even fancier Park Lane, and into Buckingham Palace territory.

Full 38 bus route map from Hackney (Clapton Pond) to Victoria

First off, the photos seem lacklustre – because of the grey – or maybe I’m wrong, They all I have so they’re going here anyway. Secondly, I thought it might be interesting to show how the terrain changes as you move west, and I’m not sure I achieved that but here goes, anyway. All taken from the top of the bus, through the dirty window, but not too bad!

I took this photo on Balls Pond Road in Dalston. A typical East end main road row of houses

Leaving Balls Pond Road, the bus goes down Essex Road, where things start to space out a bit and there are more blocks of flats rather than just houses

At Angel the characteristic N1 Georgian architecture asserts itself. Things are looking more upscale already

Leaving Islington, you arrive on Rosebery Road, Clerkenwell, where you’ll see the art deco awning for the old Finsbury Town Hall. The inside is described as opulent, a mix of art nouveau, baroque and art deco. Building began in 1894.

With Mount Pleasant Post Office on one side and Exmouth Market on the other, this has always felt like the beginning of the west end, which is the centre of London. In fact it has a central post code, EC1

Feeling more central now, as you pass Gray’s Inn, Gray’s Inn is one of the four Inns of Court which have the exclusive right to call men and women to the Bar of England and Wales. The inn has existed for more than 600 years, but these buildings date mostly from between 1669 and 1774. Now we’re officially west, post code WC1

The Fryer's Delight — Leaving Gray’s Inn Road, you’re in Bloomsbury. It stands at the edge of the west end, just before you hit the shopping areas

Passing Holborn Station, looking more like the west end now. Here’s where they announced bus stop closures and a diversion ahead.

The bus diversion announcement told us after our next stop, ,Tottenham Court Road, we’d be going down Charing Cross Road, around Trafalgar Square, and up to Piccadilly Circus. A detour can be annoying but this one was nice – a scenic route for once. I can’t promise the route is accurate on the map. Maps and I aren’t good friends.

Along Charing Cross Road it feels very west-endish

Feeling like a tourist as we pass Trafalgar Square

In the very centre at the back of the photo is the very grand Admiralty Arch. It has some awful hoarding in front of it. One of my favourite views ruined…for now

Passing Waterloo Place — Waterloo Place, as we passed by it. Always always impressive and grand

Speeding along Piccadilly and barely managed a photo of The Royal Academy

Google tells me that this is the Royal Air Force Club – we are by Marble Arch and Hyde Park

Buckingham Palace stop — It seemed like the height of posh to be nearing a bus stop called Buckingham Palace. The bus doesn’t stop near there. Nothing does. But it did mean we were a hop away from our destination

And we were there. It had taken about an hour and a half, including the detour, but just one bus from door to door. We
were ready to explore Belgravia.

Continue reading “Going west – Belgravia”

7th February 202219th February 2022

Revisits – where do I go?

Monday, 7 February, 2022

I must confess to wanting to see somewhere different. Lately, I’ve been returning to old haunts, though. I have many trips in mind, but the pandemic hasn’t let go of us. I’m not sure where it will land us, but for now I’m just not keen to go too far. I have a birthday coming up in just a month and, while Krish talks about travelling a few hours to get a perfect Chinese meal, my sights are set closer to home. There must be something wrong with me! Or maybe not.

Before the pandemic we would go away at least a few times. That year, 2019, it was trips to see my aunts in Southend, an overnight to Leicester, six weeks in Toronto, a few days each in Glasgow and in Pembrokeshire. There may have been others. There must have been. Now Krish talks about revisiting Porto, Budapest, Torino, perhaps a new place – Istanbul, Valencia, Copenhagen… we’ve bounced the idea of Warsaw, of Marrakesh, Sicily… With the pandemic on our minds, we thought about the UK and there are still places that are on my list but untried – Nottingham, Colchester, Norwich..

Both aunts have died now. It takes me a while to let that sink in. I dreaded those journeys each time and always knew they would inevitably end. Now they have. Our Two Together rail discount card lies idle. At least it really helped with our couple of trips to Southend earlier, and to Sheffield and Leicester. When the weather turns warmer, there will hopefully be more.

And close to home we’ve stayed for the most part. Krish’s hospital visits meant I could explore alone or with him in areas that I didn’t know very well. Now he’s not going very often so revisits to closer familiar places are the ticket They’re an opportunity to find something different and have one of those why-did-I-never-notice-that-before moments. Somehow there’s always at least one. It surprises every time.

It worries me, when I consider returning to Toronto, that I can’t have nearly as many of those moments in a city built on a grid system and where there’s a certain uniformity of architecture. My friend, Esmeralda, once described it (after returning from her travels) as homogenous. I’d definitely have to adapt and be more willing to walk further and dig deeper.

So here’s a look at the familiar places I’ve visited in the last couple of weeks.

I took Krish to see Wood Street. It’s only a few stops away so an easy journey. I wanted to check out the Mexican Homies on Donkeys so we headed over to the Wood Street Market that had been closed when I was last there, before Christmas. The market is an indoor arcade filled with jumbled little kiosks and rooms. A notice at the entrance told us that this used to be The Crown Cinema, from 1912 to 1956 and is now a haven for antique and record collectors. I took photos of some of the colourful little shops inside.

The visit to Homies on Donkeys was to taste a taco or two and buy a bag of corn tortillas – so hard to find in London. I decided that I would taste the tacos first before investing in a bag of 40 tortillas. The choices weren’t ones I’d have ordinarily bought but I chose a milder chicken and a spicier pork one. Both tasted strongly of chipotle, and the extra guacamole I ordered was runny like a salad dressing. Not a bad taco but not a great one. I left without buying the tortillas.

Down the street we came across two Palestinian places. Only later did I think that maybe I could have taken some falafels home. We kept walking – I’d seen a sign that the William Morris House was close by so we aimed to walk there. It just wasn’t clear where or how far it was so we turned on our heels back to the station instead.

We had a run into Whitechapel. Krish wanted lentils, I wanted dumplings, and it was time for more samosas. I’d seen an ad for dumplings – three bags for 9.99 – at a store in Whitechapel that looked like it was new. As soon as we reached our stop, Krish decided he could do without the lentils – cross that off the list, then. Instead we went looking for the dumpling place. It’s called Tian Tian Market and it’s in the new complex near Aldgate East Station, where Guan (the supper club guy) lives. That store was so tidy! And spacious.

Whitechapel has a curious mix of architecture. Sometimes it’s very modern, sometimes it’s very old. Sometimes it’s a jumble of styles that make no sense.

It would be interesting to be able to see into the future and know what the area will look like, perhaps in fifty years from now. I have no doubt some of the old will remain, but I really think it will be unrecognisable. Continue reading “Revisits – where do I go?”