On Sunday morning, Krish brought up the idea of getting on a bus and going somewhere. He said maybe it would be quiet on the buses and we could wander around The City on a peaceful day. The City is dead out of office hours as a rule but surely now it would be even deader. I thought about it for a little while and then said yes, let’s go.
We took the 242, which goes along Kingsland Road, then turns down Commercial Street at Shoreditch High Street Station. We sailed past a very splendid new Dan Kitchener geisha art piece but stayed on until we went one more stop, where the crowd – if there is one – will have dissipated. And out we got.
We walked back a little bit to Christ Church, where I’d seen a cattle trough. I’ve taken lots of photos of the church but this time it was the trough and drinking fountain that caught my eye. The church itself was the first of three that Hawksmoor built between 1714-1729 and for me, it’s the landmark that dominates the area.
The trough and fountain are lovely. They were put there by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association, set up in London during the 19th century to provide free drinking water.
A drinking fountain and cattle trough installed by the Metropolitan Cattle Trough and Drinking Fountain Association outside Christ Church, SpitalfieldsThere aren’t so many red phone boxes left and most have no phones inside or are used by the homeless. This one is pretty derelictArt at Christ Church, Spitalfields. These two have been here a long time undisturbed
We decided to get off the main street to head towards The Gherkin. I’ve walked along Toynbee Street many times but never past Middlesex Street. We saw very few people, but there were a few stalls set up at the top near Commercial Street.
On the old and crumbling street, Mambow restaurant was a very pretty sightPast Middlesex Street, Toynbee Street becomes Old Castle Street and the new is crowding out the Old. Along here are some buildings belonging to the London Metropolitan University
I had somehow never seen the facade of these old wash houses. They were originally Whitechapel Public Baths, built in the 1850s, and now housing the Frederick Parker Collection
Why Christmas in July? Is it that cold? Well, it has actually been quite cool up till today. We’ve even had the heat on sometimes, but today is a hot one, 27C – very warm for London. And I can’t open the window for some reason. It’s not too bad, though.
Well, see the last photo for the reason for the name of this blog entry.
I’ve taken some photos in the last few weeks so here goes with the mini stories behind them.
Two doors on what must have workers’ cottages on Seal Street or April Street, on the way to the doctor’s office. The owners of this land still have streets and areas named after themInside the doctor’s office, gone are all the rows of chairs and instead there are some widely spaced chairs – maybe five in all. I sat alone waiting to see a doctor. The door was firmly closed and I was admitted after giving my name over the intercom, and instructed to use hand sanitiser on my way in.In the middle of a pandemic, a plumber visit is something else! Hours of sitting with a mask on, hoping he wouldn’t need to use the toilet (he did) and wondering if it was rude not to offer him a cup of tea.The little things can make you smile. Like this marked down Cornish pasty that served as lunch that day. I love a bargain.Not everyone really cares about staying away from others. It’s worrying but almost heartening at the same time – looks so ‘normal.’
Things can seem dire at times. Lockdown was eased up. Twice. Yet infections are rising. I get confused, decide they do what they want and it’s probably all arbitrary, but there’s nothing to do but follow my instincts and hope for the best. My instincts tell me to stay close to or at home whenever possible. No reason to do otherwise most of the time really. A few times, though, I have ventured out. Last week I even went outside of Hackney for the first time.
There doesn’t seem a lot to say either, since days blur into each other in terms of what I do and manage to achieve. However, I’m still taking photos and these remind me that life isn’t just one big Same Old Same Old after all. So let’s see where the photos take us.
This rare Victorian post (pillar) box is one of two in Stoke Newington. Stoke Newington is home to two rare hexagonal “Penfold” pillar boxes, which are Grade II listed. They are named after its designer John Wornham Penfold, and installed between 1866 and 1878. We found it on a longer walk than I’d planned back in the last days of June. While my legs weren’t happy, it was lovely to see some things I may have seen before but forgotten about.
I liked the lettering on this house near the pillar box. I need someone to translate it for me, though.I spotted some capers in this little shop and cafe. I also saw some great looking bread so I queued and got both.I’ve meant to look into this, but the truth is that I have nowhere to plant the seeds. I love wildflowers and the idea of bees and beehives and honey, despite my fear of being stungI’m always attracted to shops that do things like this. I think I’d like to this eclectic, this quirky, this surprisingButterfield Green, small and hidden away in the back streets of Stoke NewingtonI like these houses on Church Walk, the pedestrian way with no homes opposite. It makes it feel like a secretWe found allotments behind an iron barred fence. I’ve always wanted one but doubt I could manage it any more. I’d go for a rooftop terrace with some lovely planters full of herbs, some vegetables, and flowers. Happy!Choudhury is apparently a prolific Thai restaurateur and chef. I have yet to find out who Paulo Remedios isThere are never any words for stories like this. Tragic pandemic loss of life and a beloved old cobbler shop at Newington GreenThe Newington Green cobbler shop where Kamil Ahmet and his son, Ahmet Kamil, worked. They were both victims of Covid-19. The cobblers is in the oldest surviving terraced houses in London. Built in 1658, they are at 52-55 Newington Green
This is a mostly pictorial view of today’s Hackney. Things look a little different and everyone seems mostly fine with it. Adjusting to the ‘new normal’ is going well, or so we hope.
Reminders at the parkJust remember to pee before you get hereExtra reminders at ground levelIf you’re Haredi, this may make it clearer
Signs of hope are always niceAnd those of encouragement
We decided to go to Hackney Wick to see how things were progressing there. Hackney Wick is an artist’s community, with an overground station, near the Olympic Park at Stratford. It’s always been a mass of old buildings, factories, industrial parks, and warehouses and over time the artists and visitors have littered every wall, every door with art.
At one time, the art was glorious. Those days seem to be gone. A new entrance to the overground station has changed the orientation of the area and it confuses me. In the process of the change – where homes and factories have been torn down, the art has been sacrificed. As well, the old station entrance, which was always a bit of a dump, hasn’t been torn down yet. The day we arrived, we saw that several of the new buildings had been completed, the fancy office buildings, the luxury flats with names that were supposed to recall the area’s heritage – The Bagel Factory, Stonemasons Yard, Ceramic Works – they’re highly priced in this obviously deprived area. I wondered how many would just be owned rather than lived in. It made me that familiar mixture of curious, excited and sad to think about it and we cut our walk short since Krish was now motivated by the nearby Well Street Fish and Chips.
A rather ghostly and scribble-littered Hackney Wick – The new, the old, and the very quietA car crash in Hackney Wick near the estate. I didn’t photograph the onlookers. Notice more construction
A visit to the little Tesco and another to Lidl, then on to Vietnamese Supermarket.
We’d passed Lennox House on Cresset Road, approaching Well Street. The architectural notes read ‘These flats were built in 1936-7 to the designs of J E M MacGregor for Bethnal Green and East London Housing Association. There are 35 flats. The three bedroom flats were on the first floor, one bedroom flats on the top floor and two bedroom flats on the other levels. The original idea was that the central portion of the building beneath the stepped flats should be used as a covered market. The income from this would be used to subsidise the rents of the flats above. However, during the building period, land in the area was designated for residential use only. The Housing Association was also committed to providing a garden for each flat (apart from those on the ground floor).’ We noticed local brewery barrels on the main floor – did they brew in here, or just store the barrels? I think just store.
Lennox House, by Well Street, is a fantastic buildingThese balconies seem well-suited to creating the towering gardens we saw in Turin and MilanThe original plaqueBarrels from the 40ft brewery- a Dalston success storyAt the bottom of Cresset Road, Well Street is under construction – how long till this gentrifies completely?
And then, on the bus home, I discovered I didn’t have my bus pass. I looked through my entire bag and checked all my pockets. It was gone. The pass office told me that it would cost £12 to replace it but that my renewal was due to be sent out. I decided to wait and pay full price until it arrived.
I was going alone to see A Passage to India at the Tower Theatre that night so I left early and visited Lidl and the Vietnamese supermarket first – no pass had been found. I phoned the Tesco and the fish and chip shop – no pass. I was scuttled.
The play was very good. I’d seen the Masterpiece Theatre series years ago. My memory of it was nothing like the play I saw. I enjoyed the fact actual Indian actors were playing those roles. I felt that British imperialism was probably fairly represented too. The xenophobia, the bigotry, the superior attitude, the refusal to accept something different by considering it unclean, barbaric. un-Christian so heathen…and the fear. Each side underestimated the other really. And at the end the anger was real.
