slightly weird

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.

1st February 20212nd February 2021

Vaccinated!

Monday, 1st February, 2021

Today was historic for me. I had my first Covid vaccination. I’ll confess I hadn’t wanted to be one of the first in line for it. It feels too new and untested, but I also knew deep down that I would probably be just fine with doing it when invited. My invitation came by text on Tuesday, I phoned my doctor’s office on Wednesday morning and they offered me today (Monday) at 12:10pm. I was on!

If you’re still waiting and want to know what it’s like…Pictorial essay follows!

Bocking Street Vaccine Centre — I had the choice of two vaccination centres. I chose Bocking Street, which is at the back of Mare Street Market. The building didn’t inspire much

Queue for vaccines — There was a short queue waiting to get in. We were met at the door and asked the usual health questions and had our temperature taken and hands sanitised. We then went through a second check. I asked if Krish could get a vaccine as my carer and was told to try when I reached the window. They were very nice, but said ‘not today’

Waiting room — Inside the centre, I got a seat among others with plexiglass between each one. I had an entry ticket number that they jokingly referred to as my raffle ticket. Krish was allowed in with me all the way

Vaccination Centre Cleaner — There was one person doing cleaning at the centre. She diligently cleaned every chair, in every area after each person, seldom resting. Hats off to her!

Waiting room, Vaccination Centre — We waited on our chairs, plastic shields between each one

So what was it like, getting the vaccine? I was sent into the main room which had many cubicles. They told me walk straight ahead where I saw a doctor waiting, masked. His badge read ‘Declan’ and he told me his name, which I sadly forget.

Declan explained to me about the vaccine and asked me a few questions. He then asked me if I had any questions of my own. I told him that, despite everything, I always worried somewhat about having an allergic reaction and he reassured me that if I had never had one, it was extremely unlikely. He explained things as if he were doing it for the first time – simply and warmly. I appreciated that. He prepared the syringe and stood beside me and I waited for the ‘sharp, short pain’ he promised. Then he said ‘OK, it’s done.’ I was actually shocked. I hadn’t felt anything at all and thought I hadn’t had it yet. I told him so and he said ‘It’s not about skill. It’s hit and miss if I hit a pain receptor spot.’ I thanked him and headed off for the assessment waiting room, where I would wait fifteen minutes.

Post vaccination waiting area — After getting our vaccine, we waited again for fifteen minutes to make sure we were well enough to leave. Note the cleaner again (on the right)

Continue reading “Vaccinated!”

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?

28th December 2020

Sneaking out of the house – Christmas Lights 2020

Sunday, 27 December, 2020

Well, here it is, almost the end of the most unusual year ever – the same year I’d anticipated back in January, thinking that 2020 must be perfect after all (a reference to vision).

We are now in our third lockdown and this is the most serious, serious enough that they created a whole new label for it – Tier 4. This means ‘you must stay home’ but it seems like quite a few aren’t listening. This is no big surprise.

Last weekend I did a lovely virtual Christmas lights tour with Look up London and really enjoyed it. I did this tour because I thought I wouldn’t be able to do one in person. However, yesterday it was a dry day and I had the idea that maybe with lockdown in place and no Boxing Day sales, just maybe I might go down and see some lights for myself. So off we went.

The bus wasn’t busy and we felt pretty safe. It was the first time I’d been into the west end since last year at Somerset House. Along the way, I was trying to remember the way – what were we going to pass by and see on what would a year ago have been a familiar journey. What follows is a great many photos, I think, with some narrative.

There were very few on the bus, with the traffic lights lending a Christmassy feeling

There was a very light rain so things were shiny and sparkly and, with not much traffic, and not many stops requested, we sped to Tottenham Court Road in a little over 20 minutes.

James Smith & Sons umbrella shop marks the approach to Oxford Street

My plan was to get off near Fortnum and Mason, back over to Piccadilly Circus, up Regent Street and into Soho, Chinatown and home again. It’s much less than I’d really like to do but it’s important to allow for the journey home and not need a rest or the toilet.

To get to Fortnum and Mason, you have to go through Piccadilly Circus, and Piccadilly Circus is just about the busiest intersection in London – that and Oxford Circus. It was less quiet and busy than usual, but still bustling compared to elsewhere. They’ve put in extra walking space and there are more bicycles than I usually see but just as many buses in the same London-narrow space.

Fortnum and Mason is a very posh place. It’s been here since 1707, and it stands for luxury. Hugh Mason ran a small store and met an entrepreneur called William Fortnum, whose family were high class builders reinvigorating Mayfair in the wake of the Great Fire. The partnership evolved. When I can get inside again, I’ll say more. For now, I’ll just say that it’s Christmas eye candy.

This extraordinary year F&M are featuring windows from their 313 years . And most splendidly, the front of their store has become a giant advent calendar. I find the whole thing magical.

Piccadilly Street itself has the same angels that it’s had each time I’ve visited. They’re looking over a grand street in an afluent, fashionable area called Mayfair that takes its name from the May fair held in Shepherd’s Market in the area (a fantasticvstreet for another day). Here are fashionable arcades and fancy boutiques and also the Royal Academy founded in 1768 by a group of 40 artists and architects who became the first Royal Academicians. I love its gates (now closed) and courtyard.

Behind Fortnum and Mason is Jermyn Street. This area dates from 1661 and often looks the part. Sir Isaac Newton, William Pitt, Sir Walter Scott, William Gladstone; and W. M. Thackeray have all lived here. The shops along here are exclusive – mostly it was quiet, even quieter than lockdown Piccadilly today.

At the entrance to Piccadilly Arcade is this statue of Beau Brummell, an iconic figure in Regency England and for many years the arbiter of men’s fashion. I asked Krish to pose the same way behind him

This video shows the Piccadilly Arcade entrance from Jermyn Street. Very elegant.

A touch of Europe – Corner window, Piccadilly Arcade

Shoe lasts — An impressive display of shoe lasts at Joseph Heane’s show store on Jermyn Street

Continue reading “Sneaking out of the house – Christmas Lights 2020”

12th November 202015th November 2020

Moorfields and Old Street

Thursday, 12 November, 2020

I haven’t been to Old Street or Moorfields since lockdown, and probably for quite a while before that. I’ve had plans to get on a bus and walk around to see what street art has popped up. Somehow, I’d not made it there. This trip wasn’t going to achieve that either. It was dark, cool and windy, and the object of the journey was to keep Krish company on his latest visit to Moorfields Eye Hospital. He’s been a patient since July 2019 when his sight started to be strange after an episode of shingles during June of last year. Let’s skip over that story for now!

His appointment wasn’t going to last long, we thought (it lasted a few hours) and Krish had noticed that a huge Stik mural had been revealed during some construction. I wanted to see that. So the plan was that I’d wander around a bit and meet him after he’d seen the doctor. We took the 55 bus which goes along Mare Street, down Hackney Road, and across Old Street – a twenty minute or so journey.

An Instagram user told me a bit about this wall art —

That this ‘Shoreditch Past Present Future’ mural will be obscured by the Art ‘Otel is beyond irony…..they made a huge deal about how they preserved the Banksy when the old Foundry building was demolished but there were many other significant pieces of art in there that the developers had no interest in…..

It was hidden by a giant advertisement hoarding but occasionally came back on view for a few days/week as the ads changed. The new hotel is circular but there is a second building going up adjacent to the mural – not a high rise but we should all make the most of the current full view of this art.

So I’m glad I went to photograph it. I went there first in case I ran out of time. The light was already fading on a fairly dull day. I considered trying my original plan to go down Rivington Street and perhaps Great Eastern or even to Curtain Road to see some ancestor stuff John had told me about. However, the dark was encroaching and I thought instead I should meander over towards the hospital and see what I could see over there.

I headed down Leonard Street to Tabernacle Street, named for Whitefield’s Tabernacle a former church at the corner. The first church on the site was a wooden building erected by followers of the evangelical preacher George Whitefield in 1741. This was replaced by a brick building in 1753, and rebuilt in stone over a century later in 1868.John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, preached a sermon “On the death of the Rev Mr George Whitefield” here.

Moorfields Tabernacle Church — Moorfields Tabernacle – a rather large building on a narrow street

Pillars on Moorfields Tabernacle — The pillars of the church were elaborate but neglected

Then I noticed this through the railings — Then I noticed this through the raiings – Central Foundation Boys School (1865) – my mother attended Central Foundation Girls School and, funnily, this school is the beneficiary of The Dulwich Estate, where I once lived – link upon link

A surprise around every corner in London – often several!

Looking from the back streets — Looking from the old back streets to the modern Old Street buildings

It was so quiet in usually chaotic Hoxton. Most offices were dark and deserted. All working from home now.

I was feeling a bit hungry and, as the sun went down, I was feeling the chill. I walked up City Road towards the hospital – through the large roundabout I’ve always thought was so ugly. On the corner of City Road and Old Street is a massive red stone building that I’ve not usually paid close attention to. Today I would. Continue reading “Moorfields and Old Street”