The sky was grey, it was spitting with rain and the temperature was hovering around 15°C (that’s 59°F for you recalcitrant Fahrenheiters) – all in all, not conducive to a long ramble. But at least there was no wind threatening to blow our hats off as there was yesterday.

“Once around the church?” enquired Tigger.

I agreed.

In the event, though, we went a little further than that, but not nuch.

Along the way, we spotted this

Left on the doorstep
Photo by Tigger

Someone has ordered groceries but not been available to take them in when the delivery person called. With rain threatening this is a risky proposition.

Bring and swap?

On June 20th, I described a couple carting away items of furniture (see Give-away day) and suggested that they had found these in a heap of abandoned belongings in Milne Street (click for photo). I suggested that in addition to people taking items, they might add more. It seems I was right because if you compare the photos, I don’t think any of the items in the above were present in the first photo. This piece of pavement hasd turned into a “Bring ‘n’ swap” shop!

Turning into Myddelton Square, we captired today’s cat photo. (Everyone likes cat photos, remember!)

Two cats

What do you mean, “What cats?” They are definitely there, in the room. Look harder. They are the same pair that we have photographed before – see Cold enough for trousers,.

Grape vine

Passing the Shakespere’s Head pub, I photographed this grape vine that is apparently making a bid to escape from the pub garden. You can probably see that it bears clusters of tiny grapes, though these look unlikely to ever produce wine. Then again, with global warming, perhaps a time will come when British pubs start producing their own vintages.

Latest arrival

Since the first public hire bicycles (called “Boris Bikes” after Boris Johnson who was Mayor of London at their launch), we have seen a number of firms joining the party until London is now littered with bicycles waiting for riders. This was a new one to us, supplied by Human Forest. All bike companies need a gimmick to attract the notice of potential customers. This one comes with a sanitizer spray, chained to the basket on the front. It presumably allows you to spray whatever parts of the machine you think ought to be sprayed in order to avoid infection. Is that enough to give Human Forest an edge over the competition?

St Mark’s Church amid trees

I took the above photo as we passed by St Mark’s Church. You might compare it with this one, taken from a similar angle on April 9th, to see how much the foliage has increased in the meantime.

Coffee and Portuguese custard tart

At Myddelton’s we bought our usual coffees and, in addition, as compensation for the weather, Portuguese custard tarts. I doubt whether these tarts have ever been anywhere near Portugual but, never mind, they are delicious!