We went out early again today in order to avoid the worst of the heat. It was already 21°C, according to the Meteorological Office, but felt hotter than that. We are promised a high of 28°C (not as hot as yesterday) and, possibly, thunder storms at midday. That might cool things down somewhat.

Tailbacks in Pentonville Road

It was 10am by the time we stepped out into the street but there was still plenty of traffic on the roads.

Electric scooter

This is not a very good photo but you can see what it is: a man riding one of those stand-up electric scooters. They have become very common in London and, no doubt, in other towns and cities as well. The pandemic will, if anything, have increased their appeal as people seek ways of travelling to work without using public transport with its risks of infection.

The first fact that springs to my mind in seeing these vehicles is that they are not legal to use on public roads. Not that that has stopped people using them. Apparently, the UK government is considering legalizing them on a trial basis from the end of this month. In the meantime, law enforcement seems to be turning a blind eye.

The next fact is the bad behaviour of scooter riders. The man in the photo is crossing the intersection against the lights. He would no doubt be the first to complain if hit by another vehical but it would be entirely his own fault. There have already been accidents causing serious injury and at least one death.

Another cause of annoyance is that scooter riders often ride on the pavement and at speed, putting themselves – and worse, pedestrians – at risk of injury.

Front of the Angel Building

This pleasantly shaded path passes in front of the Angel Building, a large office block on the corner of Pentonville Road with St John Street. We use it to “cut the corner” but also to avoid other people as few take this route. Once the offices open for business again, though, it will of course become more crowded.

Jusaka – closed!

We crossed St John Street and arrived in front of Jusaka. It was closed! We stared in disbelief for a moment or two and then Tigger went to look at the sign showing their opening hours. According to this they open at 7 am. Not today, apparently. Mind you, this is the earliest we have called in them. Perhaps they open later during the present crisis. We shall no doubt catch up with them eventually and find out.

Coffeeless, we made our way home to relax under the electric fans. Tomorrow is another day 🙂

The phrase “there and back” is likely to become a constant theme if the current weather conditions endure. According to the forecast (at my first attempt I mis-spelled that word as “firecast”, a Freudian slip if ever there was one!), temperatures will reach the same maximum as yesterday and so we went out early to avoid the worst of it. Even so, by the time we stepped out into the street, the thermometer was already standing at 23°C (73°F) though it felt a lot warmer.

We did have some vague idea of going “once round the church” but in the event we decided on “there and back”, “there”, of course being Myddelton’s deli.

Looking down Mylne Street

This familiar view was taken looking along Mylne Street, a very short road linking Claremont Square to Myddelton Square. It is named after William Chadwell Mylne (1781-1863), who was Surveyor to the New River Company. He designed St. Mark’s Church, Myddelton Square, Amwell, Ingelbert and River streets and the Clerkenwell Parochial Charity Schools in Amwell Street.

We made straight for the deli and rushed into its welcome shade to order our coffee. We noticed an innovation: a milkshake machine was being installed. I imagine that this will be a hit in this weather!

Decorative edge of the façade

As I have remarked before, you can pass the same way many times and still one day notice a detail that has escaped your attention previously. Today, it was Tigger who noticed the decorative edge to the façade of this corner building, making it look almost as though it has been attached with a zip fastener! We speculated on whether it was designed that way or whether it is the result of later building work. I think the former though I could if course be wrong.

Here is an expanded view:

“Zipped” edge of the façade

The bricks blend in perfectly with the rest, suggesting that it is an original feature.

Sunlit flowers
Photo by Tigger

In a front garden, this flowering bush was lit by the sun as by a spotlight. The colours positively glowed, making a fine sight.

We reached home and hurried indoors into the shade. I think that’s our only outing until tomorrow!

Weather today

For the last couple of days, the weather has become very warm. Today, for example, it is supposed to reach a high of 32°C (90°F). Is this one of those “heatwaves” that from time to time settle upon the land and then as mysteriously pass away or is it the onset of the raised summer temperatures that we can expect to become permanent? We shall have to wait and see.

Whatever the cause, neither of us takes well to the heat and we prefer to avoid it as far as possible. For this reason, we stayed at home yesterday. We needed some shopping and so once again fired up the Chop Chop app and ordered our permitted 20 items. I am happy to relate that the goods were delivered in a timely fashion and no items were missing or substituted. We did notice, however, that not all of the products that Sainsbury’s sells are available on the Chop Chop list. There was therefore at least one item that we could not have.

Today we made sure to go out early while it was still fairly cool outside. Even so,we did not feel inclined to go far. We therefore made do with a trip to Jusaka to buy coffee and then came straight home.

I have often mentioned in these pages how I hate the cold and said I wished I could hibernate in order to miss the rigours of winter. I am now beginning to entertain the companion thought: it would be good if one could estivate – see usage 1 of this definition – and avoid the different but equally uncomfortable conditions of high summer.

This is arguably our boldest outing yet for it took us among greater concentrations of people than we have faced since the onset of lockdown. Our destination was nothing less than King’s Cross Station where we hoped to obtain information about the current rules for train travel.

The Lexington

We set off down Pentonville Road towards the two stations, King’s Cross and St Pancras that had been built by rival railway companies. The Lexington is a slightly strange establishment than has known many incarnations and names. We haven’t visited it since the day, years ago, when we went in to escape the rain and ordered coffee, for which the barman refused all payment.

Pentonville Road

This view shows how Pentonville Road drives in more or less a straight line towards the stations. It makes the walk easier by sloping gently downwards but you pay for that later when you have climb the hill on the homeward journey!

Old Scottish Stores

This extraordinary building at 272-276 Pentonville Road was built in 1900-1 as the Scottish Stores. When it ceased to be that, I do not know, but today it includes a hostel and a pub and possibly other businesses. It is Grade II listed.

St Pancras (left) and King’s Cross

Here we are approaching the two stations. There is no doubt, as far as I am concerned, that St Pancras is the more beautiful, though some might disagree. The appearance of King’s Cross has been improved in recent years by the removal of the clutter of unpleasant buildings that occupied the forecourt. Unfortunately, the fine open space that resulted is again being cluttered up with various unsightly structures.

The Lighthouse

Looking back the way we have come presents a view of the Lighthouse. This came into being years ago when it was added by the nightclub that operated within the building. I don’t know what people thought of it at the time but over the years it has become a familiar landmark, so much so that when the building was extensively refurbished and restored recently, the Lighthouse was restored along with the rest. It now seems safe for years to come.

A view if the front of King’s Cross Station

Depending on your taste in architecture, this view along the front of King’s Cross Station may please you with its simple elegance or strike you as plain and utilitarian.

King’s Cross Clock Tower

Two stations, two clock towers. At least while here you are never at a loss to know what time it is!

King’s Cross ticket hall

Tigger had a simple question to ask: “Under current rules, is leisure travel by rail permitted?” She put the question to two members if the station staff, one of them a ticket clerk, but neither felt able to vouchsafe an answer. So we left with the issue unresolved.

Sir Nigel Gresley

This slightly larger than lifesize statue is of Sir Nigel Gresley (1876-1941) who was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Northern Railway and then of the London & North Eastern Railway, in which role he designed locomotives, including the world famous Flying Scotsman.

Armed Police Officers

As we left the station we encountered two armed police officers on patrol. They each carried a larger weapon and had a pistol at their side. They seemed cheerful but kept a close eye on all the activity around them.

Travelodge Hotel

We walked into King’s Cross Road where Travelodge inhabits this handsome building with a notable sculpture of Mercury on the roof. I don’t yet know anything about the origin and history of this building but I will keep on searching.

Surgeon Accoucheur’s Plate

We entered Great Percy Street and started up its hilly length. Just before we reached Percy Circus, Tigger spotted this plaque on a house wall. It had been painted over and is easy to miss but the inscribed letters can be read:

Surgeon
Accoucheur

An “accoucheur” was a male midwife. In the 18th into the 19th century one often finds records of men with medical training, and therefore advertising themselves as “surgeon”, also claiming the titles of apothecary and accoucheur. So we therefore deduce that soon after the houses of Percy Circle were built (1841-53), this house was occupied by a man offering the services of surgeon (doctor) and midwife.

Percy Circus garden

Having climbed the hill of Great Percy Street thus far, it was with relief that we entered the garden of Percy Circus and sat in a bench.

We sat for quite a while, resting and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of the garden. It had to end, though, and we regretfully took our leave and continued on our way to Amwell Street.

At Myddelton’s we bought our usual coffees and then made for home.

For today’s walk, we headed north once again and to the district known as Barnsbury. It was quite a long walk where we discovered a lot of interesting items, some of which I present here.

Chapel Market

Once again we walked up Baron Street into Chapel Market which I photographed to the right (top) and to the left (bottom). To the right are the usual denizens of Chapel Market and to the left is the Farmers’ Market, though I would not guarantee that all of the latter really do sell produce from their own farms.

S. Cohen’s shop

We passed through White Conduit Street and found this shop open. It struck me as ironic because in “normal” times, weeks often go by without it ever opening and now, as shops are beginning timorously to open their doors, this one does too.

The shop front is quite old (19th century, I’m guessing, though it could be later) and the original name, “S. Cohen”, is barely legible, though the words “Costumier” and Furrier” stand out clearly. These days, though, the shop sells secondhand goods, of which it has an amazing selection.

Culpeper Park

White Conduit Street leads into Sainsbury’s car park and from there we cross Tolpuddle Street into Cloudesley Road. The park was closed with chain and padlock. Perhaps we will visit it one day when it reopens.

As if in compensation, one of the park’s inhabitants was leaning out through the railings to brighten our passage.

I haven’t given the photos a caption because I don’t know what these pretty flowers are called. Any information gratefully received!

A. Wyld, French Milliner

At number 71 Cloudesley Road, one of the original early 19th-century houses had been converted by the addition of a shop front later the same century. We can still read the sign: A. Wyld French Milliner. A “French Milliner” was a particular kind of purveyor of ladies hats, presumably one specializing in French fashion, and not necessarily of French nationality himself.

The whole row has received a Grade II listing and the listing includes these words about the shop: “no 71 has relics of a C19 shop-front to ground floor with part of the glazing remaining and, most obviously, the ornate stucco brackets either side of the fascia; it is of one-window range with sashes of original design”.

Number 97 Cloudesley Road

Further along the street at number 97 is another 19th-century shop front. Even though it has lost the original name and type of business, Historic England likes it enough to assign it its own Grade II listing, describing it as a “Terraced house, c.1830, altered to shop or pub in later C19. Yellow brick with stucco dressings”.

Cloudesley Road, incidentally, is named after a tudor gentleman named Richard Cloudesley who died in 1517 and in his will left two fields in Islington, known as the ‘Stony Fields’, to the parish of St Mary’s, the income from this land to be put to charitable use.

The Crown

The Crown is a large pub on the corner of Cloudesley Road and Cloudesley Square. At first sight, it is just one more big pub but there was something about it that made me look further. My instinct was right: it is Grade II listed, a late 19th-century pub with Queen Anne styling. You may wish to read the lavish description in the listing.

Tall coach entrance

This unusually tall coach entrance rather impressed me. The building to which is belongs seems to be residential though it may not always have been so. Why the tall entrance? Perhaps in did once form part of a commercial enterprise. I do not know.

Corner houses

These corner houses are in Cloudesley Square. I had seen such houses on a previous visit and it had occurred to me to wonder whether their odd position caused the rooms to be oddly shaped. On that occasion, our photographing the houses had raised the suspicions of an inhabitant who had enquired what we were about. We were able to pacify him and as he lived in a corner house, I asked about the shape if the rooms. Yes, he said, they were not rectangular but slightly tapered to fit the floor plan.

The Rainbow

This is a pub called The Rainbow, a name, one might say, that has come to have a symbolic resonance in these times of pandemic. It bears the date 1879, the year in which it was rebuilt in its current form. There had been a pub here since no later than 1827. This one seems to have ceased being a pub as long ago as the 1930s and is residential today.

Decorative mouldinds

All round the façade there are some rather good mouldings, of which the above are examples. Care – and money – was obviously lavished on the rebuilding.

Preston Memorial Hall

In Florence Street this building intrigued me. Over the door is a plaque bearing the inscription “Preston Memorial 1906”. That is all. I hoped to find out more about it but my search failed to discover anything about it, except that it is also known as Unity Church Hall, suggesting that it is currently owned by Unity Unitarian Church, Islington. What its original purpose was, and who is celebrated by the name Preston, remains unknown, at least for now.

Spooner & Bushman, veterinary surgeons

This is one for lovers of “Ghost signs”, those painted or incised remnants of long disappeared businesses. This is more than a “vestige”, a solid piece of moulding that seems destined to endure well into the future. It advertises the veterinary surgery of Spooner and Bushman, established 1850. According to the inscription, they had premises here “and at 18 Holloway Road”. Unsurprisingly, there is no sign of them now at either location.

Islington Green

And so at last we came to Islington Green. It was pleasant, after our long ramble, to sit on a bench in the green shade for a rest before the last lap to home. When we started back, I took this photo because we have not strayed this far from home, or spent so much time among people, since the onset of lockdown. It thus represents another step in that return to “normality” towards which we are all cautiously moving.