Jacques Prévert 1900-1977

From Paroles

Note
The third line is untranslatable because it is a pun without an English equivalent. The line Ils ne sont pas dans leur assiette uses a popular idiom and means “They are not feeling well” but its literal sense is “They are not in their plate”. Hence the ironic image of the following two lines of the poem.

Today is warm with clouds and sunny moments, quite pleasant in its way.

Turning into Claremont Square we spied a couple carrying items of furniture.

Carrying items of furniture

While it’s not that odd, I suppose, to see people in town carrying furniture, it was sufficiently odd to take note of for future reference, especially as there are no furniture or secondhand shops in the immediate area.

Having walked further down the street, we came upon the answer.

Abandoned furniture and knickknacks

Somebody has deposited a collection of presumably unwanted items of furniture and other bits. This is no doubt where the aforementioned couple acquired their booty. Perhaps they will return for more.

I often see beds, mattresses and other items left on the pavement in this way. One might condemn it as lazy because the Council, in return for a simple phone call, will collect these articles and cart them away for no charge. On the other hand, it does represent a form of unofficial recycling because if the goods are still serviceable, there is every likelihood that they will disappear in fairly short order, taken by someone ready to make use of them. We have disposed of several items ourselves, quite large and heavy ones in occasion, by putting them in the front garden from where they were removed by unknown hands within 48 hours. A very efficient service!

Rounding the corner into Myddelton Square, we found another example.

“Help yourself”

In this case, the exposed items bore a label upon which was inscribed the message “Help yourself”, leaving no doubt as to the intention behind their abandonment. The “stock” consisted of a box of DVDs and some other items that I could not identify at a glance.

A clutter of motorcycles

What is the noun for a group of motorcycles? Looking at this bunch, the noun “clutter” suggested itself: a clutter of motorcycles.

Actually, Tigger’s sharper eye revealed that four of the five are motor scooters rather than motorcycles. Not that it matters as I think “clutter” covers it, never mind small distinctions.

As you know, I wear a hat. A proper hat, a Fedora, something with at least some pretensions to style and elegance. I do like to see a man properly hatted. And here is one such, observed during our promenade.

Man in a hat

I only had a glimpse of it as I was taking a photo but its colour suggests that it is a lightweight hat for summer wear, unlike mine that has to serve throughout all seasons. Nice to see.

From here it was but a step to Myddelton’s for our coffee and from there to home. When we return in two days ( tomorrow is Jusaka’s turn), I shall be interested to see whether the two piles of giveaways have reduced in size or perhaps disappeared entirely, absorbed by the ebb and flow of human acquisitiveness.

Today is a nondescript day. The weather is nondescript:

Nondescript weather

And my activities have been nondescript. Not that I have been twiddling my thumbs. I have kept busy throughout but nothing worth recounting.

We did go out but only briefly. This was when Tigger went to do the shopping that she had not done when she was feeling unwell over the weekend.

Chapel Market
Photo by Tigger

Tigger took this photo in Chapel Market while she was shopping. It shows an increase in the number of stalls over the relatively small attendance shown in my photo yesterday. More shops were open too.

As is usual when Tigger goes shopping, we rendezvoused at Jusaka where we bought coffee to carry home.

Busier than ever

While waiting for the coffee to be dispensed, I had time to take a quick photo of the crossroads area from the doorway. In terms of both vehicles and pedestrians, it was busier than ever, almost like “normal” times.

Our impression is that a majority of people have given up even the pretence of social distancing and are behaving as though the pandemic had never happened. On our way home we passed a bus stop and no one was wearing a mask despite Transport for London making and publicising a rule that masks are to be worn on all public transport.

Queueing outside shops is still in operation in some cases but, I suspect, only where the shop managers are themselves insisting on this.

The public seems oblivious to the fact that the disease is still with us and new cases are still arising. Their behaviour means that if a resurgence were to occur, as it easily could, we could be thrust back into the dark days of lockdown.

In mitigation, I would say that the lack of firm leadership from the government is partly to blame.

It’s another day of rain and sunny intervals, sometimes both at the same time. At an advertised temperature of 15°C (59°F), I thought it would feel cold and put on an extra layer but it turned out mild and muggy, and the temperature rose two degrees or more during our walk.

We again pointed our noses north, intending to loop back down to Amwell Street and Myddelton’s.

The Three Johns

The first of today’s two pubs stands on a corner of Baron Street and White Lion Street. By the look of it, in its present incarnation it is Victorian though whether there were earlier pubs on the site I do not know. This one has changed so many times since I have lived in the area that I can remember only three of them: the Hobgoblin, the Fallen Angel and now the Three Johns.

I have not found a satisfactory derivation for the name of Baron Street. It has been called this only since 1939 before which it was known as Suffolk Street. Why Baron Street? Who was Baron? I have no idea.

Chapel Market

We turned left (west) along Chapel Market which was much more lively than the last time I photographed it. Down at the far end a few stalls were operating. A number of shops were open, both in Chapel Market and in nearby streets. Life seems to be gradually recovering some of its old momentum. Let’s hope there are no set-backs to interrupt the slow regrowth.

Lost front gardens

In Penton Street, I photographed this row of Georgian style houses. They would once have possessed front gardens insulating them from the noise of the street but those gardens have long since been swallowed up by shops and other commercial enterprises. People need shops, I know, and shopkeepers need premises but I cannot help feeling a little sad at the loss of the gardens and the air of gentility that they would have engendered.

Chapel Bar

The second of today’s pubs is the Chapel Bar at 29 Penton Street. I don’t know whether its present name is an ironic reference to the nearby church. The pub on this site used to be known as the Queen’s Arms or Queen’s Head or possibly both at different times. The original pub dated from early Victorian times but this iteration was built in the 1930s.

We crossed Pentonville Road into Amwell Street and turned right into the side streets where we exchanged greetings with one of the locals.

Greeting one if the locals

This was a handsome black, white and grey cat who emerged, at first cautiously, from under a parked car. Invited to make friends, he enthusiastically agreed. First, the traditional finger-sniff and then…

Full-bodied roll

…the full-bodied roll on the ground!

It was only after a few minutes of this agreeable interaction that Tigger remembered – and reminded me – that during the present Covid-19 crisis, we are not supposed to touch animals, even (or perhaps, especially) domestic pets. We bade our new friend farewell and used hand sanitiser pending arriving home and washing our hands properly.

Dramatic sky
Photo by Tigger

In Lloyd Street, Tigger took this photo of sunlit buildings against a dramatic stormy-looking sky.

From here we were soon at Myddelton’s where we made our usual purchase (plus a little extra!) and then made our way home.

Siamese on a window sill

In Claremont Square we saw cat number 2, this one a svelte Siamese, sitting on a basement window sill, perhaps waiting to be let in.

These was no interaction this time and we were virtually ignored but, then, what do you expect from a Siamese? 🙂

Engineer at work

I photographed this engineer at work on what I think is the local telephone system. This is another example of that group of people who have continued working throughout the crisis to prevent our world crumbling about us and maintaining the infrastructure of our lives. I hope our debt to them will be paid but I rather think it will be forgotten as is so often the case.

Coffee and samosa

At home we enjoyed our coffee together with the little extra mentioned above. As we had missed two days of coffee we thought we could stretch to a treat: for Tigger, a Portuguese custard tart and for me, a vegetable samosa. A treat indeed.

This morning we were treated to thunder and rain. Our neighbourhood escaped with a wetting though there were warnings of possible flooding and even power cuts. By the time we went out around 2pm things had calmed down though there was still a threat of rain.

White Lion Street

For a change, we started to the north of Pentonville Road instead of the south as we usually do. We went down Baron Street and turned right into White Lion Street. It is a one-way street for traffic, leading to Islington High Street. There are quite often tailbacks here but the number of vehicles indicates that the roads were quite busy in contrast to their emptiness during the early days of lockdown.

White Lion Street, incidentally, is named after an inn of that name that existed here from 1714 and no doubt much earlier. It would have done a large part of its trade with drovers bringing live cattle by road to their sinister journey’s end at Smithfield Market. The inn is recorded as having a bowling green among its attractions.

Angel Station

This is a not very good photo of the entrance to Angel tube station. It has two entry arches, one that you can see and the other at right-angles to it on the left (not visible in the photo). As you can probably see, the visible opening has no-entry signs attached to it, no doubt in order to help staff regulate the flow of customers during busy times.

The neighbourhood is officially called The Angel but Transport for London has a well known penchant for suppressing the definite article in names and so the station is known as plain “Angel” on station and bus signs.

Busy at the crossroads

As we approached the crossroads, there was plenty of traffic here as well. If you look to the immediate left of the number 38 bus, the corner building is the site of our friends at the Jusaka juice (and coffee) bar, where we were heading.

Committing an offence

Tigger noticed this motorcyclist emerge from White Lion Street. Emerging traffic is required to turn left but this person not only ignores that rule but compounds the offence by riding down the main road on the wrong side of the road (as seen here) before swerving sharply across the road to turn left at the junction. If any police officer happens to read this, please free to use the photo and text as evidence.

The Angel Building

Before crossing to Jusaka for our coffee, I took this photo of our favourite Angel building from a different angel from the usual. Because I was so close to it, the photo showed a severe case of “converging perpendiculars”. The iPhone’s photo editor now has a function for correcting this. It’s not perfect but is pretty good. I couldn’t correct it completely as doing so would lose valuable parts of the picture off the edges of the frame but I was able to do a reasonable job, don’t you think?

When we reached Jusaka, we found that they had been worried about us because we had not appeared for 5 days! Happily, we were able to reassure them that our absence was owing to temporary setbacks (see yesterday’s post).

Not so happily, we commiserated with them over the fact that during the night, a vandal had smashed one of their windows. Unbeknownst to him, no doubt, the idiot has perfectly recorded himself committing the act on two cctv recorders. All being well, this will lead to his eventual comeuppance.