Often recently, when we have visited Jusaka for our takeaway coffee, they have invited us to sit in, that is, to drink our coffee on-site rather than taking it away.

Inside Jusaka
Photo by Tigger

Today we felt that the moment had come and so we sat in. There was plenty of space between the tables, with seats on just one side of each table to maintaun proper distancing.

After our coffee break, our next stop was at a certain emporium of pleasurable eating.

Hotel Chocolat

I refer to Hotel Chocolat (no accent), the chocolate specialists. This was not for ourselves of course (Of course not! Ed.) but for a colleague of Tigger’s whom we were meeting later and whose birthday present this was.

Upper Street is presenting a somewhat bedraggled appearance at the moment because a number of shops are still closed and not a few have closed permanently. Those that are open have instituted distancing by means of floor markings and notices advising customers to wait outside until called in by an assistant. All right and proper, of course, even if it does lend a rather surreal air to the proceedings.

Royal Agricultural Hall
now the Business Design Centre

En route to our next destination, we walked along Liverpool Road where I took a photo of what was established in 1862 as the Royal Agricultural Hall but has in more recent times been repurposed as the Business Design Centre.

Ladybird
Photo by Tigger

In Copenhagen Street, Tigger photographed a ladybird on a leaf. These bright and decorative creatures seem quite numerous this year, though I still remain uncertain as to which are the native ones and which the interloping Harlequins.

The American term for these colourful flying beetles, “ladybug”, always strikes as an ugly name for such a pretty creature. Best of all, I think (because they are after all, beetles and not birds), is the French term coccinelle, which is close to their Latin name.

Young Actors Theatre

In Barnsbury Road, we passed in front of the Young Actors Theatre (no apostrophe). This was apparently founded in 2005 but apart from that, I know nothing about this institution. Perhaps you can learn more by clicking on the link.

Barnard Park

Our destination was Barnard Park, a pleasant area of greenery and flowers with amenities, including tennis courts and children’s play areas. We were here to meet Tigger’s colleague and present him with his gift of chocolate.

Barnard Adventure Playground

The park also has an adventure playground but this has been fenced off for as long as I have lived in the area and, I suspect, long before that. These days it resembles a film set for an abandoned mining town from the days of the Gold Rush. (Update: according to an email received privately, the playground is still in use at certain times of day.)

Flower beds

As well as grass and trees, there are flower beds with a prolific mixture of plants, most of them flowering. And, of course, where there are flowers, there are bees. Tigger is the bee phtographer of the two and here are a couple of her snaps.

Bumblebee and honeybee

(The blurring is owing to me cropping the photos to show what are, after all, very small creatures.)

Two Sphinxes

Two Sphinxes…

Many Sphinxes

… many Sphinxes!

Sphinxes are not all that rare as decorative motifs but it is fairly rare, I think, to find so many of them gathered in such a relatively small area. A row of houses in Richmond Avenue each has a pair of Sphinxes flanking the steps leading to their front doors.

Chapel Market

My last photo of the outing was taken in Chapel Market. There were a number of stalls in operation though not as many as on the busiest days. I don’t know wheher this is “mid-week fatigue” or whether the pandemic is still affecting both shops and shoppers, leading to a decline in trade. We can only hope that better times lie ahead.

And Tigger’s colleague, was he pleased with his chocolate? As a chocolate fan, he certainly was!