Sunday is traditionally our day for shopping so we accordingly dragged our trolley round to Sainsbury’s in Liverpool Road. We went just after 11am in the hope that it would not yet be very busy.

I did not take any photos, partly for lack of inspiration and partly because it’s my job to drag the trolley which keeps one hand occupied. Tigger took photos, though, and I include some here.

Sainsbury’s has a queueing system
Photo by Tigger

During Lockdown v 1, Sainsbury’s instituted a queueing system. Red barriers beside the building made a narrow corridor leading to the entrance, making it easy for security staff to halt the influx of customers as necessary. Part of the road was likewise separated off with a barrier to provide a pathway for non-shoppers to pass by. The pavement was marked off at intervals to show the distance customers should keep between one another while waiting for the queue to move forward. Although numbers of customers entering are not monitored at present, the barriers remain in place, lending a slightly surreal atmosphere to the proceedings though I am tempted to suggest that these days, “surreal is the new normal”, however paradoxical that might seem.

Just inside the door is a stand with a pump for hand gel though very few shoppers seems to avail themselves of it. One reason might be that the one they supply leaves the hands feeling sticky.

Chapel Market
Photo by Tigger

On the way home we passed through Chapel Market. This, as you may recall, is a street market that takes place on every day but Monday. As all shops except those selling “essential” goods such as food are supposed to be closed during Lockdown v 2, we were interested to see which stalls would be present. In “normal” times (remember those?) Sunday was the main day for the market when the street would be full and many stalls would be present that did not appear on other days.

Looking pretty bare
Photo by Tigger

As you can see, it was looking unusually bare today. You would normally expect to see both sides of the street lined with stalls closely side by side and the lane in the centre full of people.

A few stalls near the top
Photo by Tigger

Further along there were a few more stalls, seemingly huddling together for comfort. They attracted a certain number of potential customers.

No food but “essential”?
Photo by Tigger

Some stalls have food items on sale but some did not. An example is this one which neither sells food nor (in my opinion) anything that can be described as “essential”, with or without quotation marks.

To be honest, I haven’t managed to find out whether market stalls are bound by the same rules as shops but the emptiness of the market suggests that they are and that stalls selling the “wrong sort” of goods are risking a fine. If their margins are slim, though, they may feel that they have no choice.

Florist’s stall, White Conduit Street
Photo by Tigger

In White Conduit Street, a large florist’s stall is often present. It was present again today by whatever justification.

Across White Conduit Street runs a taut cable. One day, someone had the idea of tossing a pair of shoes, joined by their laces, onto the cable. Since then, others have added their own contributions. You can see some of these at the top of the photo.

White Conduit is today but a stub of a street but was once longer, going through to Tolpuddle Street. It was truncated, and buildings demolished, to build what is now Sainsbury’s car park.

The name comes from a water source that once existed in a meadow and supplied water to the local area. All traces of this have disappeared by being built over.

Buy your coffee here
Photo by Tigger

On the corner of White Conduit Street is Mercer & Co, a coffee shop. “Normally”, you can sit in but during lockdown they are allowed to sell takeaway only. We paused here to buy coffee to take home with us.

Hot coffee does not stay hot for very long, especially in cardboard cups carried in the open air on a cold day, so we now hurried home to make the most of it.

Tigger is furloughed once again and will be staying home all week. We therefore decided that the shopping run was enough of an outing for today. We will see what the following days bring us.

Tigger had to go in to the office yesterday and as the weather was cold, I stayed at home.

Penton Road crossroads

In contrast, today was sunny and relatively warm (13°C) so we went out to take a walk and collect our coffee (takeaway only, during lockdown). It was pleasant outdoors though the air was hazy, as you can perhaps see from the photos.

Our neighbourhood post office shop

Tigger had a purchase in mind and this was our first call. Most shops were locked up tight, of course, but our neighbourhood post office shop, which also sells food, is open. Tigger found what she wanted there.

Following the by-ways

As far as possible, we stayed in the by-ways and less frequented streets so as to have fewer people to avoid.

A few flowers still blooming

Although the trees have shed their leaves and many flowering plants are dying back, there are still a few flowers peeping out shyly between the grasses, like the above which are growing in the plot where I photographed the poppies during the first lockdown.

Another lively show

Further along, these plants were blooming too. I don’t know what they are called but they made a cheerful sight.

Percy Circus garden

By this way we came to Percy Circus with its central garden. As usual, it was quiet and peaceful. It was warm enough for us to sit on a bench for a while.

A view from the bench

There is a timeless feeling to the garden so that I would not be surprised to see people in Victorian costume passing by or a horse-drawn cart winding slowly up the hill.

Hoverfly on my hat
Photo by Tigger

We sat so quietly that a hoverfly came by. He perched briefly on my nose and then settled on the silver tiger on my hat. We could also hear, and catch glimpses of, parakeets flitting between the trees. These once exotic birds are now becoming common all over Britain.

Wharton Street

We walked through to Wharton Street and climbed its hill. All was quiet but for a man delivering a couple of parcels to houses at the top.

Looking back down Wharton Street

Here we are looking back down Wharton Street with the BT Tower in the background. You can see how hazy the air is. Fortunately, this in no way detracted from the enjoyment of our walk.

Myddelton’s deli
Photo by Tigger

From the top of Wharton Street we passed easily to Lloyd Baker Street where we called in on our friends at Myddelton’s deli. Since Tigger has returned to work, we have visited them much less often than we used to but their welcome is still as friendly as ever so that going there is still a pleasure. As well as coffee, we bought something special for lunch.

St Mark’s Church
Photo by Tigger

On the way home, we walked along Inglebert Street. This gives you a good view of St Mark’s Church as you approach it. What was unusual today was that the door was open, the first time I have ever seen it so. There must have been a private event because a notice, decorously poised upon a chair, bore the word “PRIVATE”.

Coffee and spinach quiche

And so to home to enjoy our lunch of coffee (transferred to my favourite red cup) and the special treat mentioned above: spinach quiche. A quick warm in the microwave and it was delicious!

Welcome to Lockdown version 2. How are you enjoying it so far?

Of course, it’s not quite as strict as lockdown v 1 and so there is a certain amount of room left for manœuvre. People can still go into work or travel “where this is necessary” and attend death beds and funerals. On the bright side, you can meet exactly one friend with whom to go for a walk. Happily, I happen to live with my one friend which avoids a lot of toing and froing.

Tigger is again working from home today. This means a lunch break at 1pm and “coming home” (i.e. switching off the company laptop) at 5pm.

St Mark’s Church

At 1pm we went for a walk and to fetch our daily coffee. In the time available, we had to stay near home so these few photos may seem familiar. I took the church in silhouette for a change.

Myddelton Square garden

We passed through Myddelton Square hoping to see the cats that we have seen before (for example, see here). And yes, we did see one of them, relaxing in the sunshine but too far inside the room to photograph. Strange how such apparently unimportant things can come to have significance in one’s life.

Consolation cat
Photo by Tigger

Foliage and berries
Photo by Tigger

Later…

As 5pm approaches, we have decided that our lunchtime stroll was enough for us, cold as the weather is, and not to venture out again today.

Tigger was working from home today, spending much of it in front of the company laptop, fielding phone calls. We did break for lunch, making a quick dash down the road to Jusaka for coffee.

At 5pm, Tigger left work and came home. In other words, she turned off the laptop!

The Angel crossroads

After spending most of the day staring at the computer screen, Tigger fancied going for a walk to stretch her legs. Now that the clocks have been put back an hour, it is already dark at 5pm. It was also cold, cold enough to make our fingers tingle when we were back home in the warm.

Shops in Chadwell Street

At the crossroads we turned along St John Street and then into Chadwell Street. The main roads were quite busy and it was relatively quieter in the smaller streets.

The houses look different in the dark

I have photographed the neighbourhood’s Georgian style houses many times on our walks but this is the first time I have done so at night. The scene looks very different.

St Mark’s Church

St Mark’s Church was illuminated by spotlights but that still left parts of the building in shadow.

The “Curvaceous Tree”

I didn’t forget my “Curvaceous Tree” next to the church. It is looking bare, dispossessed of its summer foliage, but is illuminated by the street lamp on the corner. You can see a greenish light to the left if the photo. It was actually moving about and quite fast. I assume it was someone, a child perhaps, waving a torch about in the children’s playground behind the tree.

Fanlight with decorations
Photo by Tigger

I have written about the fanlights of these Georgian style houses before. They are a characteristic feature with a limited number of patterns. This is the first time we spotted one with snowflake figures in the central panel. I’m not sure whether they were there all the time and we didn’t notice them or whether in this house they have added them as a decoration.

Clothes at the reservoir
Photo by Tigger

Tigger took this photo at the reservoir. Someone has hung a number of garments in the railings. Are these perhaps unwanted items put out in case someone can make use of them? There seems to be quite a tradition in this neighbourhood of putting furniture and other items in the street to be repossessed by anyone who takes a fancy to them.

The Castle

In passing, I snapped the Castle pub, dark outside but lit up within. (Compare it with the photo of it in Sunday’s post.)

With a new lockdown impending, this and other pubs will be making the most of their last couple of days of being able to receive customers on the premises. From Thursday, they will be allowed to provide takeaway only.

We have noticed that a number of shops that previously did not sell food have suddenly started stocking food and drink. This is a transparent ploy to beat the restriction that allows only food shops to open during lockdown. I don’t know whether this is legal but, in the confusion, they will no doubt get away with it.

It is quite cold today and felt colder than the nominal 11°C cited by the weather forecast. It was good to go out for a walk but good also to go back home to the warm!

City Road, the Angel

This is what the world – well, one small part of it – looked like at 7:31am today. I photographed it on the way to the bus stop.

You might wonder what I was doing out and about at this unconscionable hour on a weekday. The title of the post might give you a clue if you know your London but not otherwise.

The explanation is that I have an appointment this morning at Guy’s Hospital, in the block that resides in the street picturesquely named Great Maze Pond.

As I had no idea where this is, other than that it is near London Bridge Station, Tigger offered to guide me there. Today, she has to go into the office for 9am, hence our early start to allow her to lead me to my destination and then hurry off to her office.

Another point is that I was hoping that by travelling early, we would miss the worst part of the rush hour and the crowded buses that are likely at that time. In that we were successful.

There were minor hold-ups along the way because of road works. (There are always hold-ups because of works on London’s roads.) Despite these, we arrived with plenty of time to spare and, having found Great Maze Pond, turned back to the station and bought coffee at Caffè Nero.

With about an hour to go for my appointment, I am sitting in Nero with my coffee but Tigger has sped off to her place of work.

The Thames
Photo by Tigger

You may be curious to know why I have this rendezvous. However, as one person’s medical problems are generally of little interest to others, I will simply say that I have to attend Guy’s dental services about a problem my dentist could not deal with. I think the purpose of today’s appointment is to take X-rays.

Main entrance, Guy’s Hospital

I decided to find the entrance to Guy’s even though it was still early. I found it but was asked to take a seat in the lobby until nearer my appointment time (9:45). I was happy to do this as it’s warmer there than traipsing around outside.

The name of Great Maze Pond derives from a manor house called Maze that once existed hereabouts. On its land there was indeed a “great pond” though it had been filled in and built on sometime in the 1800s. You will find something of the history of the area here.

At 9:30, I made my way to the lifts and pressed the button for Floor 22.

It’s somewhere up there

I won’t bore you with an account of what happened on Floor 22. Suffice it to say that I left the building at about 10:30.

Random Street view

The easiest way to go home from here is via London Bridge Station which is also a bus station.

Escalator to the station

To go from Great Maze Pond to the bus station, one must go up a level. For this you can take the escalator which is unusual for being in the open air. This is the only one of its kind that I have encountered.

Number 43

The 43 bus, which passes through the Angel, “terminates” at London Bridge Station. In Transport for London jargon, “terminates” means that this is one end of its route, a terminus. The drivers have the right to take a 15-minute break before travelling back the other way. Not that there is much that they can do while waiting as there are no facilities. I suppose they could pop into the station for a coffee or a visit to the toilet but I don’t think they are allowed to leave the bus. It’s a tough life, being a bus driver!

Just as I reached the stop, the driver opened the door. I was the only passenger on the lower deck though more people came aboard during the journey. Traffic las less dense at this hour but there were still the inevitable delays because of the interminable road works. London is an organism that endlessly grows and mutates and never reaches completion.