Today we needed a couple of items from the shops and so our walk took us to Upper Street, an area which we have hitherto avoided.

Fancy a new mattress?

We passed through Chapel Market and found it very busy, as is usual in the run-up to Christmas. There were some stalls that we don’t usually see here such as this one selling mattresses.

Flowers and pot plants

Christmas trees were of course still on sale (see previous posts) while flowers and particularly, pot plants, have returned.

A pigeon sneaked in

I photographed this takeaway food stall, not out of interest in its goods but because I was amused by the pigeon that had sneaked in (see bottom centre) and was tucking in busily. Unfortunately, my action in taking the photo attracted the notice of the stallholder who then shooed the pigeon away. Sorry, pigeon!

Pub doorway decorated for Christmas

On the corner of Chapel Market with Liverpool Road is a pub and we saw that its doorway was lavishly decorated for Christmas. We have passed this pub often but never been inside.

Flying Tiger

We went into the Angel Centre, as it is now called, intending to visit Flying Tiger. This is a chain of shops selling a frequently changed selection of novelty goods, relying, I imagine, on people making impulse purchases of amusing trifles. We saw that the security person was regulating the flow of customers and, rather than wait, we moved on.

Room freshener sprays in Muji

Instead, we paid a visit to Muji. As you might guess this is a Japanese store but it has a presence in many countries. It sells clothes, household wares, pens, novelties and a lot more besides. Near the door it has a shelf of room freshener sprays, some of which are always in action.

Clocks and USB fans

They have a selection of small clocks and, on a lower shelf, some neat electric fans which you can put on your desk and plug into your PC’s USB port. They are in a more prominent position in summer and I have often thought of buying one in the hot weather.

Christmas lights in the window

The shop is crammed – but neatly arranged – with a wide variety of goods from cheap to expensive.

Toys and novelties

It’s sometimes difficult to know whether to call some if their items “toys” or “novelties” – toys for grownups, perhaps. For example, do you see the board game in the table? It’s for the ancient game of noughts and crosses but with black and white dogs as markers (Scotties and Skye Terriers).

The Angel Centre halo

There is a large pair of wings on one side of the centre and on this side, reflecting the angel theme, is a halo. A Christmas globe has been hung to to appear in the centre of it.

The Body Shop

We had some purchases to make at the Body Shop in Upper Street. As you probably know, this business specialises in “cruelty-free” beauty products. I buy my soap here. If you have a membership card, as I have, you receive a £5 credit on your birthday, a nice gesture.

Angel tube station

We passed the Angel tube station. I used to travel from here frequently by tube but I haven’t used the service since August 8th when I went to the Apple store to have my mobile repaired. When will I next ride the Underground?

Wreaths awaiting front doors

In front of the tube station is a flower stall. We were amused to see this display of Christmas wreaths. We could have added them to our “collection” but that would have been like shooting fish in a barrel!

Stuffing a body in the boot

On the other side of the road was a car and a woman apparently trying ti stuff a body into the boot! It wasn’t a body, of course, but a fancy dress costume that was very padded and hard to handle.

Sitting in at Jusaka

We called in at Jusaka and decided to drink our coffee there instead of taking it home. It’s not very warm on the premises so we didn’t spend long there but it made a change and the coffee was at least hot for once!

Coffee decoration
Photo by Tigger

The temperature was hovering around 3°C again today but at least the sun was shining. This was enough for us to brave a little walk before picking up our usual coffees.

Mile stone? Illegible, though
Photo by Tigger

We skirted the reservoir and entered Claremont Square on the west side. About where the square becomes Amwell Street, Tigger photographed this stone. Any inscription has worn off long ago so it’s hard to determine what it is. I also wonder why the bollard was placed there, in contact with it. Maybe there isn’t a reason; who can tell?

We added just four wreaths to our collection. There was the variety of styles and sizes that we have become used to, as well as a variety of positioning strategies, to express it thus. This one neatly encircles the house number.

This bijou wreath seems to have been suspended from the door knocker. The three letters A, B and C on the door indicate that this house, like many in the neighbourhood, has been divided into flats. Hence, too, the multiple bell buttons on the left of the door.

The plate affixed above the letterbox is another common feature in these parts: it forbids the delivery of free newspapers and “junk mail” (letters addressed to individuals but containing unsolicited advertising).

Winter sunshine in Amwell Street

By the time we bestirred ourselves it was already around 2pm and the sun was already low in the sky. It was managing to illumine only the upper parts of buildings and casting shadows on the lower parts.

We walked along the south side of Claremont Square and scored a couple more wreaths. This one hangs from the doorknob and encircles the letterbox.

Incidentally, the double-panelled doors are typical of these Georgian style houses. In smaller houses, the door is a single piece but in some of the larger houses, the door is in two parts which open separately. By observing the positions of features such as the knocker and letterbox, you can see which type of door it is.

This, our last wreath today, is small and is “frosted”, albeit artificially.

Winter sun, Claremont Square

On the east side of Claremont Square, the houses are partly lit by sunshine and partly shadowed by the reservoir whose outline you can perhaps make out.

Winter sun in the trees
Photo by Tigger

We passed through Myddelton Square and Tigger photographed the sun shining through the trees in the central garden. The lacework of the tree branches is well revealed.

Winter sun, Arlington Way

From Chadwell Street I saw took this photo of Arlington Way. The sun is projecting a shadow of one of the bare trees onto the nearer building.

Once the Crown and Woolpack

In St John Street, the old Crown and Woolpack was decorated with sunshine and the delicate shadows of trees. The building is now used by a hairdresser and nail bar but I have not seen it open in recent months.

Coffee decoration

We of course called in at Jusaka where Tigger’s coffee was given this complex but pretty design. As I drink my coffee black, I don’t rate a decoration!

As I haven’t posted a self-portrait lately, I thought you might like to see one 🙂

SilverTiger, Covid style

For someone like me who finds the cold hard to bear, the present weather is rather trying. We waited until lunchtime before venturing out, by which time, according to the Met Office, the temperature had risen to 3°C, the best we could expect today.

City Road

Tigger proposed that we take a stroll along Duncan Terrace with a view to photographing Christmas wreaths on front doors as she was sure we would find a good selection there.

First, though, we dropped off our cups at Jusaka to be picked up on our return.

The way to Duncan Terrace is to turn off to the left at the bus stop near the top of City Road. The above photo may perhaps give some idea of the cold and dull conditions.

Duncan Terrace

The first part of Duncan Terrace, as you may recall, has a single row of houses facing a central park or garden which results from the covering over of this section of the New River. I imagine that it must be a pleasant area in which to live. The dwellings are three-storey Georgian style houses built in stages from 1791.

Our first wreath

The houses, as is typical of Georgian and early Victorian housing developments, differ very slightly from one another in small details, such as the railings and gateways, tiling on the front path and around the doorway or ironwork around the windows. Some of these details have been lost owing to repairs and alterations but some still can still be made out – such as this gateway arch. The gate, though, is no longer extant.

“Wreath” of lights

I was amused to see that the front door wreath above was echoed by a “wreath” of lights in the basement next door.

I described these houses above as having three storeys whereas I suppose that, technically, they have four stories if we count the basements. Originally, the basement would have been the kitchen and food storage area looked after by the servants. The servants are of course long gone and many of the houses have been divided into flats with the basement now being an independent apartment. (That is not quite as claustrophobic as you might think as the basement stretches right through the house and has a window into the back garden.)

Hanging on the doorknob

Wreaths are attached to doors by various means. Here, they have simply hung it on the central doorknob. That’s quite sensible as it avoids damaging the door with some other sort of attachment.

You may wonder why nearly all the houses have front doors painted black. This is because many of them have listed status which requires that they be kept in their original condition and this implies that the doors be painted black.

Stars in the windows

In addition to a wreath on the door, this house has bold red stars in the windows. I like to see people exercising their imaginations creating their own schemes of decorations.

A scarlet bow

This wreath doesn’t show up well against the black door except for the scarlet bow which certainly does stand out.

Incidentally, you may notice that the front doors are not always exactly rectangular and set straight. This is because in London the ground is liable to subsidence, a fact that was not always sufficiently appreciated by 18th and early 19th-century builders. Houses often sagged unevenly and have been patched up in various ways. (Building regulations today require very deep foundations to prevent such subsidence.)

Looking along Duncan Street

We crossed the end of Duncan Street which provides handy access from Duncan Terrace to the shops and restaurants of Upper Street yet is long enough to insulate it from that noisy area.

Red berries

In a previous post, I said that fir cones and pine cones seemed to be an essential ingredient of Christmas wreaths. Those of Duncan Terrace have shown that that was a hasty judgement. The wreaths here show a wide variety of composition, both natural (such as these berries) and artificial (such as bows and trinkets).

Mixed composition

Wreaths also vary in size and complexity from the small and neat to the large, like this one that has more than a touch of the wild wood about it!

Hiding the letterbox

This one is also hanging from the doorknob and is exactly the right size to obstruct the letterbox. Let’s hope the postman is the understanding kind!

Colebrooke Row

We didn’t explore all of Duncan Terrace but crossed over the covered river into Colebrooke Row. This is even older than Duncan Terrace, having been built from 1768. The houses here are a little larger than those opposite and we expected rich pickings. In that, we were disappointed. We “scored” only one, that shown above.

A glimpse of the canal

Making our way back to City Road, we had this glimpse of the Regent’s Canal. At this point (under where I am standing), the canal enters the Islington Tunnel and re-emerges near King’s Cross.

Tigger drew my attention to a strong smell if woodsmoke in the air. We concluded that the source of it was the barges moored along the canal which use wood-fired stoves for heating.

Elia Street

We crossed Elia Street which provided a slightly ghostly view of some of the tall buildings of the City of London. Elia Street, built in mid-Victorian times takes its name from a nom de plume of writer and essayist Charles Lamb who lived hereabouts.

Ho ho ho!

In a block of flats, I saw these Christmas decorations. As I took a photo, the lights, which had been off, suddenly lit up. I have no idea whether this was by sheer chance or whether the owner, seeing me taking the photo, decided to improve the picture by switching on the lights! Your guess is as good as mine 🙂

A stench pipe

As we crossed the pedestrian area between City Road and Goswell Road, I noticed something that I hadn’t spotted previously though I should perhaps have done. Looking a little like a street lamp that has lost its top, it is in fact a stench pipe. (But see update in On the brink of Tier 3.) These were built mostly during the Victorian period as their design suggests. Their role was to prevent a build-up of unpleasantly odoriferous gases in Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s new system of sewers by venting them to street level, at a height sufficient, so it was hoped, to avoid incommoding passers-by. They are still performing their duties as originally specified! You will find a more detailed explanation here.

Inside Jusaka

And so we arrived at Jusaka where we reclaimed our cups, appropriately filled with hot coffee. Under Tier 2 rules, we could have consumed our coffee on the premises but as they keep their street door open and have minimal heating, it was too cold for me, so we sped home and drank it, garnished with Kit Kat, in the warm!

A pleasant conclusion to our outing.

I have heard people complaining that lockdowns and tiers are making life slow and boring. That’s not how it feels to me. Perhaps it’s my age, but the days seem to be spinning by ever faster. Once again it is Sunday and our day for shopping at the supermarket.

Pentonville Road

Pentonville Road was fairly busy although I caught it at a quiet moment in the above photo. There had been rain overnight, quite heavy to judge by the size of the puddles remaining, and now the weather seemed to be hesitating between rain and sunshine.

The Castle, preparing for lunch

Our way took us past The Castle and we saw that they were preparing to open for lunch. We both had the same idea at the same time: how about having lunch there today? (Did we? Wait and see!)

Santa Bus Driver
Photo by Tigger

Just then, a 73 bus turned the corner and Tigger spotted that it was being driven by no less a personage than Santa Claus! Is business so bad that he has to moonlight to make ends meet or is this a Christmas present for the real driver? We shall never know 🙂

Baron Street

This is Baron Street, looking very dull while the weather is trying to make up its mind…

Street musicians
Photo by Tigger

When we reached Chapel Market, we saw two street musicians performing. We wondered what the small plastic tent was for and decided it was to protect their amplifier from the weather. I’m not a fan of twanging electric guitars accompanying secondhand lyrics so we continued on our way.

Children’s furniture stall

This stall selling what looks like children’s furniture is new. At least, I haven’t seen it here before. It occupies a prime spot usually given to a crockery stall which had been demoted to the pitch next to it.

A good turnout

There was a good turnout in the market today, almost like old times. Approaching Christmas no doubt acts as an encouragement to stall holders.

Christmas trees

There were two rows if Christmas trees in White Conduit Street though whether they both belonged to one retailer or separately to two, I don’t know. Some of the trees were ready wrapped in transparent plastic.

We say “Christmas trees” but of course, the tradition of decorating one’s dwelling with greenery in winter dates back far beyond the 4th century when Christmas was invented. In fact, the religious festival was created in the hope that it would supplant the earlier pagan traditions. In that it was only partially successful and different traditions still exist side by side.

Awkward perch for a pigeon

On reaching Sainsbury’s, I went to fetch a trolley and, as I did so, something flew over my head. It was this pigeon which decided to perch, if that’s the right word for its awkward posture, on what seemed to be an impossibly small protuberance. I think it must have done this before and worked out how to position itself there but why it would do so is a mystery.

Surfing the aisles

We timed our arrival nicely: just after the queue had been absorbed but before the main rush of the day started. Progress through the aisles was fairly easy and we soon had the job done. We even found a checkout with nobody waiting. Bonus!

Back through Chapel Market

After shopping, we made our way back through Chapel Market.

The Farmers’ Market

We saw that the Farmers’s Market was in full swing but we had no need of their products. However, we did, as usual, stop off at…

Stopping off for coffee

…Mercer’s for takeaway coffee. (Yes, it’s a reused photo but you know what they say: “Waste not, want not…”). Today, there were people sitting in the coffee shop but we preferred to make for home and get ready for lunch.

The Castle

We had decided that we would go to the Castle for lunch. Knowing that they were limiting the number of customers in order to implement “social distancing”, I decided to try booking a table online. Unfortunately, when I filled in my details and clicked “Continue”, this gave me “Page not found”. Frustrating.

So I telephoned and was able to book a table. I received an email confirming that we had a dining slot from 12:30 to 1:30. Perfect.

The menu

We consented to consult the menu although we knew what we wanted: the vegetarian roast.

The vegetarian roast
Photo by Tigger

Actually, we should have looked more closely at the menu because today’s veggie roast had a twist to it: instead of gravy, there was something called Bloody Mary Sauce. Neither if us liked this very much but we will know for next time. Live and learn. Apart from that, it was fine. I don’t know how many vegetables there were in it but there were a lot, and many different kinds.

I think that will be the end of our outings for today. I’m off to make tea. How about you?

According to the Met Office, the temperature out in the street is around 6°C but I have to say it feels a lot colder. As soon as we stepped outside, I was looking forward to returning home!

St John Street at the Angel crossroads

On the positive side, it’s sunny, as you can see, though there are slowly drifting clouds that sometimes hide the sun.

We came this way round so as to see whether Jusaka was open. We were pretty sure it wouldn’t be, so sure in fact that we didn’t even bring our reusable cups with us. We were right: they were closed.

A familiar corner

We turned up Chadwell Street into Myddelton Square, familiar territory, yes, but I enjoyed the sunlight on these elegant Georgian-style houses, seeming to make them smile back at me.

Arboreal lacework

With the arrival of autumn this year, I have learned to admire the shapes of these old trees, revealed by the fall of the leaves. For how many long years have they stood where they are, absorbing rain and sunshine, stretching their limbs and branching out to take advantage of the available light? To them, we must seen to dart about like frenetic and short-lived insects, while they measure their hours on the slow clock of the seasons.

Church and trees

St Mark’s Church has been here since the 1820s and, while I am not religious, I appreciate the symbiosis, both actual and poetic, that exists between it and the trees. As the church and its gravestones have aged, the trees have grown and extended their canopies, weathering stonework and spreading branches measuring time together.

Chairs and tables at the deli

On the way to the deli, I remarked to Tigger that it was so cold that the coffee we bought there would have cooled by the time we reached home. When we arrived there, we saw that they had put out their tables and chairs. Tigger suggested we take our coffee here. At first I wasn’t keen because of the cold but here, on this corner in the direct sunlight, it was not too bad. So we had coffee and cake outside in the sun.

A view from the deli

The sun was quite low and from where we sat was reflecting off the windows, dazzling the view in some directions. Even so, it was quite pleasant sitting out like this, despite the cold.

Red bows

On the way home (not carrying rapidly cooling coffee!), we kept a lookout for new Christmas decorations. This first-floor window is embellished with red bows.

At least, I assume they are decorations for Christmas though they might have some other purpose.

Wreath with white roses

I also added to my “collection” of wreaths. Last time, I remarked that pine and fir cones seemed to be a standard ingredient of wreaths. Apparently not always: this one has green leaves and white roses. No cones.

And, yes, I was glad to be home and in the warm again, even though I had enjoyed my coffee on the pavement!