Lockdown has ended and we are now living in a world of Tiers. London has been placed in Tier 2, the “High Alert” Tier. Depending on where you live, you may be in a lower or even a higher Tier. If you want an authoritative guide to how the country is divided among the Tiers and what the rules are for each, then the Government’s own guv.uk site is your best bet.

Penton Street

We struck off along Penton Street – whose name, along with that of the Pentonville area (including the prison), derives from Henry Penton (1736–1812), MP and property developer. The weather was cold and grey, and I kept my hands in my coat pockets except when taking photos.

Shops are open

The first novelty, after a month of closure, was to find the shops open, not just those selling food and “essentials” but any and all shops.

Fashion boutique
Photo by Tigger

The fashion boutique is open for business and so is the wedding gown emporium…

Wearing a visor

…where it amused us to see that this dummy was wearing a visor, unlike this one…

No face, no visor…

…but as she doesn’t have a face either, I suppose it doesn’t matter.

Chapel Market (Penton Street end)

We entered Chapel Market at the Penton Street end. It looked pretty empty but, then, the market never does reach this far.

Indian Veg Buffet

At numbers 92-3 you find Indian Veg, a vegetarian buffet that I would perhaps describe as quietly famous. It has already survived a quarter of a century so must be doing something right. As well as being a restaurant it vigorously promotes vegetarianism and ethical living. I don’t think it has a website but here is a review by the Independent.

Decorated doors

Our attention was caught by these decorated shop doors. I don’t think they are actually stained glass though they almost look as if they are. Can you guess what business is transacted within? It’s a tattoo shop. In case you are wondering, no, I have no tattoos and in fact dislike the whole idea. I find the current fad for tattoos incomprehensible and the tattoos themselves disfiguring of the wearer.

Chapel Market – the first stalls

Further along the street, we came upon the first market stalls. In streets like Chapel Market, there is a kind of symbiosis between the stalls and the fixed shops. I’m sure the latter do more trade on market days as customers move between both.

Christmas trees

Once again, the Christmas trees were out in force. This stall had nothing but Christmas trees and some of the other stalls, selling other goods, also had trees. Market traders are adaptable folk!

Costa Coffee

I was curious to see the Costa Coffee shop as the Tier 2 rules seem to me undefined regarding coffee shops. Anyway, they were open and customers were allowed to sit inside. Well, now we know for our future outings.

Like old times…

We walked the length of the market and, as my caption says, it was like old times. There were stalls all the way down and no gaps. Most of the familiar weekday stalls were there, well stocked and ready for business.

The Angel crossroads

We walked on down to the Angel crossroads which proved to be very busy. Traffic was quite heavy in all directions. You might be able to spot our destination just across the road!

Jusaka

Yes, it’s Jusaka, our favourite local coffee place. Actually, it describes itself as a juice bar but our interest is strictly focused on the coffee!

We could sit in

Here too the tables had been set out once more and we were able to sit in and drink our coffee here in leisurely fashion instead of dashing home with it.

The easing of restrictions, though slight, is welcome but we are still in a dangerous situation and it may be necessary to impose lockdown again if cases of infection soar again as they have done before.

If the vaccines prove to be as effective as is claimed, then we can begin to hope to see the end of the pandemic in the not too distant future but there is yet a long way to go before that outcome is achieved. It behoves us all to be patient and to behave sensibly. The weak link in the progress towards success is, as always, human stupidity. And that, as we know only too well, is one disease for which there is no vaccine.

It’s another cold day but at least the sun is shining, which always makes things seem better.

Parcel delivery

As we strolled along, we were overtaken by this man carrying some parcels for delivery. By the time we caught up with him, he had already delivered two packages to two separate addresses and was already rushing off to somewhere else – testimony to how hard these delivery people work for their poor wages.

Christmas wreath

Nearby, we found another wreath to add to our “collection”.

Coal holes

I have often mentioned the basement “area” possessed by these Georgian-style houses but I may not have mentioned that they also own storage space that extends under the pavement in front of the houses. One of the uses of this storage space was as a coal cellar. At the time when the houses were designed and built, coal fires were the only means of heating and cooking was done on kitchen “ranges”, also fuelled by coal. So as not to have coal merchants tramping through the house with their sacks, coal was delivered to the coal cellar through a hole in the pavement. Many of these coal holes have been blocked up in modern times and have been filled with concrete or covered by paving but some still exist with their metal covers still in place.

Coal hole cover

Many different patterns of coal hole covers can be seen, made by many different manufacturers, some local and others made in other cities. This suggests that the covers have been replaced once or often.

Coal hole cover

Most, though not all, have the manufacturer’s name and location moulded around the edge of the cover. Unsurprisingly, this has led to people developing a passion for collecting covers, at least photographically, and displaying them on online forums.

Coal hole cover

In case you are wondering, no, I haven’t been bitten by the collecting bug 🙂 I do often wonder, though, whether any of these manufacturers still exist and whether they still make covers.

Scented blossoms
Photo by Tigger

We passed by St Mark’s Church which has a small garden where Tigger photographed a bush loaded with scented blossoms. Woefully ignorant as we may be, we don’t know the name of this shrub. Don’t hesitate to tell us if you know.

Incidentally, these blossoms thriving in a world of winter-bare trees indicates how out of kilter our seasons have become.

The church is open

The church was open again today and there were people inside. A notice was advertising a carol service some time soon – not that we will be attending 🙂 I expect that churches will become busy again from tomorrow.

Trees – bare but beautiful

In Myddelton Square garden, I admired the trees. This one was lit by the sun as by a spotlight. Though they have shed their leaves they are still beautiful, each unique in the way it has grown and formed its branches, apparently at random and yet with an underlying pattern they I can feel though not analyse.

Window decoration – topical or ironic?
Photo by Tigger

Tigger spotted this window with an unusual adornment. Hanging from the latch in the centre was… a surgical mask! We wondered whether this was a wry comment on prevailing conditions, a mask instead of a branch of holly or other traditional Christmas decoration. It makes a change from rainbows, the other popular window adornment.

Building works in Chadwell Street

In Chadwell Street, building work on this site has been going on for a long time. Usually the site is screened from view but today the screens were open and so I stepped in and took photo. I don’t know what is being built but to judge from the depth to which they have dug, I imagine it must be something big, a tower block perhaps. If so, it will be quite out of scale with the rest if the district so I hope my suspicion proves to be wrong. Tigger noticed that my taking a photo elicited angry looks from one of the builders. Why? Are they doing something they shouldn’t?

More decorations

Yesterday, I showed you this shop which had been decorated with ribbons and baubles on the windowsill. Today, the decor has been taken a step further with a red cross and giant tassel on the door. If this is the outside, what must it be like inside?!

Planter-bike rack in use

Also yesterday, I mentioned these combined planters and bicycle racks and said that I thought cyclists were generally unaware of their purpose. It turns out that I was wrong: there are at least two cyclists who know what they are for!

Coffee hearts

We if course wound up at Jusaka. The barista produced this pattern on the coffee: he must have been practising! Unfortunately, when you put the lid in the cup to take it home, this destroys the design. The photo will at least record it for posterity, though!