It’s another chilly day today but at least it’s not raining. Let’s be grateful for small mercies.

Ghost sign?
Photo by Tigger

As we made our way down Pentonville Road, Tigger thought to see a hitherto unnoticed feature on one of the houses. My eyes were not able to make it out and even looking at the photo, I’m not sure. The feature in question is a slight darkening of a group of bricks. It is to the left of the leftmost first-floor window, slightly to the left above the red front door. Can you make it out?

It could be the eroded remains of a rectangle of black paint, exactly what survives on many of the houses around here, those that are at the beginning of a row. The black paint was the base on which the street name was painted. Though many have been replaced by modern metal or even plastic name plates, a few survive in various states of preservation. Could this once have been a sign showing the name of the street?

Open but empty

We went by the path that runs close beside the Angel Building on the corner of Pentonville Road with St John Street. It’s an office block and in “normal” times is full of people. Today, although the doors were open, it looked deserted – a symbol of our time, I suppose. I do know that some employees, given the choice of working from home or going to the office, prefer the latter though there could have been but few in there today.

Cake shop window

Next to the office entrance is the Hummingbird Bakery. Despite its name, it’s really a cake shop. It was closed though, as a purveyor of food, I imagine they could have opened. What caught my attention was this sparkly window display. In the centre of each was a decorated cup cake – whether real ones or models, I don’t know.

The Gym London Angel

Next to the Hummingbird in the same building is the Gym. I found this slogan on the door rather ironic now that the place, like all of its kind, is closed. This was no doubt put up when restrictions were eased for a while and it has been left perhaps in the hope that those times will return. Equally ironic, a sign on an adjacent window reads “Welcome Back”.

Graffiti van

As the traffic on the nearby road slowed at the lights, I noticed this graffiti decorated van. The first “graffiti van” I ever saw was on one of our trips to Paris. Since then, the habit has spread. This is not a particularly interesting example but I have seen some very good ones. Good or bad, they always evoke in my mind happy memories of that trip to Paris.

Door still devorated

In the run-up to Christmas, I photographed this shop and its festive decorations (see, for example, It’s cold and damp but…). Most seasonal decorations have gone now but this shop still has its door tied up like a Christmas present. Have its owners given up hope of ever opening again?

Flat-screen TV dumped

Do you need or want a flat-screen TV? If so, hurry along to Chadwell Street without delay because if you don’t grab it, someone else will. I have remarked before on the tradition in this neighbourhood of leaving unwanted items in the street for anyone to take. It works too: even faulty items disappear, no doubt to be repaired and sold on. You might call it a “Neighbourhood Recycling” scheme.

Sun shining through clouds

I took this photo in the hope of showing the pleasant glow of the sun through clouds. It didn’t quite work out (don’t say I don’t give you my failures as well as my successes 🙂 ) but it does at least show off the marvellous tracery of the winter-bare trees. In my book, that’s a win!

Myddelton Square Gardens

For a change, we crossed through the central garden of Myddelton Square, once the churchyard of St Mark’s. It was quiet with just one bench occupied, unlike the first lockdown when it was much busier. Those times will no doubt return with the warmer weather and as general vaccination begins to lift us out of our current slough of despond.

Sun shining through clouds

Another attempt to capture the sight of the sun shining through the clouds and making the scene feel that much more cheerful (“If at first you don’t succeed…” 🙂 ). Guess where we were heading?

Myddelton’s deli

Yes, of course, to Myddelton’s for our coffee. We have been seeing rumours in the press that the government is thinking of ordering coffee shops to close, ostensibly on the grounds that people gather outside them, risking transmission of the virus. “Only rumours”, you say. Yes, but some such (government-sponsored?) rumours have turned out to be true. Our hope is that if that does happen, shops like Myddelton’s, as they are food shops, will remain open and still able to provide coffee. We can but hope.

Who’s that in the window
Photo by Tigger

As we made our way home, Tigger spotted something in a window in Claremont Square and took a photo.

The new kitten on the block
Photo by Tigger

It turned out to be a kitten that we had not seen before, a newcomer. Now, I am not accustomed to using words like “sweet”, “adorable” and, worse still, “cute”, but I have to say that I came dangerously close to doing so on this occasion. It was a pretty little thing and made me miss no longer having a cat. I hope we see it again.

Clutching the hot but rapidly cooling coffee, I hurried us the rest of the way home, there to wash our hands for the statutory 20 seconds and at last drink our treasured brew. Cheers!