It was another warm and sunny day today and, best of all, Tigger was with me. We took a longer than usual walk and needed to take “special measures” to return home!
Repair work at last
Has Thames Water been reading my blog? How many times have I mentioned the water leak here? Now, at last, work is in hand to repair it. In typical fashion, they have dug a hole, put barriers round it and then left it, no doubt satisfied that they’ve done a day’s work. When will they finish it? I don’t know but don’t hold your breath…
Blossoms by the church
We decided again to take our coffee into the gardens in Myddelton Square and go for our walk afterwards. Beside the church, we found this bush covered with blossoms.
Hoverfly on a flower
There was even a hoverfly in one of the flowers. It was very still, unlike their usual behaviour in spring and summer. Perhaps it was not yet quite ready for the excitement to come.
A fine old tree
We had the same problem as I had yesterday: there were large numbers of people about everywhere. People in the park were spacing themselves out nicely, but this meant that all the benches were occupied… all except one, happily! I photographed this fine old tree, one of many here and in other Islington parks.
A random pattern? Or not?
Its pattern of twisting branches makes a fascinating study: it looks random but I’m sure it’s not.
My friends, the pigeons
“My friends, the pigeons”, as Tigger calls them, seemed to be having a fine time in the sun, running about, finding titbits to eat and engaging in courting displays. They made me smile.
Church and gardens
I took this video as a retrospective view of the church and the gardens where I had enjoyed my coffee and watching the pigeons.
Who’s that meditating in the telephone kiosk?
Starting our walk proper, we crossed St John Street to near the Dame Owen pub where we saw this figure apparently sitting in meditation in a telephone kiosque. Of course, it wasn’t a real person but a cleverly placed piece of cut-out art. In this age of mobile phones, public phones are used less and less and are not so regularly maintained as before. As a result, many strange things are being done to them. This artwork is a pretty benign intervention and does not prevent the kiosque being used, though the handset looked broken
Northampton Square Gardens
We arrived in Northampton Square and our second park. This is a small but neatly kept garden with “NO DOGS” painted in large letters on the ground at each entrance. And, true enough, there were no dogs in the garden. We did not stop here though we strolled through and took it all in.
The Bandstand
The square is the proud possessor of a fairly large bandstand. This is unusual in residential squares but I know two others in Islington that also have them. Another unusual feature is that this one was built fairly late, in 1930. It was used – at its inauguration – but probably not much since them. I was amused by the “NO BALL GAMES” notice posted inside.
King Square Garden
Having passed through a couple of not very interesting streets, we reached our third park, also the garden of a square, King Square Garden. This is larger than the previous one but doesn’t have a bandstand.
Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe
I use the caption with apologies to Édouard Manet who used it first! These two, making use of the warm weather to enjoy a picnic, were not the only ones we saw doing so.
An ancient tree though precariously placed
This park also had some venerable old trees worthy of my admiration, including this one which was easy to photograph because of its precarious position beside the railings. Still, it has been here for a long time so I hope it can continue to thrive.
Trees in bloom
We saw a lot of trees and shrubs in bloom. It is as though they were holding themselves ready and the sunshine yesterday and today has acted as the signal for them to burst into flower. So much beauty and perfume as well!
Palm tree
This was perhaps the most exotic of the trees we saw today. It is far from home but seems healthy enough.
By now I was feeling rather tired as we had walked a long way. Walking home from here would have been rather a trek, especially as there would be nowhere en route where we could stop for rest and refreshment. So when Tigger proposed a solution, I needed no persuasion.
Here comes the bus
Photo by Tigger
The solution was to take a bus back to the Angel. We did not have to wait long before one arrived.
On the bus
We were the only passengers at first and then one other person joined us briefly.
Chapel Market
Tigger needed a couple of items of shopping so we made our way to Chapel Market. There were just a few stalls open but it was the market’s closing time and some piles of rubbish showed that other stalls had been present but had been dismantled.
Still quite busy
While Tigger was in the shop I waited outside and observed the scene. Despite the departure of most of the stalls, it was still quite busy with shoppers and others.
Plants and flowers
Eventually, Tigger emerged from the shop and we made our way home. My last photo of the outing was of the plants and flowers stall, still doing plenty of trade.
Relaxing at home with a pot of tea, I was glad to rest. It had been a good, long walk and the warmth and sunshine had added to the pleasure.
SilverTiger at home and abroad 