As I hadn’t been to Duncan Terrace for a while, that is where I went for my walk today. Unlike Monday, which was a gloriously sunny day, today was overcast but it was still warm (20°C). I made sure I was not too warmly dressed!

The clock tower

I crossed the road by the triangular area between Goswell Road and City Road so that I could photograph the Smith & Sons clock tower. I forgot to check whether it was working (it has been still for several months), but checking now, the time it is showing is about right for when I took the photo.

Crossing City Road

I crossed City Road at the lights. I had come this way to avoid passing the bus stop which is always crowded. The Covid infection rate in London is relatively low but there is no sense in taking unnecessary risks.

Duncan Terrace Garden

Duncan Terrace Garden, you may recall, is a narrow strip of a garden between Duncan Terrace and Colebrooke Row. It covers this section of Hugh Myddelton’s New River, now culverted beneath it. All along the path there are benches and I toyed with the idea of sitting for a while but many benches were occupied and when I found one empty, someone beat me to it! So, like Felix, I kept on walking.

Blossom and flowers everywhere

Everywhere one looked, there were flowers in the grass and blossom on the trees. If only the sun had been shining to enhance the colours!

Wood piles or bug hotels?

I was interested to see these piles of wood in a fenced-off area. Are they just bits of old wood waiting to be carted away or are they bug hotels? I hope they are the latter and think they probably are.

Rough area

As well as the more obviously “gardened” parts, there are areas like this that have been left rough and so form a perfect habitat for smaller creatures.

Rock dove aka pigeon

The garden, like all parks, has its resident population of rock doves or, if you prefer, pigeons. As I approached, this male was courting a female but she snubbed him and he flew onto the fence post, perhaps to spy out the terrain and look for a new prospect. He didn’t seem to mind being photographed though I didn’t go too near so as to avoid disturbing him.

The second garden

There is really a string of gardens known as Duncan Terrace Garden and Colebrooke Row Gardens, running over the course if the now hidden river. The difference between them, I think, is that Duncan Terrace Garden comprises the two sections that you can walk in and Colebrooke Row Gardens is the part that runs along beside the road but is fenced off and too narrow for use as a park. The above photo shows the second section of Duncan Terrace Gardens and this part is characterised by its landscaped collection of rocks. Are they real or artificial? I don’t know. They look real and I think that’s good enough!

Tree in blossom

There are fewer flowers and more trees in this part of the garden but this tree in blossom was making a colourful display.

Charlton Place

At the end of Duncan Terrace Garden, I turned up a street called Charlton Place. There is something odd about the arrangement of the houses in this street. On the right, they are in a straight line but, on the left, they form a gentle curve. These two rows of houses don’t go together, making the road an odd shape. I wonder whether originally there were only the houses in the left, perhaps looking out over parkland and then developers came along and slapped in a second row of houses, less elegantly disposed than their older neighbours.

Camden Passage

From Charlton Place, I entered Camden Passage and had some idea of following it and then the High Street. In non-Covid times, Wednesday is one of the three days in the week when the antiques market takes place. There was no sign of it today, of course. Perhaps it will resume after April 12th. Even without the market, Camden Passage was fairly busy today and so, on reaching Duncan Street, I decided to go down it to rejoin Duncan Terrace.

Duncan Street

We used to come here in the “old days” when there was a no frills Chinese restaurant here that Tigger liked. It disappeared a while ago, though.

Duncan Terrace

Back in Duncan Terrace, I walked along the road this time. The houses here are in the Georgian style, what you might call “middle range”, not as luxurious as in some areas but with details here and there hinting at a more affluent original clientele. For example:

Columns and lantern

For a clue to the status of Georgian style houses, look at the front door. In the cheapest houses, the door is narrow with a plain surround. As the houses increase in status, the doors become larger and have more decorative surrounds such ad the pillars here. Also, look at the fanlight over the door: it’s not easy to in the photo but, built into the fanlight is a lantern with a functioning light! Several houses along here have lanterns but in others they are missing, victims of time and accident.

Chadwell Street

For purely sentimental reasons, I returned home through what I have come to feel is my “home territory”. I crossed St John Street and walked up Chadwell Street. From there I entered Myddelton Square.

Myddelton Square

Though I of course knew the neighbourhood before the pandemic, I knew it vaguely, not intimately. The pandemic, obliging us to stay in the locality, led to us exploring it and my coming to know it in detail, learning to distinguish features to which I was previously oblivious. I came to know the streets and the houses, their similarities and differences, their details and quirks, to notice changes, such as the arrival and disappearance of Christmas decorations. I enjoy walking around these streets, “keeping in touch”, as it were. Wandering further adield is interesting and fun but I like to return here, to where I feel confortable and at peace.

Tigger is at work today and so I have to make my own entertainment. As our visit to Culpeper Community Garden last Thursday had been brief because of the rain, I decided to return today for a more leisurely exploration.

The weather was certainly favourable: the sun was shining and the temperature was nudging the mercury up to 17°C. I decided to wear my lighter coat but, even so, I was a little too warm.

Sunshine in Pentonville Road

This view along Pentonville Road will give you an idea of the conditions. Just look at that blue sky!

White Conduit Street

I crossed Chapel Market and entered White Conduit Street. Even though the market is closed on Mondays, there was a good deal of activity in and around Chapel Market.

The Culpeper pigeons

Crossing Toluddle Street, I of course stopped to visit “my friends”, the Culpeper pigeons.

Culpeper Park

Unsurprisingly, in view of the weather, the park was relatively crowded. There were quite a lot of young people of student age and some young enough to be using the children’s playground. This struck me as odd: aren’t they supposed to be in school?

Entrance to Culpeper Community Garden

The Community Garden was open. I went in and found that it too was crowded. People obviously find this amenable place to their taste.

The pond

The string barrier around the pond had been removed but the breeding season was still in progress to judge from the activity in the water. I spotted two denizens but whether they were frogs or toads I was unable to see. Their colours were too dark against that of the water for them to show up in a photo.

Another view of the pond

Though not huge, the pond is fairly extensive and well supplied with plants. A notice warns that the water is “deep”, so I imagine it must attract a lot of aquatic species.

Plots under cultivation

The garden has curvy paths for visitors to stroll along and open areas with benches and chairs where they can sit and enjoy the atmosphere. Much of the garden consists of plots under cultivation. These are all different and contain different combinations of plants and flowers.

“Burning bush”

My attention was caught by this bush. I don’t know its real name but in my imagination called it “burning bush” because that is what it looks like!

Denser vegetation

Some areas are more open and sunlit while others, as here, are denser, forming a welcome habitat for plants and wildlife that prefer shadier conditions.

Working on their plot

From this point on one of the paths, I could see a row of plots and people working in them. Later, I met and spoke to a lady who was a member of the community garden and she explained that they each have a plot of their own. She showed me hers which was well tended and she told me how much she enjoyed it. That, of course, explains why the plots are all different: each is designed and planted according to the choice of its owner.

Covered path or loggia

I photographed this covered path on Thursday but I photographed it again today because it is so pleasant and attractive. It is one of my favourite features of the garden.

Here are a couple more pictures of the garden, without captions, leaving them to speak for themselves.

Leaving the community garden, I decided to go for a little ramble round the neighbouring streets.

Denmark Grove

This short street is called Denmark Grove. It contains apartment blocks, each with its name.

Elsinore House

This one, for example, is called Elsinore House. Do you see a pattern forming? 🙂

Copenhagen Street

Denmark Grove leads out into Copenhagen Street, so I think we were right to detect a pattern forming!

Meeting a neighbour

In Denmark Grove, I met one of the neighbours who greeted me amiably enough but…

He has important business elswhere

…let me know he had important business elsewhere and departed.

Once an adventure playground

I went as far as the end of Copenhagen Street and found I had arrived at Barnard Park. I didn’t go in but contented myself with this photo of what was once an adventure playground. It has been closed off for years and stands like an abandoned village in a forgotten corner, quietly rotting away. (Update: according to an email received privately, the playground is still in use at certain times of day.)

Church on the Corner
once the King Edward VII

I photographed this old pre-Victorian pub, once called the King Edward VII and now repurposed as The Church on the Corner, and then made my way back along the way I had come.

Back through Culpeper Park

I crossed through Culpeper Park again – still crowded with people enjoying the warm sunshine – and thence into Chapel Market.

Mercer’s for coffee

Passing Mercer’s, I was tempted by the smell of coffee and gave in to temptation! Well, and why not? A pleasant end to a ramble on a sunny day.

We did go out for a third time today and, moreover, in the hours of darkness.

For a while now, the world has been enjoying a phenomenon commonly called a Supermoon when the our satellite is unusually close to the earth, affording spectacular views – weather conditions permitting, of course.

Tigger has been following lunar events with some interest, particularly from the point of view of photographing our celestial neighbour.

I mentioned that Tigger had recently acquired a new phone. On board, it has Apple’s best camera yet and Tigger was keen to try to obtain some photos of the supermoon with it. Unfortunately, as observational astronomers know only too well, the weather can always intervene to frustrate your best efforts. Today’s weather illustrates that point: the sky was obscured by fast-moving clouds that continually veiled the moon while allowing half-glimpses of it from time to time. However, as practised street photographers, we are long used to waiting patiently for a split second of visibility of our subject. So it was tonight with the moon in the cloudy sky.

St Mark’s Church from Claremont Square

I did make a couple of attempts at capturing the moon myself but soon desisted when it was obvious that, with my now relatively ancient camera phone, the results would be poor. Instead, I photographed a couple familiar scenes in unfamiliar lighting while keeping Tigger company. Above is a scene I have shown you many times but in an entirely new light – literally!

Myddelton Square at night

Photographing the moon in town presents the difficulty of obtaining a clear view of it. The moon tonight was relatively low in the sky (which is when it appears at its most spectacular, appearing large in comparison with earthly structures) and we had to find a position from which we had a clear view. Thus we walked around Myddelton Square in search of a gap between buildings. Having found one, we had to wait for moments when the clouds thinned which they never did entirely.

Here, then, are just four of the photos taken by Tigger. I have not edited them at all and so they are as they came from Tigger’s phone to mine via the wonders of wireless communications.

If you were to ask me which is my favourite, I think I would choose the last one because, although the moon is partially obscured by tree branches, that very fact somehow symbolises the our concept of the moon as intimately related to our lives on earth.

In the throes of a late lunch, Tigger proposed a quick foray to Myddelton’s for coffee. We would have to hurry as they close on Sunday at 3pm and it was already nearly 2:30 and I was still only halfway through my sandwich.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, as the proverb has it. Somehow, I swallowed the remainder of my sandwich, put on my shoes and struggled into my coat. (I must remember to buy a larger size next time.) We hit the street at 2:45.

We might have gone for a walk or perhaps taken our coffee to Myddelton Square Gardens had the conditions warranted but the weather was really not suitable. It was cold and there were drops of rain floating in the air.

Trees on the reservoir

Straight there and straight back?” asked Tigger. Yes, it was the only sensible course.

Still leaking

I don’t know whether you can see the movement of the water in this live photo but there is a perceptible flow emanating from the metal cover.

Into Amwell Street

We progressed into Amwell Street which is probably familiar to you by now. It is a pleasantly quiet street, especially on a Sunday, but for some reason attracts a fair amount of through traffic. Have you noticed an important recent change in the traffic from the pedestrian’s point of view?

I am referring to the increasing numbers of electric vehicles, not only electrically powered cars and vans but electric bicycles and that modern plague, the electric stand-up scooter. For the hearing-impaired, these constitute a danger because we don’t hear them coming. Yes, of course you should look both ways before stepping off the pavement but sound – specifically the sound of an approaching vehicle – is also important because vehicles can suddenly come around the corner or suddenly move off from being parked. The faster the vehicle, the greater the danger it constitutes. Scooters, in particular, being small, are easy to miss visually but can move surprisingly fast.

Looking along Inglebert Street
Photo by Tigger

In this photo of a familiar scene, you can gain an impression of the weather conditions.

Dispensing our coffee

We reached Myddelton’s well before the 3pm closure, better than last time when we crept in just after they had supposedly closed!

Stereo speakers

Do you need stereo speakers? If so, there’s a pair going begging. There’s no guarantee but the price is right (free!).

Palms in the doorway
Photo by Tigger

Being non-religious, I am vague about such things as dates of Christian (and other) religious festivals. It was only when Tigger took this photo of the church doorway that it occurred to me that today must be Palm Sunday. Placing palms in the doorway is another example of how Covid-19 has caused a rethink of behaviour patterns, not only in religious observance but in all aspects of our lives. It begs the question of whether, after Covid-19 (assuming we do actually conquer it), our habits will return to what they were before or whether some changes will become permanent. Perhaps churches, for example, will continue broadcasting their services via Zoom, for the benefit of the housebound and of those who simply prefer to “go to church” at home.

As for us, coffee in hand, we made for home where we shall spend the rest of the day relaxing unless some sudden inspiration prompts us to sudden activity.

Because the clocks have changed, I half-expected Sainsbury’s store to be thinly attended this morning, partly because some people would have forgotten to change their clocks and others would find it difficult to get up an hour earlier. In fact, the difference, if there was one, was unnoticeable. Either people are now better at remembering the clock-change or the prevalence of radio-controlled clocks means that their clocks and mobile phones “remember” for them.

All of our clocks but one are radio-controlled and the clocks of our computers and mobile phones also change without any interference from us. The one clock of ours that is not radio-controlled serves as a check that the hour has indeed changed.

Sunday in Pentonville Road

Until a few weeks ago, this would have been the usual appearance of Pentonville Road on a Sunday morning but today, it struck us as odd.

We had become used to the tailbacks causing solid ranks of barely moving vehicles along the whole of this section of the road. This was because repairs to the gas main near the traffic lights led to the closure of the inner vehicle lane. When we looked down the road today, we saw that the obstruction had been removed bringing a return to free-flowing traffic.

Chapel Market

We crossed through the market as we always do. The number of stalls was about what it has been throughout the latest lockdown. It will be interesting to see what happens on April 12th when restrictions on shops are lifted. Will there be an explosive expansion of the number of stalls or will some – or even many – traders have gone out of business as a result of being unable to earn income for so long?

The plant stall

The plant stall maintained its usual substantial presence in White Conduit Street. I am still uncertain as to whether they are theoretically allowed to trade under the current restrictions but, if not, then they have git away with it so far, and their efforts have been rewarded by having plenty of customers.

“Distanced” queueing at the checkout

Shopping at Sainsbury’s proceeded as it normally does, though on reflection, perhaps it was a little less crowded than usual.

Checkout queueing habits have changed during the pandemic. In the past, there would have been a separate queue for each checkout but these days, people form a single queue for each pair of checkouts and then, when it’s their turn, go to whichever of the two becomes free. If you don’t know about this then, because of “social distancing”, you may think that when a checkout becomes available it’s up for grabs. You then find yourself the object of verbal abuse for queue-jumping!

On my way to Mercer’s

As usual, I was seemingly ungallant and left Tigger with the shopping while I hurried ahead to Mercer’s to order our coffee. That task completed, we hurried home to drink our coffee, put away the shopping and plot our next move. What will that be? Well, we shall see, won’t we? 🙂