As I explained yesterday, we put off our usual Sunday shopping run to enjoy the fine weather. Today, then, is this week’s shopping day.

The temperature has dropped to a measly 4°C and there was snow in the air. Yes, actual snowflakes floating down from the sky though there was little sign of this on the ground.

Invisible snow in Pentonville Road

This view of Pentonville Road shows the dull conditions though the snowflakes remain obstinately invisble . There was a cold breeze that made me glad I was wearing my winter coat and encouraged me to put my gloves on! Such a contrast with yesterday!

Chapel Market – closed

Here is the traditional shopping-day photo of Chapel Market. The market is closed on Mondays, whether they are bank holidays or not, and even those lockdown stalwarts, stalls run by shops, are missing. So is the usual bustle of customers.

Snow visible!

I stopped to take a photo here, not for the interest of the scene but because I thought the snowflakes would show up against the dark shutters. And they do – if you watch carefully!

Sky view
Video by Tigger

Tigger tried capturing the snow, literally, by turning the camera vertically. It has worked well before but today’s snow is of an unusually subtle kind! Anyway, it’s a nice video on its own account.

A few customers here…

Sainsbury’s also presented an unusual aspect, compared with Sundays. There were a few customers in some places and…

…and none here

…few or none in other places. It was altogether a more pleasant shopping experience than the usual Sunday scramble.

A quiet Chapel Market

As usual, I left Tigger with the shopping trolley and a bag (I always feel bad about that but she insists…) and hurried ahead. On Sundays, I have to dodge and weave among the crowds but not today. It’s amusing to notice that although the street reverts to a normal road on Mondays, people still walk on the carriageway – through force of habit, no doubt.

Mercer’s

My destination was Mercer’s, of course, to buy our coffee. Today, though, there was a touch of novelty awaiting me inside.

The chairs and stools reappear

The chairs and stools that had hitherto been absent have returned, ready for shops and cafes opening again in a week’s time. It made the place seem curiously cluttered! We have become so used to the lockdown conditions that it is a return to “normal” that will seem odd and need some readjustment.

Personally, I have become so used to the current conditions and am so comfortable with them (in some ways, I prefer the lockdown world to the “normal” one) that the ending of restrictions will seem awkward and counterintuitive, though I suppose I will eventually become used to it.

Coffee in hand, we made for home. Given the weather, will we go out again today? I think it unlikely but let’s wait and see.