We tarried over lunch – with Tigger listening to the radio and me writing the previous blog post – until I thought to look out of the window and see… the sun shining! We quickly put on our coats and hurried out into the sunshine.

Busy crossroads

Whether it was the sunshine lifting people’s spirits or just the usual Saturday activity, the streets were quite busy with both vehicles and pedestrians.

Taking the vacuum cleaner for a walk
Photo by Tigger

One of the more curious sights was this one: a lady walking along with a shopping trolley while dragging a vacuum cleaner as though it were a little dog on a lead!

At the Clock Tower

We walked down the end of Goswell Road where it meets City Road at the clock tower. As you can see, the sky was full of clouds, which caused the sun to appear and disappear, but, for the duration of our walk, at least, the rain held off.

We passed the gymnasium which is now fully functioning again, of course. Its large windows allow a clear view of the activity within. In the foreground was a row of what looked like couches with people lying on them performing strange contortions. They were all synchronised in their movements and so must have been following instructions.

“Extreme yoga,” remarked Tigger.

Whatever it was, it looked painful. (Discretion of course forbade photographing the people thus engaged.)

Electra speeds by
Photo by Tigger

Turning up Chadwell Street we arrived in Myddelton Square where we found Electra performing her circuits. Tigger managed to grab a discreet shot of her.

Myddelton Passage

This time it was Tigger who suggested we take a look to see how the pub vine was faring. Accordingly, we walked down the peaceful little street called Myddelton Passage. The pub at its garden are at the far end.

The pub vine

The vine was looking very healthy and luxuriant, its leaves flickering in the wind almost as though it was greeting us, aware of our interest.

Clusters of grapes

There were abundant clusters of grapes and they had grown noticeably bigger since our last visit. I said then that I didn’t think they would ever be edible but I am beginning to have second thoughts about that.

Grape cluster
Photo by Tigger

This close-up by Tigger will give you an idea of how the grapes are developing.

The “Time Traveller”
Photo by Tigger

One of our little hobbies, as we go about, is to spot time travellers. All right, they are not really time travellers – people who have arrived here from another time (then again, how can we really be sure?) – but who, in dress and demeanour, look as though they belong to a previous age. There are surprisingly many of them, like this lady, who could just have stepped out of the pages of an Agatha Christie novel. What does she think, I wonder, of our strange world of the future?

The reservoir

We returned home past the reservoir in Claremont Square. At present it looks rather bare. Like many grassy areas, it had been allowed to grow uncut during spring and had become like a meadow with long grasses interspersed with flowers. It’s rather sad to see it shorn of such beauty and we can only hope that it will be allowed the flourish again next spring.

Sunlight and shadow in Milne Street

Now, with a glance back at a familiar scene enhanced by the interplay of sunlight and shadow, we turned for home, happy to have escaped the rain and enjoyed our walk.

Tigger went into work from Wednesday to Friday this week. Though it may sound weak-willed, in her absence I sometimes find it hard to “get up and go”: it’s all too easy to sit around all day, plinking on the computer keyboard. The dull weather hasn’t provided much encouragement.

Sunshine in Pentonville Road

Yesterday (Friday), I did bestir myself, briefly. I had been meaning to go out and look for books in French as I had finished those I bought a while back. So I geared myself up for a visit to the Oxfam Bookshop in Upper Street. The weather forecast predicted cloudy skies but when I set out, the sun was shining.

Artificial lawn, Angel Central

I passed through Chapel Market and then Angel Central as this is a fairly direct route to the bookshop and avoids the busy main road. In the Angel Central shopping center, they had laid an artificial lawn with wooden seats and flowers in the courtyard but, despite the sunshine, no one was sitting in the seats.

Decorations add a dash of colour

The decorations, presumably in honour of the advertised “Summer Fête”, were still in place, adding a dash of colour.

Illuminated arch

During the recent rebuilding of the centre, this illuminated arch was added. I’m not sure it does anything to enhance the attractiveness of the place while taking up valuable space.

I took a few books with me to the Oxfam Bookshop to donate, three of those I had bought recently which were therefore in new condition and should be easy to sell.

This shop used to have a good stock of books in foreign languages but it no longer does – I don’t know why. I went through all their titles in French but was hard pressed to find anything of interest. In the end I plumped for the above book. It won a literary prize which should be a recommendation, I suppose, but having read the first few pages, I can’t say it has captured my enthusiasm. I rather think it will be on its way back to the shop soon.

Puddles in Claremont Square

In view of the foregoing, you can imagine that I was looking forward to today when Tigger doesn’t go in to the office. Tigger goes back to work on Tuesday, so we have three days to ourselves till then. Unfortunately, we awoke to cloudy skies and heavy rain.

Snail, enjoying the damp conditions
Photo by Tigger

In the late morning, the rain ceased and so we dashed out to make the most of it. There were others also out making the most of the damp conditions. Tigger photographed this snail walking along the rim of a recycling bin.

When the weather turns wet, the snails and slugs become adventurous and go exploring. That’s fine until the weather dries up again, leaving them stranded far from friendly greenery on dry pavements and walls. We have rescued many such.

A change for the better?

As we walked through Claremont Square, the weather seemed to take a turn for the better. Blue sky appeared between the clouds and the sun shone. Had the forecast been superseded by reality?

Sitting outside Myddelton’s
Photo by Tigger

We hurried to Amwell Street and Myddelton’s deli. While I went inside to buy coffee, Tigger grabbed a table. It turned out that, even though they were under the canopy, the chairs were wet from the earlier rainfall, so we spread our rain jackets over them to sit on.

Coffee and croissants
Photo by Tigger

To cheer ourselves up, we bought croissants with the coffee.

The clouds close in

As we consumed our coffee, the clouds began closing in again. Then the rain started. Even though we were under the canopy, it blew in onto us. I quickly finished my coffee (I’m always the slower of the two of us.) We put our rain jackets on and made for home.

At home, we had lunch and kept tabs on the weather. Would we be able to go out again later?