This morning, we went to Sainsbury’s for our weekly shop as usual.

Baron Street

It was a sunny morning but still a little chilly.

Farmers’ Market

The Farmers’ Market looked thin on the ground compared with its usual turnout. Perhaps some stallholders were taking a holiday after their busy Christmas and the New Year.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s was averagely busy and we soon collected all our purchases.

Chapel Market

Here I am passing through the main market on my way to Mercer’s for our takeaway coffee, thus completing the Sunday morning ritual.

Aboard the 73

After lunch we set out again, catching a 73 bus.

A crowded Oxford Street

We left the bus in Oxford Street which was (for me) uncomfortably crowded.

Bright sky, dull streets

We walked along Oxford Street towards our intended destination. The sun was shining fitfully but the streets were already gathering shadows.

John Lewis, the light well

Our goal was John Lewis’s department store, where we took the escalator up, up and up to the fourth floor. I took a photo looking down the light well and the people on the ground floor looked like ants scurrying about.

The wool department

We came to the wool department because Tigger has agreed to crochet a hat for a colleague and needed to find wool of the colour required.

Wool, wool and more wool

Here we find wool of every colour and every thickness. There are bewilderingly many shades of every colour. Tigger photographed several skeins and texted the photos to her colleague for approval.

Huffington’s

After this, we felt we deserved a cup of tea and withdrew to Huffington’s, one of the in-store cafes.

The piano plays itself

We were intrigued by this piano which looked as though it was being played by the Invisible Man because the keys were being depressed and it was making music.

Order at the counter

A notice bade us wait beside it until called forward to the counter. When our turn came, we placed our order and paid and were instructed to sit at a table. Then our order was brought to us.

Tea and blueberry muffins
Photo by Tigger

We had tea and blueberry muffins.

The sun has set

By the time we emerged from John Lewis, the sun had set and electric lights were taking over from daylight.

Aboard the 7

There was one more thing to see before we returned home. So we caught a number 7 bus.

Marble Arch

The bus brought us to Marble Arch where the object of our search was to be found.

The Marble Arch Mound

The object in question was the art (?) installation known as the Marble Arch Mound. Is there a point to this eccentric and useless structure? Some people presumably think so. Today is its last day so we have at least seen it though I cannot say that the experience struck me as in any way meaningful.

Aboard the 205

We now started our journey home. We took two buses in succession, the second of which, the 205, brought us back to the Angel and home.

Thus, we have come to the end of the unexpected “holiday” that we enjoyed, courtesy of Omicron. Tomorrow, Tigger returns to work and I have an appointment at… No, I will recount that in due course, so watch this space!

It’s a dull, wet day today but not as cold as recently. We set out cheerfully for Walthamstow where we hoped to visit an art exhibition.

A dull wet day

We caught a 205 in Pentonville Road to start our journey,

Figures by Stik

The bus took us to Shoreditch where we see these figures by Stik. This used to be a lively area for street art but since then the artists seem to have moved elsewhere, leaving just a few remnants of their works.

Aboard the 55

Here we boarded a number 55 bus which would put us on the way to Walthamstow.

We stopped off in Leyton

We stopped off in Leyton for a coffee break in a branch of Costa Coffee.

Aboard the 97

After coffee we braved the rain again to catch a 97 for the rest of the journey.

Waltham Forest

We left the bus at Waltham Forest,

The William Morris Gallery

We walked to the William Morris Gallery where the exhibition we wanted to see is being held. It is entitled New Arts of Young Poland 1890-1918. Admission is free and photography is allowed without flash. Below are a few of the works we saw, by no means a representative sample in such a wide-ranging exhibition.

Gallery staircase

Having viewed the exhibition, we descended the Gallery’s elegant staircase and went out once more into the rain.

Gökyüzü Turkish Restaurant

One of the advantages of visiting Walthamstow is that here we find a rather fine Turkish restaurant called Gökyüzü. We have had lunch here several times before. The food is good, with a fair number of vegetarian dishes, and they have plenty of staff so that you never wait long to be attended to.

Salad and bread

Before even asking what you want, they bring you Turkish bread and salad (free) and then…

More salad

…some more free salad! Also in the picture is a glass of ayran (drinking yogurt) and a cup of Turkish tea. (Your first cup of Turkish tea is also free.) When Tigger asked for ayran, the waiter was surprised and asked her – half in fun – whether she was Turkish!

Turkish lentil soup
Photo by Tigger

They make a very good Turkish lentil soup here and we both ordered it. As it happens, we were not very hungry (perhaps the ginger biscuits we had had with our coffee had spoilt our appetite). Thus Tigger made do with soup, bread and salad while I followed my soup with…

Grilled halloumi

…grilled Halloumi.

Starting back

From the restaurant it is just a few yards across the park to the bus station where we were just in time to catch the first of our buses for the journey back to the Angel.

This was our first ramble of any distance for quite a while. As a result, we are both rather out of condition and found today’s outing rather tiring. Will we recover our form again? I certainly hope so.

Today’s outing was short because I am waiting for an important phone call and would rather deal with this at home.

Islington High Street

We started by walking along a busy Islington High Street. The sun was shining but it felt very cold.

Marks & Spencer

We first visited Marks & Spencer in Chapel Market, specifically the food department, where we bought a few items.

White Lion Street

After our visit to M&S, we walked first along White Lion Street. This is the quieter end of that street. The other half leads to the High Street and carries a lot of traffic because there is no left turn at the end of Pentonville Road and vehicles are directed along Baron Street and White Lion Street instead.

Penton Street

White Lion Street leads into Penton Street. This street and the other Pentons and Pentonvilles in the neighbourhood are named after Henry Penton (1736-1812) who owned and developed the area in the 18th century.

Crossing Pentonville Road

Penton Street leads to Pentonville Road at the covered reservoir, placed here because it is the highest point of the neighbourhood.

Amwell Street

Amwell Street contains houses (some divided into flats as is common in our era) as well as shops and other businesses, including the George and Monkey pub.

The business in Amwell Street that we visit most often is of course Myddelton’s deli. We had been there only rarely before the pandemic and the imposition of lockdowns. Our “exercise” outings during lockdown found a natural focus in the deli. As suppliers of “essential” goods, i.e. food, they were able to stay open when other businesses were forced to close. We called in regularly and have continued to do so ever since.

It was too cold today to sit outside so we bought our coffees, chatted briefly with the friendly staff, and then made for home, clutching our precious cargo.

The Curvaceous Tree

In passing, I photographed my favourite, the Curvaceous Tree, which, thanks to winter, currently stands revealed in all its curvilinear, if skeletal, glory. I wonder whether the tree is looking forward, as I am, to it being clothed again in opulent green dress.

Following on from our first test yesterday (see So far, so good), we tested ourselves again today and the tests came up negative, signalling the end of our self-isolation. This one is mine:

All clear
Photo by Tigger

To celebrate, we decided to go for a walk if only a short one. We chose to walk round to the deli via St John Street.

The Angel crossroads

It is another grey day and rather cold, not conducive to long rambles. Even so, it was good to be outside after several days of enclosure.

Myddelton Square Gardens

From St John Street we walked up Chadwell Street to Myddelton Square.

Walking through the gardens

We walked through the central gardens. Unsurprisingly, the gardens were virtually deserted. There just was one dog walker.

Myddelton’s deli

We visited the deli and bought our coffee. There were tables and chairs outside the deli but the weather was too chilly to sit outside. Carrying our coffee, we made for home.

That was but a short outing, just to break the ice, as it were. Tigger is not going into the office tomorrow so perhaps we can venture out again and travel further afield.

In my post of December 30th (see Oh, my… cron!), I explained that Tigger’s test for Covid-19, taken at work, had come up positive and that we were in consequence “self-isolating”. As far as symptoms are concerned, we have both had what feels like a heavy cold with a cough.

We have kept ourselves entertained as best we could which, in my case, included setting up my new PC and getting to know Windows 10. Yesterday, we fired up Sainsbury’s Chop Chop and did some shopping by remote control.

According to the rules, we can test ourselves on days 6 and 7 of our isolation and, if both these tests are negative and we are symptom-free, we can go back out into the world.

The test is negative
Photo by Tigger

We performed the first of those tests today and we both had a negative result. We will test ourselves again tomorrow, hoping that these tests will also prove negative.

We have been fortunate in keeping away from the virus until we had had both primary vaccinations and the booster. Fortunate, too, in that the variant that has invaded us is Omicron, know to be milder in its effects, especially in people who, like us, have had all their jabs.

I don’t underestimate the potential seriousness of this disease, even in its Omicron variant, and agree that we have been lucky to get off so lightly.

So, here’s to tomorrow…!