Tigger went back to work today leaving me with a few jobs to do to be ready for the electrical inspection tomorrow.

One of these jobs was to take some items to the recycling bins in St John Street. Over the years we had collected a number of small electrical devices that no longer worked and these are the only bins I know of that accept such items.

Passing by Myddelton Square

I decided to go via the “pretty route”, as this would by calmer and more pleasant than going by the main road. I passed by Myddeltion Square.

My favourite tree

In passing, I saluted my favourite, the Curvaceous Tree. I shall be so glad when I see the first signs of new leaves on its branches, indicating the onset of spring.

Installing fibre

After a pause of several months, the laying of fibre has resumed in this corner of Myddelton Square. I wonder how many households have opted to be connected. We have no plans to do so. I am keeping my eye on the development of wireless wifi which I think is the future, rather than cables.

Unusual activity in Myddelton Passage

When I reached Myddelton Passage, which is usually very quiet, I found unusual activity: there were lorries unloading scaffolding and this mobile toilet has been installed. Major works seem to be planned though what they are for I do not know.

The pub vine – no signs of life

I of course had a look at the pub vine in passing. It is still brown and dry and you could be forgiven for thinking it is dead. It looked like this last year and then burst into luxuriant life in spring and I hope it will do so again this year.

Rosebery Avenue

I continued on into the pleasant tree-lined Rosebery Avenue, one of whose landmarks is this turreted building that was once the offices of the New River Company and is now residential.

Spa Green

I crossed the road and entered the small but pleasant park called Spa Green. The trees are bare at present, meaning that you can see the whole length of the park.

The gate into Lloyd’s Row

At one side of Spa Green is a gate that leads into a cul de sac called Lloyd’s Row. It was pleasantly quiet and the loudest noise was the rattling of the shopping trolley!

Lloyd’s Row

Lloyd’s Row is fairly short and, being a cul de sac, does not attract traffic except for access. On the right in the photo is a school, called Hugh Myddelton Primary School, and on the left is a housing development called, appropriately enough, Spa Green Estate.

Dame Alice Owen

Lloyd’s Row leads into St John Street opposite the pub that is currently called the Dame Alice Owen though it has had many different names even in the time that I have lived in the neighbourhood. Dame Alice was a local philanthropist and her name almost rivals that of Hugh Myddelton in the number of its occurrences in the area.

The goal is in view

Near a row of shops in St John Street are recycling bins. I deposited our stuff and then turned for home.

A view of St John Street

I followed the same path in reverse.

Lloyd’s Row

I walked back up Lloyd’s Row and…

War Memorial, Spa Green

…passed back through Spa Green.

Myddelton Square Garden

Nearing home, I took a last photo, looking over the railings into Myddelton Square Gardens. I am looking forward to the coming of warmer weather when we can sit in the gardens with coffee and perhaps a picnic lunch.

Tomorrow we have a few last-minute things to do. For example, we need to move the bed as it prevents access to a power point. Then Tigger will go to work, leaving me to receive the electricians. I was told that their inspection should take no more than an hour but I’ll believe that if I see it.

Once the electricians have done their work and left, we can begin the work of putting our interior back into its normal (cluttered!) state. We hope to have help in moving the boxes and bags back from storage but, if not, we shall do it by ourselves. I am looking forward to things returning to normal!

Blue sky over the Farmers’ Market

When we went out this morning, the sun was shining from a beautiful clear blue sky.

Cafe Sizzles

Once again, we went to Cafe Sizzles for brunch. Again today, they brought us our tea (one with milk, one black) without our needing to ask.

Activity in the Farmers’ Market

The Farmers’ Market was fairly busy with several stalls selling specialised products not available in the main market.

In Sainsbury’s

After brunch, we went to Sainsbury’s as usual for our weekly shopping run. We each had a list of items to collect and then joined together for the rest. This is an efficient way of doing the job and we had soon finished.

Passing through Chapel Market

After our session at Sainsbury’s, I hurried through Chapel. Market on my way to Mercer’s to pick up our coffee. Here too, I didn’t need to say what I wanted as they know me and produce our coffees without being asked.

Wild Kong
Richard Orlinski

I took this photo of Richard Orlinski’s Wild Kong when we were on the way, yet again, to Safestore. As Tigger is working tomorrow, today was the last day for shifting stuff to Safestore.

Corridor, Safestore

Safestore’s storage areas consist of four floors of lock-ups. These rows of yellow doors, distinguished from one another only by the individual number in each, can seem confusing until you learn the way to and from yours.

In addition to moving stuff into store, we also took another load to the charity shop.

We still have a few things left to do to prepare for the electricity inspection. Some of these – such as taking some discarded electrical items to the dump – I will do tomorrow. The rest (for example, with need to move our bed which blocks access to a power point) we will do together tomorrow evening and early Tuesday morning.

Once the inspection has been completed, we can start the next phase of activity. Guess what that is? Yes! Moving everything back from the store to home! We have rented our storage space until March 11th and have to have emptied the lock-up by close of business on that day though we could, if necessary, extend our contract on a daily basis.

And here is the traditional view of our storage space at end of work today. This is how it will stay until we start moving stuff out again.

Final state
Photo by Tigger

Tigger is responsible for fitting all these bags and boxes together in the available space. She seems to have a talent for it! It almost seems a shame to undo it all again later!

Yes, we are still transporting stuff to store and sorting through it in parallel. It’s one of those tasks that would take months to complete and we don’t have months, only days.

Kennedy’s

On Friday, Tigger was working the late shift and reached home only after Safestore closed, meaning that we could not access our lock-up. Instead, we thought we were due a treat. I met Tigger at Kennedy’s in Goswell Road where we dined on chips and deep-fried halloumi

This morning, we did a lot of work at home, mainly aimed at clearing a path to each of our power points, ready for the electricity inspection on Tuesday.

Cafe Sizzles

We went to Cafe Sizzles for brunch. A surprise awaited us: without asking us what we wanted, they brought us a cup of tea each, mine without milk. This was their way of showing they remembered us and what we order!

Fruit and vegetable stall, Chapel Market

After brunch, we walked through Chapel Market taking two loads of stuff to Oxfam. This included Freya’s carrying cage, her food dishes and other items. I had held on to them all this time but today felt that I can finally part from them.

The Angel Crossroads
Photo by Tigger

On the way to Oxfam, Tigger took this photo looking back along the High Street.

Using the corridor

We returned home and collected some more stuff to donate and took this to Fara. We then went to Safestore where Tigger started reorganising our lock-up. She knew what she was doing; I didn’t; so I let her get on with it, helping when asked to do so.

The result
Photo by Tigger

When Tigger had finished, our store looked like this. Tigger pronounced herself satisfied with this though I could barely see the difference.

Amwell Street

We then trundled our empty trolley along Amwell Street where we picked up coffee and a little something else from Myddelton’s deli.

Coffee and Victoria sponge

At home, we enjoyed our purchases, coffee and Victoria sponge.

Tigger then prepared a large trunk full of stuff to take to the store. We had to borrow a trolley from the store to transport it. It was quite a story pushing this thing through the streets and unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a photo.

At the store, we repeated the process of moving things out into the corridor to make space for the trunk and then packing them back in again. This was the final result:

The final state

We returned home for a deserved rest and I think that’s it for today. We have two more days before the electricity inspection which has motivated this activity. Will we get it all done in time?

Tigger was on the early shift today so I met her off the bus at the stop near Safestore. We then put in the best part of an hour sorting through our bags and boxes.

As usual, we divided stuff into Dump, Recycle and Donate to Charity Shop. When we had done, the storage area looked like this:

See any difference?
Photo by Tigger

Do you notice any difference? Probably not but we managed to eliminate one whole plastic trunk like those you see bottom left!

As it happens, the trunk has a small hole in it and is somewhat battered but despite that, someone might be able to get some use out of it. We have left it by the dustbins in front of the house in the hope that the “Garden Fairies”, as Tigger calls them, will spirit it away. We have disposed of other items by this method and we hope the trunk will follow in their wake.

Note on “Garden Fairies”

Disposing of an unwanted item too big to fit in the dustbin is a problem in London. If you have a car – we don’t – you might be able to take it to the Council rubbish dump. Otherwise, you may have to ask the Council to take it away, which they will do, but this costs a fee (£30 for one or two items).

Happily, there are people, those to whom Tigger has applied the epithet “Garden Fairies”, who keep an eye on what householders put out as rubbish and take away items that they want or think they can sell. They will even take devices such as electric kettles and microwave ovens that are no longer working. They perform their labours stealthily but we are grateful to them as their activities have on many occasions saved us the Council removal fee.

The title refers to the nine photos below which I took around my home neighbourhood, the Angel at Islington, this morning. (I could equally well call it “Nine plus One” for reasons that you will discover by reading on!)

Sunny but chilly in Upper Street

We had a bag of DVDs which we decided to donate to Oxfam. I carried these to their shop in the High Street where I was told that they could not accept them there and that I must take them to the Oxfam Bookshop in Upper Street. Nothing daunted, thither I went. The day was pleasantly sunny but with a definite chill on the air.

Charlton Place

Having deposited the DVDs, I remembered that today, Wednesday, was supposedly a day when the antiques market takes place in Camden Passage. My last visit to the market had been disappointing as hardly any stalls had been present. Would it be any better today? Opposite the Oxfam Bookshop is Charlton Passage, a short street the leads into Camden passage.

Antiques stalls

At the end of Charlton Passage is an under-cover open space used by antiques stalls on market days. On my previous visit, it was occupied by tables belonging to the adjacent restaurant but today I was glad to see it full of antiques stalls.

Pierrepont Arcade

I walked back along Camden Passage to Pierrepont Arcade. This is where I had seen the only stalls present during my last visit. There were stalls here again today. The arcade also contains a number of small antiques shops and though I did not walk round there, I could see from the movement of people that at least some of those shops were open.

Jewellery under canvas

Further along, I found a row of tents, each protecting a jewellery store from the elements. (In Britain, the weather can switch from sunshine to rain in an instant or even, treacherously, rain while the sun is shining!)

Antiques shops

In the best cases, market stalls and fixed shops enjoy a symbiotic relationship, each attracting customers both for themselves and for one another. Thus, I noticed that the antiques shops of Camden Passage (often closed on other days) where open for business today.

Once the Three Sheaves

As I started for home, I found myself contemplating this old pub. I have photographed it before but something – I know not what- brought it to my attention today. It has had many different names in recent years but, as the moulding in the pediment shows, it used to be a pub called the Three Wheatsheaves. The ageing signage indicates that it was owned by the brewers Barclay Perkins, founded in the 17th century but merged with Courage in 1955.

I don’t know how long there has been a pub here but I can say with some certainty that the current building dates from 1863. I know that because of a sad event that produced a dramatic engraving. In 1863, the pub was being rebuilt when the builders’ scaffolding collapsed, injuring several people. A crowd gathered and was held back by top-hatted policemen while the injured were carried out. We know this from a detailed engraving published in the Illustrated Times. I don’t reproduce the picture here for copyright reasons but you can see a version of it on this Pubwiki page.

Chapel Market

I walked home via Chapel Market. I was not expecting to see many stalls and was therefore surprised to see that it looked even busier than it had done on Sunday: there were more stalls and more customers.

I hurried on, though, looking forward to lunch with a nice warming pot of tea!