In addition to continuing to move much of our property from the flat to the store, the laundry finally caught up with us. Our first task this morning, then, was to load the shopping trolley with laundry and take it to the shop.

St Mark’s Church and Myddelton Square

The weather forecast was for rain later but, fortunately, the morning was cold but dry and sunny.

We spotted one of the cats

We always look out for the cats who live in Myddelton Square and today we spotted one and duly photographed it. That probably marks us out as sad obsessives, but never mind! 🙂

We spent the rest of the day preparing bags and boxes and transporting them to the store.

Progress so far
Photo by Tigger

The above shows our storage area as it was at the end of today’s work. Activity ended on a piece of bad news: the shopping trolley has broken! There’s nothing surprising about this as we have for several days used it for purposes for which it was not designed but it is a nuisance as we still have stuff to move.

This evening we are resting ready for another day of moving and storing tomorrow.

We are still moving boxes (and a few other-shaped items) into store but today, being Sunday, was also the day on which we do our supermarket shopping.

Cafe Sizzles

To help get our courage up, we treated ourselves to brunch at Cafe Sizzles. Although we wore our masks until we actually started eating and drinking, I think we were probably the only people, including staff and customers, to do so.

The Farmers’ Market

Cafe Sizzles is within the area occupied on Sundays by the Farmer’s Market so today, I took a photo from inside the market. There was a scattering of stalls but it was nothing like the lively, well attended, pre-pandemic market. I wonder whether it will ever recover its ancient vibrancy.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s was not overly busy – perhaps because we arrived just as they were opening – and we had soon finished collecting our goods.

Walking through Chapel Market

We of course visited Mercer’s on our way home to pick up our usual coffee.

We spent the afternoon transporting boxes and bags to Safestore. They close at 4 pm on Sundays and so we were able to shift relatively few items today, though enough to make us feel we were making progress.

Signs of progress
Photo by Tigger

One box in particular was very heavy and we had trouble moving it. I think we will have to redistribute its contents before moving things out of store again when the time comes.

We can rest this evening in the knowledge that Tigger has taken tomorrow and Tuesday off from work and we will therefore have two full days to continue transporting stuff into the store. It’s a little disheartening to think that in a month’s time, we will have to move it all out again!

I hinted yesterday that we were going to be busy over the next few days, though I did not say with what.

Every five years, the Council requires its properties to undergo an electrical inspection and we have had to accept this (apparently, it is a legal requirement) and make an appointment. This, however, causes us a problem. I have often mentioned how tiny our flat is (it was intended for single occupancy). It is so full of junk valued possessions that, as things stand, the inspectors would not be able to access what they need to access. A solution to this dilemma was urgently required.

A branch of Safestore is nearby

Happily, there is a branch of Safestore fairly near us and so we entered into negotiations with them, leading to us acquiring, for one month, access to a lockup space big enough to store all our stuff.

Sitting outside Myddelton’s

This morning, we visited Safestore to finalise arrangements. We then went down Amwell Street to Myddelton’s deli to buy lunch before returning home to start the task of sorting out what needed to be moved to store. Although the weather was cold, the sun was shining and so we ate our lunch sitting outside the deli.

Lunch at the deli
Photo by Tigger

We could have taken it all home but it would have grown cold on the way so it was better to brave the chilly weather and eat in situ.

Safestore provides trolleys for the use of customers but these are rather large and awkward to handle, especially if you are trying to move them along crowded streets, so we preferred to take the bag off the shopping trolley and use that, even though we could move only one box at a time with it.

It’s a start!
Photo by Tigger

Above is a glimpse of our temporary storage area. Altogether we moved four boxes to storage today, as well as sorting out a big bag of stuff for the charity shop and equally big bags each of recycling and plain old rubbish. I think that was quite a successful day’s work!

We shall continue with this over the next few days. Tigger has taken Monday and Tuesday off from work to concentrate on the task.

When Tigger returned after work, we decided to go out for supper to one of our favourites, the Workers Cafe in Upper Street.

As usual, we kept in touch by text message as Tigger made her way back to the Angel. When her bus, a number 43, reached the clocktower, I joined her on board and we travelled together to the stop at Islington Town Hall. There, a disappointment awaited us: the Workers was closed! I have no idea why and hope it doesn’t mean they have closed down permanently.

The “Gallipolis”

We walked back down Upper Street, looking at all the eateries along the way. It seemed a long walk in the cold and dark. Nothing appealed to us until we reached the two Gallipoli restaurants that stand side by side. In we went.

Quite busy

The restaurant was quite busy but they found us a table and we had a good meal laced with Turkish tea.

Illuminated trees

Afterwards, we crossed the road to St Mary’s Church and waited under the illuminated trees for a bus. This duly came and carried us home.

We are going to have a busy weekend and a busy couple of days beyond that. I will explain what this is if and when I can find the time to do so.

Sunshine but a sulky sky

Once again, the weather forecast was wrong but as this was in my favour, I’m not complaining. The forecast was for heavy cloud cover but, in fact, the sun was shining though the sky, as you see in the above photo at the Angel crossroads, was rather sulky.

Entering Duncan Terrace Gardens

As I had not been there for a while, I decided to visit Duncan Terrace Gardens and its companion, Colebrooke Row Gardens. These gardens form a narrow band between two rows of houses and, as you may recall, were created to cover the New River that still runs beneath them.

Following the path

There were a few people sitting on benches, having lunch or reading, but the air was chilly and I preferred to keep moving.

New leaves

Although there was a wintery feel and look to the gardens, I noticed that there was already new growth, indicated here by the brighter green of new leaves.

Open area

At the end of Duncan Terrace Gardens is this wide open grassy space. It intrigues me because there seems no reason for it. I wonder whether there was once a pond here or perhaps a section of the New River left exposed and covered later.

The Regent’s Canal

Before entering the next garden, I crossed the road to take a look at – and a photo of – the Regent’s Canal. Underneath us in the photo is the Islington Tunnel which carries the canal under the built-up area.

Colebrooke Row Gardens

The main difference between these two gardens is that that of Colebrooke Row is a rock garden, studded with large blocks of what I take to be artificial stone.

Church of St John the Evangelist

From here, we have a view of the Roman Catholic Church of St John the Evangelist, built in the 1840s. It opened for use in 1843 though the two towers, that make it a notable sight today, had not yet been built.

The River continues

Beyond Colebrooke Row Gardens the course of the New River continues but its covering garden is too narrow to contain a path and reduces to a narrow strip of cultivation.

Flowering bush

Here I spotted a bush flowering prettily with red blossoms.

Bumblebee at work

I wasn’t the only one to appreciate the colourful display: a bumblebee was hard at work collecting nectar.

House of Charles Lamb

I passed the house that was once occupied by the famous writer and essayist Charles Lamb and his sister. The couple lived at several addresses in Islington.

Colebrooke Row continues

Beyond this point, Colebrooke Row continues, though less picturesquely, between buildings, both residential and commercial. Off to the left is Essex Road which I preferred to avoid for as long as possible.

Elliott’s Place

Next comes Elliott’s Place which is a cul de sac for vehicles.

Exit by steps

It makes a right-angle turn to the left where pedestrians can leave by walking up three steps into Essex Road.

Essex Road

I must perforce continue into Essex Road. The question now was whither next?

Old Queen’s Head

I did stop to photograph the Old Queen’s Head which looks as if it has recently benefitted from a clean and some new paint. There has long been a pub here (see this Pubwiki page for pictures) and I don’t know when it was rebuilt in its present form – in the late Victorian period, I am guessing.

Greek-style figures

On the corner, it sports a mirror-image pair of figures imitating statues in the manner of Ancient Greek art.

Multilevel pavement

I crossed the road and started back along the multilevel pavement I showed you in a previous post.

St Mary’s Path

When I came to this narrow passage called St Mary’s Path, I took it, as it would lead me to the church of the same name.

St Mary’s Church Garden

It brought me to St Mary’s Church Garden, once the burial ground of the church and now landscaped as a pleasant public garden.

St Mary’s Church

As I photographed the church, its clock began chiming the hour and I noticed that one of the bells was somewhat out of tune!

Upper Street

On reaching Upper Street, I thought about walking back but walking along main roads is not the most pleasant pastime in my opinion. Besides, I quite enjoy a nice bus ride! 🙂

Aboard the 30

A number 30 bus soon came along and I went aboard. This pleasantly concluded today’s solo walk and we have the weekend in view!