As I mentioned yesterday (and in other posts), I am trying to make myself go out for a walk every day, something that needs determination on the days when Tigger is at work and not here to encourage me. I am pleased to say that today I did plan a walk and actually carried it out. Yay me! 🙂

First, however, I needed to go shopping.

Dead lamp

When I went into the bathroom and pulled the light switch, instead of being rewarded with steady illumination, I found myself subjected to a light that flashed on and off, on and off… The bulb is rather a complicated thing (see photo), a sort of curled-up neon tube. They are fine and give a good light… until they don’t anymore.

Fortunately, I had a replacement which I quickly installed but, as these lamps can be temperamental, I thought it best to buy a new one straightaway.

Ryness Electrical

Fortunately, there is a branch of Ryness Electrical near us and they were able to supply a replacement (£7.99) and take the old one for recycling.

Sainsbury’s car park

After lunch, I set out on my planned walk, passing through Chapel Market and Sainsbury’s car park to…

The Angelic and Liverpool Road

…Liverpool Road where a pub called The Angelic stands on a corner with its clock permanently showing 8 minutes past 4 (whether in the morning or the afternoon, your guess is as good as mine).

Old Royal Free Place

I passed the old Royal Free Hospital complex which is now residential.

Gruesomely named pub

My next landmark was a pub on a corner. It has a gruesome name so I will leave you to read it for yourselves.

Shop with old signage

Next to the pub in Theberton Street is this old shop. Once belonging the G.E. Adams, it offered “Dairy and Provisions”. It is now residential and I found myself wondering how long ago it was when Mr Adams retired from business.

Gibson Square Gardens

A little further along Theberton Street, on the left, one comes to an elegant square, with a central garden, called Gibson Square. (This is also the nom de plume of the author of a certain well-known blog!) Open to the public, the garden is a pleasant place in which to stroll or sit and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.

Air vent for the Victoria Line

A curious feature of the garden is this structure imitating a… Well, actually, I’m not sure what it’s supposed to imitate. Its raison d’être is the Victoria Line that runs under the garden. An air vent was needed for this and where can you put an air vent in a build-up area but in a garden? The residents of the square were not happy about it but had to accept a compromise in the shape of this strange building.

Gibson Square and Milner Square

Continuing on from Gibson Square, you enter Milner Square. The division between the two is marked by a change in the design of the houses, as you can see in the photo.

Milner Square Garden

Milner Square also has a central garden but it is smaller than Gibson Square’s. It is also less pretty, being mainly occupied with apparatus for a children’s playground – though that also has value on its own account.

Just front doors?

Looking at the rows of houses delimiting the square, you might think all the doorways are entrances to the houses. You might miss the one that is different.

Entrance to Almeida Passage

One of the doorways is the entrance to Almeida Passage that runs right through the row of houses, leading you into Almeida Road.

Battishill Street Garden

Off to the left is Battishill Street which also has a garden. In the garden is something rather special that I had come to revisit: the Musgrave Watson Frieze.

The Musgrave Watson Frieze

It is too large to easily photograph in its entirety and my panorama shot above is just intended to show its size. Here are just three photos of sections of it:

Musgrave Watson Frieze, details

Here is a photo of the board explaining the history of the frieze:

Unfortunately, this fascinating piece of art and history is looking rather neglected and in need of care and attention, otherwise it will rot away and be lost.

St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

I walked down Waterloo Place into Upper Street. I thought about taking the bus but as one was not due for 15 minutes, I decided to keep on walking though Upper Street is not the pleasantest road to walk on. I passed St Mary’s Church and…

Islington Green

…Islington Green. I noticed what I had previously missed, namely that this park has been renamed Islington Memorial Green. I really can’t see the need for this and find it rather silly. It’s been plain Islington Green from time immemorial and I, for one, will continue referring to it by that name.

The Oxfam Booshop

Finding myself in front of the Oxfam Bookshop, I let myself be tempted and went inside. I climbed the 18 steps to the upper floor where…

“Le coin francophone”

…we find the coin francophone (the French language corner), as I call it. I wasn’t expecting to find anything new that I would want to read but, happily, I was wrong. I bought not one but two books! Then I scurried off home to make tea and try out my purchases. In case you are wondering what they are these are my choices:

With regard to the book by Bussi, this author is famous for his punning titles. Sang Famille sounds the same as the phrase sans famille, meaning “without family” or “alone in the world”, what the significance is of sang famille (literally, “blood family”) I shall have to find out by reading the book!

I had another appointment today but I was confident it would actually take place, unlike yesterday’s fiasco. It was a clinic appointment at River Place Health Centre.

River Place is not far from home and there are several buses that will take me there but I preferred to walk because I knew how long it would take me (less than 20 minutes) and buses at the moment are crowded and subject to delays owing to the effects of the tube strike.

Rain and clouds over Upper Street

The weather wasn’t very pleasant but I reckoned I could put up with a bit of rain.

Open for business – Amazon Fresh

I set off along the High Street and then Upper Street, passing the historic tram shed which has recently been converted into an Amazon Fresh outlet. I shall be interested to see how it fares because all of the retail businesses that have set up in the tram shed have lasted only for a short while. Are the citizens of Islington ready for hi-tech shopping, Amazon style?

Sir Hugh Myddelton’s statue

I branched off Upper Street at Islington Green and entered Essex Road. Where the roads divide stands a monument to Sir Hugh Myddelton. Sir Hugh’s New River brought permanent changes to Islington as well as the benefits of an improved water supply to London as a whole. The monument was set up in 1862, the statue being the gift of Sir Samuel Morton Peto and the plinth financed by public subscription plus a grant from the Vestry (vestries were the forerunners of the modern borough councils). He’s looking rather worn these days, no doubt owing to pollution eroding the stone.

Rain puddles in Essex Road

The above photo gives you an idea of the weather conditions though, in fact, the rain had eased off into drizzle by the time I left home.

Essex Road – rather nondescript

I made my way along Essex Road which is a rather nondescript thoroughfare, the more so when the weather makes it look drab.

The old ABC Cinema

Essex Road does possess a few gems, one of which is the old ABC Cinema with its Egyptian-inspired decor. It became a church for a while and I don’t know what purpose it serves at present.

New River Walk

I was early for my appointment so I went for a little walk around before entering the clinic. I took a photo of this little park which is part of New River Walk, a strip of parkland containing an uncovered stretch of the New River.

River Place Health Centre

With a few minutes to spare, I entered the Health Centre. You have to announce yourself to the receptionist who checks that your name is on the appointments list and then bids you sit and wait to be called.

The waiting room

The waiting room is quite large but there were surprisingly few people waiting in it. This may be because, as a result of the pandemic, many consultations are now carried out by photo or video link to keep face-to-face meetings as few as possible. This is just one of the ways in which the post-Covid-19 world is different from the old world.

The Kings (Head)

I decided to walk home instead of lazily catching a bus. Along the way, I stopped to take a photo of this old pub. It used to be called The King’s Head but is now, oddly, “The Kings”. It’s a Grade II listed building and according to Historic England, consists of a mid-18th-century building with a 19th-century frontage. I expect that was the result of one of the owners deciding to “modernise” the pub in the Victorian era. The result is quite pleasant, much nicer than some of the more recent refurbishments of pubs and other buildings which were much nicer before being ruined by a disease called Modern Architecture.

Islington Green

I cut through Islington Green which, like Sir Hugh’s monument, is situated where Upper Street and Essex Road diverge. In fine weather, it’s usually quite full of people and there is a coffee stall which opens. Today’s rainy weather meant that the garden was virtually empty with no sign of the coffee stall.

Islington Green War Memorial

The Green us the site of the oddest-looking war memorial that I have ever seen. Islington Green War Memorial was unveiled in 2007 and promptly began to sink into the ground. Its foundations needed to be strengthened. Since then, it has remained safely in place.

Angel Central and the Angel Wings

I passed through Angel Central to avoid the busy streets. From here I was soon home where my first concern was to fire up the kettle and make a nice pot of tea!

That concluded my outings for today. Tomorrow I shall have to find some way to motivate myself to go for a walk as I have no appointments or other commitments to draw me out of doors. Will I succeed? Watch this space to find out!

We got up bright and early this morning and finished preparations for the expected electrical inspection. The main one was shifting the bed that blocked access to a power point. All this work will have to be reversed to make the flat habitable again.

Tigger then went to work and I settled down to wait for the electricians to turn up .

By 12:30 there was no sign of the electricians so I rang the company. This was the start of a series of phone calls over the next hour or so. The company denied all knowledge of an appointment. The Council, because it had not made the appointment itself, denied all responsibility. It became clear that an error had occurred, whether within the company or the Council or both, I do not know, and we should not have been sent the letter asking us to make an appointment. (The whole matter, which I managed to disentangle, is rather complicated and I won’t bore you with what would be a tedious account of it.)

Because the appointment was made verbally by phone and no appointment letter was issued, we do not have the means to make a claim against either the company or the Council. The most I can do is contact one of our Council representatives but I very much doubt whether that will produce a useful result.

An electrical inspection will be arranged at some point (from May onwards) as it is a legal requirement for one to take place every five years. This means that the exercise of putting things in storage, as documented in recent posts, will have to be repeated – and so will the expense. You can be sure that this time I will obtain an appointment letter and will refuse access unless one is forthcoming.

I have kept Tigger informed of all these shenanigans by text. We may have dinner out tonight to “celebrate”.

Curiously, both of us remain fairly upbeat about what might seem to be a depressing situation. Perhaps it is because all the work we have done has been rather fun in its way. It has been a new experience and we have learned from it. I have very much admired how Tigger took the matter in hand and organised everything as well as buoying up my spirits when I felt stressed by it. Next time, we will know what we are doing and how to do it so it will be that much easier.

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Because of the tube strike, traffic was heavy and therefore slow in London’s streets and buses were crowded. Once home, Tigger didn’t want to face the wet weather and crowded transport again so, instead of going out to eat, we stayed home and ordered a meal to be delivered, a little bit of luxury to make up for the disappointments of the day!

We chose Indian to cuisine which we ordered online using Tigger’s iPad. It’s the modern way, don’tcha know? 🙂 We chose, we paid and then we sat back and waited for the ring on the doorbell m. The nominal delivery time for the food was 20:40 but it in fact arrived about half an hour earlier than that.

We will spend the rest of the evening relaxing. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day without the frustrations visited upon us by mendacious electrical companies.