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.

—————————-

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.

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?