Tigger returned to work today and, as she is working the late shift, I shall not see her again until about 7 pm. Fortunately, I have a few tasks cut out for me that will at least occupy the morning.

The long-suffering shopping trolley

The first task was to collect the laundry that we deposited at the shop on Monday. We left the trolley bag and kept the skeleton to use in shifting boxes and bags into store (as recounted in previous posts). The frame has broken in two places, meaning that we will probably have to buy a new one. Today’s trip to fetch the laundry is thus likely to be its last.

Clouds snd no sun

According to the weather forecast, we should be enjoying cloudy sun this morning. Can you see the sun in the above scene? Nor can I.

The cat in the window

As I passed through Myddelton Square, I of course looked out for the two cats. My luck was in as one of them was at the window. He gave me a non-committal feline stare.

Angelz Dry Cleaners

We currently use Angelz in Arlington Way for our laundry. So far, they have done a creditable job and not lost any items. I took this photo from across the road when I stopped to put on my face-mask before entering the premises.

Trolley loaded

In the shop, I had to install the trolley bag, heavy and inflated with laundry, and secure it to the frame with bungees. The man in the shop helped me and I was grateful to him as I might not have managed it on my own.

Cutting through Myddelton Square Gardens

The trolley wasn’t as heavy as I had feared it might be but I went slowly and stopped to rest a couple of times, especially on the uphill section of the walk. I cut through Myddelton Square Gardens, though I am not sure this saves much in terms of distance, It was pleasant, though.

I reached home eventually and sat down to rest for a while. I am not ashamed to admit that the unaccustomed activity of the last few days moving sometimes heavy boxes into store has tired me. I will no doubt bounce back but for now am I taking things gently.

The sun appears

After a little rest, I set out on task number 2. This was to visit Kings’ Chemists in Amwell Street to pick up repeat prescriptions for both of us. By now, the sun was taking note of the weather forecast and showing itself! The air was pleasantly warm as a result.

Kings’ Chemists

Here I am arriving at the chemist’s. You can also see another important establishment further down the road. Clue: note the red canopy!

Gone are the days when you would go to the doctor’s surgery to pick up a paper prescription and then take this to a pharmacy to be dispensed. Now you nominate a pharmacy and the surgery sends the prescription to it electronically. By the time you arrive, the items have been packaged ready for you to collect.

Sitting outside Myddelton’s deli

I don’t usually have coffee out by myself but as it was sunny and even fairly warm, I decided to treat myself. It was pleasant sitting in the sun and watching activity in the street (though it would have been even better if Tigger had been there too).

The Never-Give-Up tree has gone

As I passed the end of Inglebert Street, a sad surprise awaited me: what I called the Never-Give-Up tree (it had been cut down to a mere stump but had continued growing branches and leaves) had finally been removed. I shall miss it and watching for new growth each time I passed. I hope they at least plant a new tree in its place.

The Curvaceous Tree

Sadness at the disappearance of the Never-Give-Up tree made me appreciate even more my long-time favourite, the Curvaceous Tree which I “discovered” and grew to love during our lockdown walks. I enjoy seeing its twisting branches, revealed by winter, as I shall enjoy seeing it dressed again in green by summer.

Fara Charity Shop

After a little rest, I performed my last outdoor task for today which was to take two bags of donated items to the charity shop. For this, I went to Fara in Pentonville Road. They specialise in clothing – some of which they create or remodel themselves – but they accept all kinds of items for resale.

Having completed my tasks for today, I returned home where I had lunch and composed this post. I have of course been in touch with Tigger by text to keep her informed of progress. I now look forward to her returning home this evening. I will try to keep myself busy in the meantime.

We continued moving stuff into store today. The weather was not sympathetic to our cause and it rained all day.

We borrowed a trolley

I mentioned that our shopping trolley broke under the strain of carrying heavy boxes. Today, therefore, we borrowed a trolley from Safestore. Unfortunately, it has a damaged wheel that makes it harder to move than would normally be the case. Bravely, though, we persevered.

Progress so far
Photo by Tigger

This is how our storage area looked at the end of today’s efforts.

What you don’t see is all the work that goes on at home, sorting out what is no longer required and can be put in the recycling or the dustbin or packed in bags and boxes to be donated to the charity shop. The more we can get rid of, the better!

Today was the second and last of the days Tigger took off from work for this task. The rest will have to be done at weekends and in the evening after work on those days when Tigger works the early shift and returns home before Safestore closes. Will we get it all done in time? I think so but we shall have to keep at it to make sure.

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.