The main message

Since I started it in July 2019, this blog, SilverTiger at home and abroad has been the main focus of my attention. I am happy and grateful to say that a number of people follow the blog, some of whom do so by subscribing or using RSS.

More recently, I started publishing my posts both here and on my old blog, SilverTiger, running the two blogs in parallel. The “change of focus” mentioned in the title means that in future I will be blogging first and foremost on SilverTiger and echoing those posts here, a reversal of the previous system.

Will I continue to post here as well as on SilverTiger? To start with, yes, though, depending on workloads, there may sometimes be a delay before a post finds its way here from SilverTiger. At some future date, however, I may decide to continue blogging on SilverTiger only. If I do decide to do this, I will give advance warning of the fact.

This, then, is the main message: will you please start following me on SilverTiger rather than here. This is especially important if you subscribe or use RSS: please move those subscriptions to SilverTiger.

The reasons why

Read this only if you are interested in the reasons why I am making the change. More important is to take note of the main message above.

I maintained SilverTiger for two months short of 13 years, 2006 to 2019. In 2019, material for posts was piling up faster than I could deal with it and I felt that the only option was to cease blogging.

After a brief holiday from blogging, however, I found myself missing it. By now, mobile phones had become very powerful and flexible and WordPress, along with other blogging platforms, provided an app for mobiles. This led to me making two decisions, one that was good and sensible, and the other that was, frankly, a mistake.

The good decision was to blog on my mobile and to post “on the hoof”, that is, as the events described were occurring, This would give a sense of immediacy and – very important – avoid the build-up of material that had caused me to give up on the old blog. Two years on, I can say that that was indeed a good decision and I have enjoyed taking and editing photos and writing posts, all on the one device.

The bad decision was to give myself a new moniker, SilverCat, and to start an entirely new blog, abandoning the old one. I did this because I thought I ought to start entirely afresh without anyone knowing that I was also the author of the discontinued SilverTiger, an idea that seems rather pointless in retrospect.

Two things happened to change my mind. Firstly, the new moniker didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t feel like SilverCat: after 13 years, I was SilverTiger! So I reclaimed my identity.

The second thing that happened was that even though I had stopped updating the old blog, visits to it continued at much the same level as before. I also received comments and emails from readers, along with requests to use photos of mine. The Mary Celeste, it seemed, was still seaworthy! I therefore decided to give it continued existence by cross-posting to it from SilverTiger at home and abroad.The signs are that that was a good decision.

Maintaining two blogs of course requires more work than maintaining one. Crossposting from one to the other cannot easily be done on the mobile but needs the use of a computer. This was not needed when I first started SilverTiger at home and abroad, when I did everything on the mobile. This is why it would simplify my life to be able to maintain just a single blog by running it on my mobile.

As I mentioned previously, Tigger is working Tuesday to Friday this week. This leaves me with little incentive to go out, even though I feel I ought to. It’s just too easy to stay at home and read my books (I have just finished Georges Simenon, L’homme au petit chien and have started Patrick Modiano, Des inconnues).

On leaving the office today just after 4 pm, Tigger phoned me to propose meeting for coffee and cake in Myddelton Square Gardens. I waited until her second bus left Liverpool Street Station and then I set out.

Myddelton’s deli was still open when I arrived and I there procured the required cake and coffee. This I carried along to Myddelton Square Gardens.

In the walled garden

As the weather was cloudy-sunny and warm, many benches were occupied but I found one in the central walled garden, in sight of the gate where Tigger would arrive.

Colourful in the sunshine

The sunshine was intermittent but when it did shine, it lit up the flowers and made them shine with colour.

Wood pigeon

I wondered whether the pigeons would recognise us (according to this article, they can recognise individual human faces) and expect to be fed. Fortunately, they did not. As well as the usual feral pigeons, there are also wood pigeons but they are far more circumspect and do not usually approach people.

Calm and pleasant place

The garden is a calm and pleasant place, far enough from the main roads not to attract crowds. I hope it remains so.

Sunlit façades

To go home, we walked round the square. I may by biased but I think the houses are beautiful, especially when the sun shines on them. It’s sometimes hard to remember that they are around 200 years or more old.

Dressed all in green

The sun was shining on the Curvaceous Tree which now, of course, is attired in a full dress of green.

Cloudscape

The skies of this island are rarely free of clouds, even at the height of summer. Love them or hate them, clouds form beautiful and dramatic patterns, especially when, as here, they interact with the sun.

We though, turned for home, having enjoyed our interlude in the garden.

We started the day in classic style.

It had rained but was currently dry, so we sat outside Myddelton’s.

After coffee, we went to the bus stop in St John Street and caught a 341 to Waterloo. When we started out, we didn’t know we were going to Waterloo. It was an idea that developed as we went. Hence the title of the post.

At Waterloo, we passed in front of the famous Old Vic Theatre.

We made our way to the street called Lower Marsh. This has been made pedestrian only so some wit has called it Slower Marsh.

There is a row of fast-food stalls as well as plenty of cafes and restaurants.

The trolleys are waiting for market day.

This cafe used to be called Scooter Works because it was previously a repair shop for motor scooters. It has changed to a less interesting name.

Traces, or souvenirs, of its motor scooter past remain.

We treated ourselves to coffee and cake.

We next directed our attention to a tunnel.

The tunnel in question is the Graffiti Tunnel, originally known as Leake Street. Artists may exercise their skills here without restriction. As a result, there is a rapid turnover of paintings.

Fashions change in art, as in everything else. Much of what is produced these days – lettering in tortured, illegible fonts, abstract patterns – is of little interest to me. Happily, there are still some more interesting examples to be found, such as the above.

There was an artist at work, being filmed by an admirer. The smell of spray paint hangs heavy on the air and I wonder what effects it has on the health of those who spend long periods down here breathing it in.

We returned to the main road and looked for a bus stop.

We passed by St John’s Waterloo and caught a 341 at the station.

Here we are, aboard the bus and crossing the Thames by Waterloo Bridge.

On arrival at the Angel we walked along Chapel Market. The market is closed today and the street open to motor traffic, so the cafes and restaurants do not have tables outside.

Our goal was the pet shop. Here we bought a bag of peanuts for our friends in Myddelton Square Garden, in particular the squirrels. That is an adventure to come!

By the time we had finished lunch, it was 2:30 and as the deli closes at 3 pm on Sunday, we would have to hurry if we wanted coffee. We made it in time but too late to sit outside the deli and so we carried our coffee to Myddelton Square Gardens.

Feeding frenzy

We sat on a bench under the trees and Tigger produced food for the wildlife. She was hoping to feed the squirrels but they are rather elusive and seem nervous of the pigeons. We tried to keep the pigeons occupied on one side while attracting the squirrels on the other but we were unsuccessful in this.

“My friend” arrives
Photo by Tigger

The one-footed pigeon that I had fed before (see Feeding the birds) arrived in a flurry of wings. He, or rather, I think, she, must have recognised me and was confident enough to perch on my knee again.

Feeding the pigeon

The pigeon was happy to eat from my hand.

Portrait

This is a quick portrait of “my friend” 🙂 Yes, I know we’re not really friends and that the pigeon loves the food and not me but it is a relationship of a sort and valuable as such.

A view from the bench

The garden is a pleasant and peaceful place. Many people come here, some alone, some with friends or partners and some, if course, with dogs, but it remains peaceful.

Rear of St Mark’s Church

When the seed was used up but we had a few nuts left for the squirrels, we moved to a different bench near the rear of the church, hoping to be closer to the squirrels, but we were no more successful in attracting them.

Gardening tools

We noticed that there were a lot of gardening tools lying around and a couple of people doing gardening work. They were obviously not Council employees but members of the local community. It’s nice to think that the local people are helping to maintain this lovely asset.

Keeping an eye on us

As we left the garden, we noticed that the pigeons were keeping an eye on us and following from a distance, probably in case we had more food to share.

Electra passes

Walking through the square, we spied Electra performing her circuits, going round and round.

Pretty window box

My final photograph was of this pretty window box in Chadwell Street, no doubt a contender in the window box competition.

Though cloudy, the weather today is warm and (so far) dry, which in these islands, counts as a plus, I suppose.

Cloudy skies over White Lion Street

As is usual on a Sunday morning, we were heading towards the emporium of Sainsbury and company to perform our weekly shopping run.

The busker

In Chapel Market, a rather mournful-sounding busker was adding to the noise by singing to a guitar.

Interaction

As I stopped to take a (discreet) photo of the musician, there occurred a strange interaction between him and a passer-by. Is this music criticism in action?

Farmers’ Market

As I took this photo of the Farmers’ Market, the person in red trousers suddenly noticed me and did a quick dash away from the camera. This often happens, as if people are afraid of being caught on camera. Very occasionally, I have been challenged by people who have taken exception to being included in a shot. As it usually takes them a moment or two to realise I am taking photos, I have formulated the following rules for street photography:

1. Take the photo carefully but quickly
2. Do not make eye contact with anyone
3. Move quickly on

Outside tables, Millennium Cafe

Despite the cloudy weather, the Millennium Cafe had plenty of customers for its tables outside. They were keeping the waitress busy.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s was not very busy and we had only a few items to collect so had soon finished.

The market wasn’t very busy

The market, as I hurried through to pick up our coffees, was not very busy, either. What determines how busy shops and markets are and why is there so much variation in customer numbers? I suppose the answer is that random movements of people cause ebbs and flows in numbers without there being any specific reason governing the whole.

Coffee in hand, we returned home where we will have lunch and then decide what to do with the rest of the day.