The first task we set ourselves was to go to Boots to buy an anti-fog cloth for our spectacles. If you wear specs, you will certainly have discovered that in cold weather, when you wear a mask, the lenses fog up making it difficult to see.

The various “remedies” suggested in the media are of limited effectiveness (a polite way saying that they are useless and a waste of everybody’s time) and the only sure way to beat the problem is to buy an anti-fog cloth. Above is the one we bought. Preliminary results are promising.

The High Street

Here we are on our way, amid busy traffic, along the High Street, en route for Boots.

Redemption Coffee

Our next decision was to buy our coffee straightaway, sit somewhere pleasant to drink it and go for our walk afterwards. For the coffee, we went to the local branch of Redemption Coffee.

We took our coffee to Duncan Terrace Gardens where we easily found a vacant bench. So far, the sky was overcast but, just for a moment, the sun came out so I took photos from our bench…

…first, this way and then…

…the other way. The narrow shape of these gardens, as you no doubt remember, is owing to the fact that they cover this section of the New River. Notwithstanding the odd shape, the gardens provide a pleasant environment in which to stroll or sit (providing the weather cooperates…).

Duncan Terrace and the Church of St John the Evangelist

The Gardens are in two parts, separated by a side street (Duncan Street). As we made our way from one to the other, I photographed the above of part of Duncan Terrace and the Grade II listed Church of St John the evangelist.

The second part of the gardens is even narrower than the first and is characterised by the presence of (artificial) rocks.

This section of the gardens has a different atmosphere from the first part, more that of a woodland with rocky glades. Both are enjoyable in their own way.

Looking back at a “glade”, currently beautified by the trees being covered in blossom.

Separated from the road

We then walked along this part of Duncan Terrace in which the houses are pleasantly separated from the road by… well, can you guess?

This is also the New River

Between these houses and the road runs an even narrower strip of garden but this too is part of the New River.

The river is still there, of course, but here it is confined to an underground culvert. Further on, it breaks the surface again and recovers its nature as a “proper” river though only for a while…

Doorway with face and lantern

I photographed this doorway because it has not only a sculpted face above the door but also a lantern over the entrance. All of the houses in this row had the face and the metal support for a lantern but this house was one of only two that still had a lantern in place. The other one had a modern replacement while this one has kept more or less the original form.

Flowering shrub

This beauty was one among the several trees and shrubs in flower over the course of the river.

Devonia Road

We went for a walk along Devonia Road, which runs parallel to the gardens. Curiously, this street was renamed in 1938 from Devonshire Street. It is unusual, not only in being a “road” rather than a “street”, but also in containing not one, but two churches, though, admittedly, one has been decommissioned and is now residential. The other (visible in the photo) is the Polish Church of Our Lady of Czestochowa & St Casimir.

Old pub?

It’s not only churches that can be decommissioned and assigned to other duties, of course. On the corner of Devonia Road stands this substantial residential block that, to my eyes, looks very much like a converted pub though I have not so far been able to find confirmation of that or what its name could have been.

The Regent’s Canal

Finally, we took a quick peep at the Regent’s Canal between the trees in the garden over the entrance to the Islington Tunnel, before turning for home.

On the way, we met one of the owners of Jusaka. It turns out that the “reliable” information we had received to the effect that Jusaka was closing down was incorrect – or has perhaps been superseded – and that they in fact hope to reopen at some future date though not straightaway. We look forward to seeing them back in action!

After drinking our coffee and pottering about for a while, we decided to go out for another walk. Although I enjoyed the walk and took some photos, I was not particularly inspired by these to write a detailed post.

We walked around the Liverpool Road and Angel Central area and saw that most shops were now open and that everywhere was crowded: there were queues at many of the more popular shops where security personnel were regulating entry.

After months of lockdown and the relatively quiet streets that this induced, I found the noise and bustle unpleasant, especially as many people have thrown caution to the winds and were not making any attempt to practise social distancing.

Via St John Street we made our way up Chadwell Street into Myddelton Square. In the peace of the lovely square I felt a lot better. When Tigger suggested cutting across the Garden, I was happy to concur. This is where I took the one photograph of the outing that I like. It features a pigeon (no surprises there, then 🙂 ).

Pigeon taking a drink

The old drinking fountain in the gardens has a lower receptacle where water had collected, probably from rain. A pigeon was taking a drink from it, and we were careful not to disturb him.

Welcome to the brave new world of April 12th. Although lockdown has not ended entirely, a certain easing of the rules is allowed from today.

The weather is still cold but, for our walk at least, it was dry and the sun shone with variable brightness throughout.

Queueing at the charity shop

While I was expecting to see activity at and around the shops, I was surprised to see so many queueing at the Fara charity shop in Pentonville Road.

Queueing at Saint Espresso

Less unexpected but still surprising for the numbers involved, was the queue next door at the Saint Espresso coffee shop.

Sunshine at the Angel crossroads

Looking at this picture, you might think it was a warm spring day but, despite the sunshine, the cold had a bite to it. We vaguely wondered whether Jusaka might have reopened (despite hearing from a reliable source that they had closed down) but no, the shop was locked up and dark.

Islington Makeup Artist – open

I have photographed this makeup shop in Chadwick Street several times, noting that its Christmas decorations had remained in place well into the New Year. Today, it was open and we could see inside an assistant attending to a customer’s nails.

Angelz Dry Cleaners – open
Photo by Tigger

In the same street, other shops were also open, such was this dry cleaner’s. Strange that open shops should strike us as a novelty!

The Shakespeare’s Head – open

The Shakespeare’s Head pub was open but only for customers sitting outside, according to the rules.

The pub grape vine

Seeing the pub open made me wonder about the grape vine in its garden. Could the magic of spring has happened here also?

Buds on the vine

Yes! The vine has begun to produce buds at last! Does it sound silly to say that I felt relief to see this? I had anxiously examined the vine each time we passed and had begun to wonder whether it was dead. Seeing the buds is then a pleasure and a relief.

Myddelton Passage wall

We passed through Myddelton Passage with its famous wall decorated, you perhaps remember, with 19th-century policemen’s badge numbers, and here too were signs of new life.

New leaves on the vine

Along the wall runs an ancient vine with a thick stem and a complex network of branches. It too has woken up and now boasts clusters of new leaves.

Two gulls talking

In these trees, were two lesser black-backed gulls. They are hard to see so here is an expanded view:

Two gulls talking

We watched them, intrigued by the fact that they were calling back and forth between them, obviously holding a conversation. What were they saying? Only they know…

Agitated crow

We also met this crow who seemed very agitated. He flew from one position to another, at each one emitting three loud calls. We concluded that he (or she) was trying to locate a mate. If so, the attempts were fruitless as no answering was heard.

Chairs and tables once more

Another welcome innovation was that there were once more chairs and tables outside Myddelton’s. It was too cold to sit there today (though two customers thought otherwise) but we will no doubt do so one day soon.

Gents Barbers – open
Photo by Tigger

The barbers’ shops were open – legitimately now, and…

Pennies Vintage – open

…so was this curious shop, Pennies, that sells “vintage” articles.

George and Monkey – open

Finally, to complete the set, the George and Monkey pub was open and serving customers at tables outside.

Personally, I was happy not to sit in the cold drinking cold liquids but to make for home where we could sit in the warm and drink hot coffee!

I

Having put away the shopping and had lunch, we went out again. The sun was now hidden by clouds and it felt unpleasantly cold. We would go for just a short walk because it was already past 2:30pm and Myddelton’s closes at 3pm on Sundays.

Cloudy sky

This picture shows the conditions, cloudy but dry so far.

Reservoir flowers
Photo by Tigger

Tigger photographed these pretty flowers through the railings of the Claremont Square reservoir.

The Curvaceous Tree

Yes, it’s the Curvaceous Tree again but I have become very fond of it. If it were possible to have a tree as a friend, I would choose this tree.

Cat glimpsed

In Myddelton Square, we always look out for the two cats. We hadn’t seen them for a while though we knew that they still lived here. We both spotted one of the cats and I took this photo but…

The cat
Photo by Tigger

…Tigger, with her better camera (in the iPhone 12), took this close-up.

Window box

We admired this window box with pretty flowers and variegated leaves.

Myddelton Square Garden

I took this photo over the railings of the garden in the square. There were some people sitting in the garden but very few, no doubt because of the cold.

Perched in the trees

I was amused to see that most of the garden’s pigeons were perched in the trees though I’m not sure it’s any warmer there than on the ground.

Open a day too soon

I have previously mentioned this barber’s shop (one of three in Amwell Street) because of the “to let” sign outside. I wondered whether it referred to the shop or the residential accommodation. That question answered today: not the shop. We were surprised to see the shop open and the barber inside, wearing his working overalls. They are not supposed to open until tomorrow so he’s jumping the gun.

Skyscape
Photo by Tigger

On the way home, I was carrying our coffee, and so Tigger took this skyscape photo. It looked as though it could rain so we were happy to hurry home.

Cake and cream

With our coffee, we had the remainder of the “Easter Cake” but with a little addition: cream! How luxurious!

That’s it for today but as Tigger is scheduled to work Wednesday to Friday this week, we have two more days added to the weekend. I just hope the weather improves a tad. That would make it perfect.

It’s Sunday once again and thus the day for shopping. As I have mentioned often enough, we go to the local Sainsbury’s store for this. We long ago acquired a joint-account Nectar card which gains us “points” on our purchases. These points are translated into a monetary value that can be set against your future purchases. Of course, the amount gained on each purchase is minuscule but we save them up throughout the year and use the credit to offset the extra spending at Christmas and the New Year.

Each week, Sainsbury’s/Nectar sends us a list of products. If we buy these, we earn extra points. Now, of course, this is a primitive form of “social engineering” whereby, seeming to make us gifts, they are trying influence our buying choices and make us buy more than we would otherwise. This may be one reason why an estimated 25% of the food bought by families is thrown away, i.e. wasted.

So, the points game consists of a deep strategy whereby we try to purchase the offered items but only as long as they are products we would buy in any case. We consider it valid to buy more than we would otherwise do, but only as long as the products will keep and we will use them up eventually.

Last year, our Christmas shopping bill was paid for in its entirety by our saved points, so it’s not a matter to pass over lightly.

Sunny but cold

Perhaps I should set a quiz, showing you photos of familiar places from my posts and inviting you to name them. But if I did that, I would have to offer prizes and I’m too miserly to do that! 🙂 Yes, above is Baron Street. As the caption says, the sun was shining but it was rather cold.

The Farmers’ Market

The Farmers’s Market was in full swing and I can’t imagine that tomorrow’s relaxation of the lockdown rules can make much difference to it. This is all to the good, of course, because the food supply is crucial to our health and even survival and every food supplier whose business fails is a matter for concern.

The main market

The main market was not as busy as I would have expected. The usual fruit and fish stalls were present and the key-cutting stall but that was about all. Perhaps there will be a renaissance next week.

I queue therefore I am

Is it true that the population divides into two groups, those who shop at Sainsbury’s and those who shop at Waitrose? Of course not, but it sometimes seems like it. Waitrose opens later than Sainsbury’s on Sunday so we have a chance to see “Waitrosers” still queueing while we are on the way home. No sniggering in the ranks, please!

Fairly busy

After our shopping run, I sped ahead to buy the coffee. I stopped to take a photo and Tigger, hauling the shopping, caught up with me so I hurried on again.

At Mercer’s, I found a couple queueing outside and had to wait with them. Tigger caught up with me and proposed taking the shopping home and coming back to meet me.

There was a long wait because the couple ahead of my wanted food as well as drinks but I was served at last.

When I emerged, Tigger had not arrived yet. I stopped to take this photo but, having the cup holder in one hand, I had only one remaining hand to take the photo. Unlike Tigger, I have not yet mastered the art of one-handed photography: sorry it’s a bit jerky.

I met Tigger again on the way home.

Will we sally forth again later? Wait and see!