Although it was a degree or two warmer and the sun was shining, it still felt finger-tinglingly cold though this was not enough to detract from our ramble, happily.

Sunny Pentonville Road

Walking along Prideaux Place, I was struck by the sight of the trees, illuminated by the almost horizontal rays of the sun.

Trees in Prideaux Place

They seemed to shine as though with their own inner glow. One of the gifts this winter had brought me is to remind me of the beauty of old trees and of my love of them.

Each beautiful in its own way

Each is beautiful in its own way and according to its kind.

Trees die too…

Sadly, trees die too, like every living species, or have to be cut down and removed to avoid infecting their neighbours with some pest or disease.

A face in the fanlight

As we passed this house, sharp-eyed Tigger spotted the tiny face in the middle of the fanlight. It is so small that you won’t be able to make it out even in the expanded photo. Is it unique to this house or are there others? I must see whether I can find other examples.

Playground train

We arrived in Granville Square and I spotted this train. I thought at first it was a mobile one but realised that it was fixed in place and part of the children’s playground in the square’s central garden.

Granville Square was part of the Lloyd Baker estate whose owner, Thomas Lloyd Baker, married the daughter of Granville Sharpe, the campaigner for the abolition of slavery.

Granville Square cat
Photo by Tigger

Meanwhile, Tigger was trying to attract my attention to the cat sitting on steps in front of a house. Unfortunately, the cat took fright and ran away to hide under a car and stayed there until we left the square.

Mosaic with house number

Some of the houses in the square had pretty mosaics on the front steps incorporating the house number. Are these original to the building of the houses? I don’t know for certain but I think it’s likely. Fortunately, these houses have not been renumbered as has happened in some other streets!

Two views of Riceyman Steps

Beside Granville Square is Gwynne Place. The Place is on a much lower level than the Square and the only way from one to the other is by these steps. Originally called Plum Pudding Steps, the Grade II listed steps were renamed Riceyman Steps after the novel of that name by Arnold Bennett.

Winter sunshine in Granville Square

Leaving the Square, we walked along Granville Street towards Lloyd Baker Street (do you see a pattern forming here? 🙂 ), where we stepped over…

Deflated balloons

…the sad remnants – deflated balloons – of a party, whether a Christmas or a birthday party, we didn’t stop to enquire.

Cheerful winter sunshine on Lloyd Baker Street

We climbed the slope of Lloyd Baker Street, enjoying the sunshine and its cheering effects in our mood, towards our coffee oasis, Myddelton’s.

Our elongated shadows

The sun was now behind us and so low in the sky that our shadows were elongated so that it looks as though I am on stilts! (I’m not, in case you’re wondering 🙂 )

The sun, about to disappear

I took this last look back at the sun (when shall we see it again?) before arriving at Myddelton’s. We there received the usual friendly reception and bought our coffees before making for home.

Since I posted yesterday from our niche in Tier 4, we – all of England, at least – have been confined once more in lockdown.

It can hardly have come as a surprise. For many days, the media have been predicting that lockdown was imminent. Anyone who has daily checked the continually accelerating increase in numbers of infections, hospitalisations and deaths must have realised that it was only a question of “how soon?” In some ways, it’s a relief now that it’s settled.

Let’s hope that people will now obey the rules so that we can stabilise the situation and give the vaccination campaign a chance to make its all important difference.

———————-

Today is again a typical British winter day: cold, yes of course, and also spitting with rain.

Cold and spitting with rain
Photo by Tigger

Despite the less than pleasant conditions (“feels like 1°C”, said the Met Office), we went out. We had a task to perform. Yesterday, I mentioned that we had called in at the dry cleaner’s in Amwell Street and that I would explain the reason on the morrow, that is, today.

You may recall that, rather than do our laundry ourselves in a crowded launderette with the obvious risk that this implies, we have been having it done as a service wash by a local launderette. This seemed an ideal, if lazy, way to do the job. However, it wasn’t long before a problem arose.

After one wash, we discovered that several items had not been returned. We contacted the launderette’s manager who apologised and compensated us for the missing pieces. We were happy to consider the matter closed but it happened again: several items were missing from the next wash and at least one from the wash after that.

On these later occasions, however, the management was less forthcoming about the matter, expressing doubt that different loads could be confused – something we proved was possible by producing a sock that was not ours but had been included in our last load.

Having reached this point, we felt we could no longer use that launderette.

The dry cleaner’s in Amwell Street

The dry cleaner’s in Amwell Street has a notice in the window advertising laundry service washes. Yesterday, we popped in to discuss the matter and so today took a load of laundry to them. We will collect it on Thursday. Let’s hope all goes well this time.

Coffee in view!

Myddelton’s deli is just a few paces down on the other side of the street. Coffee in hand, we made our way home.

Perhaps the weather will kinder tomorrow and we can enjoy a “proper” walk.

If we had hoped for another sunny, blue-sky day today, we were disappointed. It felt much colder than the advertised 5°C and I felt the need to put on my gloves during the home run from the deli, despite carrying cups of hot coffee.

Dull, cold and cloudy

This photo of a familiar view sets the meteorological scene.

Whose shoes?
Photo by Tigger

I have noted before how inhabitants of this neighbourhood show a penchant for disposing of possibly reusable items by simply leaving them in the street. We discovered a number of examples today. The first was this pair of shoes, seemingly suitable for further use.

A pleasant path

Tigger suggested we visit Percy Circus, one of our favourite haunts in more clement weather, and our way to it took us by this pleasant path. You would hardly guess that it passed through a residential estate of apartment blocks.

Spare wheel

Was this wheel forgotten? Or replaced and discarded? Can it be reused?

Shyly blooming

We found these flowers shyly blooming amid robust green leaves. Are they celebrating spring early or summer late? More proof, if any be needed, of our changing climate.

Flowering border

In a corner by buildings, was this flowering border with small flowers peeping out from protective foliage. All that was missing was the humming of bees.

Kitchen sink and companion

And so to the pièce de resistance, as promised in the title, an actual kitchen sink, accompanied by what looks like a broken gas meter. Looks in pretty good nick too.

Percy Circus

We arrived at Percy Circus and performed our photographic salutations to this pleasant spot. It was too cold to sut on a bench but, all being well, we shall return to do just that in warmer weather.

Below is King’s Cross Road

Not far below is King’s Cross Road carrying streams of traffic but it hardly disturbs this quiet oasis which is protected by not leading anyway of significance.

A hint of blue sky

Looking up the hill, I saw a hint of blue sky. Is the weather changing for the better?

Clouds and sunshine

As we neared the deli, we were treated to a pretty evening sky of blue, mottled with sunset-tinged clouds. A promise for tomorrow?

Cinderella shoe

Has Cinderella passed this way? A lone shoe, bereft of its companion, languishes in the road. Who dropped it and why? Will someone find a use for a single shoe? We shall never know…

We picked up our coffees at the deli and saw that they now had Portuguese custard tarts. How could we resist? We didn’t even try!

On the way, we called in at the dry cleaning establishment in Amwell Street. I will explain why tomorrow.

This small creature just arrived (I didn’t see exactly how) on my computer screen. S/he ran to the top and walked along it from left to right (from my perspective).

Then s/he turned and came back the other way.

S/he displayed her/his wings briefly and then folded them under the wing cases again.

A moment later, s/he spread her/his wings again and flew off, too rapidly for me to see where to.

I am willing to guess it’s a beetle of some sort but that’s as far as my knowledge takes me! What fascinating companions we share the planet with!

It seems, then, that not all insect life dies off or becomes dormant in winter.

We recently had a fairly large spider on the ceiling but s/he disappeared after about 24 hours. I didn’t take a photo unfortunately but will try to do so if s/he (or another) reappears.

As the deli closes at 3pm on Sundays (I don’t hold it against them because they work hard and open seven days a week), we decided to go for our walk before lunch instead of afterwards.

Sunshine in Myddelton Square

When the sun shone, it was quite pleasant out but the clouds kept obscuring the sun. At those moments it was easy to remember how cold it was (“feels like” 0°C).

Another sad specimen

This poor tree must have been dead even before its ungrateful hosts threw it out.

Hopeful pigeon

There were a few pigeons prospecting for food and even finding some on the, to us, bare pavement. When I stopped to photograph this one, he stopped too, less in order to pose, I imagination, than in hope that I had something to donate. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Did I say I am fond of pigeons? (I think I must have! 🙂 )

The sun peeps out

The sun peeps out between the clouds, throwing into relief the complex network of tree branches. I wonder how the squirrels in their dreys fare when the leaves fall off.

Skimpy top, bushy body

This tree has a strangely denuded top. Perhaps they stripped it to make room for their tree-top decoration. It made me think of the mast of an old-time sailing ship.

A remnant of the past
Photo by Tigger

Tigger noticed this curious remnant of the past. It is in a passageway between houses. The passage is short and leads only to the back gardens of the houses. However, these remaining streaks of paint strongly suggest that here was once a street name. Many streets in this neighbourhood still have names displayed in the old way, painted on the first building whereas the modern habit is to affix a metal plate. This suggests that this passage was once a thoroughfare with its own name. Was it perhaps closed when the buildings in the next street were put up and blocked it off? I don’t know. Perhaps I will find out one day.

Myddelton Square and St Mark’s

This is a familiar scene but I liked the effect of sunshine and shade together with the beautiful variegated sky. If only all winter days were as beautiful as this!

Amwell Street

Before going into the deli, I stood in the road in Amwell Street to take this photo. I thought I was safe because I couldn’t hear any motor vehicles. Then I injudiciously stepped backwards and nearly collided with the cyclist you see on the left!

Inglebert Street and St Mark’s
Photo by Tigger

Tigger took this photo looking along Inglebert Street towards St Mark’s Church. It shows off the lovely sky.

Tigger’s master plan was to go to the deli for coffee and for those oh-so-tasty Portuguese custard tarts.

Coffee and muffin

Unfortunately, they had no custard tarts. They did have other tasty-looking cakes, both big and small (it’s wonderful what a range of goods from fruit to grocery they stock in their small shop). We chose banana and walnut muffins. Were they delicious? Yes, they were!

I’m still looking forward to lunch, though 🙂