Today’s little stroll had a definite destination and this defined our route to a large extent.

Public hire bicycles aka “Boris bikes”

This station of public hire bicycles is in Claremont Square. The first time I become aware of systems like this for bicycle hire was on our second trip to Paris (see Paris 2008 under September 6th.) Their Vélib’ scheme (now called Vélib Métropole) was possibly the first of its kind in Europe. Sometime afterwards, London acquired its own system, quickly christened “Boris Bikes” after the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. This scheme, which requires fixed docks for the bicycles when not in use, has been superseded by the several schemes for free-standing bicycles but is still probably the most used.

Walking through Claremont Square
Photo by Tigger

We walked through Claremont Square under a cloudy sky. The sun broke through at one moment but by the time I had reached for my camera, it was hidden again.

Pumpkins for Hallowe’en

We spotted this pair on a doorstep. The larger looks quite cheerful and the smaller one rather sad. Perhaps he knows what happens to pumpkins after All Souls’.

On the actual evening of Hallowe’en, if it’s the same as in previous years, our doorbell will ring several times and we will ignore it as many times. This date never used to serve as an excuse for petulant children (and often, their petulant accompanying adults) to bother citizens in the name of “Trick or treat”. This is a purely American habit that has been copied in the UK for no very good reason. Maybe Covid will quieten things down somewhat this year. We can but hope.

Flowers in the steps

We passed through Myddelton Square as we so often did during the period of lockdown (see posts on those dates). One of the sights that I admired (and photographed then) was the flowers growing on some of the front-door steps. They made a pretty and colourful display. These have now died back somewhat but still maintain a presence, I like them and hope to see them flourish again next year.

No roses but berries

In the summer I photographed roses blooming over this fence in Chadwell Street. They have now disappeared and have been replaced by a fulsome crop of berries.

Tigger has a nicer picture of some berries:

Red berries
Photo by Tigger

At the end of Chadwell Street there are some shops. Today we noticed a change.

It’s a strange thing that we notice when things have changed but have difficulty remembering what was here before. I do recall that there was a children’s bookshop here for a while but what else escapes me. At the best of times, new businesses have a struggle to establish themselves and become successful but Covid has made things so much worse. We have seen a number of apparently robust businesses fold up and die, unable to survive the downturn in custom. I hate to think how bad the situation will become unless we conquer the pandemic. That in turn depends on government making sensible rules and people obeying them. At the moment we are falling lamentable short in both these departments.

Thai food but no longer
Photo by Tigger

In St John Street is another sad example of the above mentioned troubles. For months, this business remained shuttered with “Coming Soon” notices, so much so that we joked that it would never actually open. It did, but only briefly, just before Covid struck, and now it has succumbed like so many others. Dreams of fortunes to be made have turned into nightmares of money lost in failed enterprises.

You might have guessed that we were in St John Street on our way to Jusaka for coffee and you would be right. After that, we went, as the title hints, to Argos. This Argos is not the famous ancient city in Greece but the catalogue store of that name in the UK. Tigger had ordered some items online and we were going to collect them.

One reason for patronising Argos and other stores in the UK is in order to try to reduce our reliance on Big Bad Amazon. If we can buy what we need elsewhere, we do so.

Following our plan of “staying local” while London is in Tier 2 of Covid restrictions, we went for a neighbourhood stroll this afternoon.

The Tram Shed aka the Mall

We took off along Upper Street where I photographed the Tram Shed. This is now a Grade II listed building. According to Historic England, it was built in 1905-6, though I believe that this structure possibly replaced a forerunner on the site. In the 1940s it was an electricity substation, perhaps supplying current for the public transport network. In 1979 it became the Antiques Mall that has been sorely missed since the antiques dealers were evicted and its use was changed to single occupancy.

Into St Alban’s Place

We turned off Upper Street into this unpromising-looking passage way. It passes through a sort of tunnel and you could be misled into thinking that it gives access only to backyards.

In fact, it leads into a residential estate known as Old Royal Free. This was built on land that originally held the Royal Free Hospital. This institution was built in the mid-19th century as new premises for the London Fever Hospital that had been evicted from its site at King’s Cross to make way for the new railway and station. It later changed its purpose to a general free hospital. Some traces of the original installation still remain, as we shall see. For a history of the Royal Free, see here.

Entering the residential area

It this point, St Alban’s Place is still narrow and quiet (note the speed bumps) but is more obviously residential.

Flowers around the door

This house has flowers around the door like a country cottage. I think they are artificial but they add a touch of colour.

Children’s playground
Photo by Tigger

In the middle of the estate is a large children’s playground enclosed by decorative wrought iron railings. It wasn’t busy on a weekday but there were a couple of mothers with small children making use of the amenity.

Handprints

The railings were decorated with a set of tiles bearing handprints of children and painted silver. (The angle of the photo is a little awkward because I was avoiding including any children in the picture as parents tend to be sensitive about this. Understandably, perhaps.)

One of a pair of gates

To leave the estate and progress into Liverpool Road, you pass through either of a pair of gates. These, I believe, are remnants of the Royal Free establishment.

The north gate

We in fact left through the other gate which is a few yards to the north of the first one. Here we are looking back at it.

Gate to the street

That is not the last of the gates, however, for there is one more. The street gate allows for the entry of vehicles as well as pedestrians, It encloses a yard which also serves as a vehicle park. If ever there was an actual gate, it no longer exists.

The North Lodge

The gateway is flanked by a pair of lodges unimaginatively if accurately called North Lodge and South Lodge, respectively. The picture shows the former. These lodges would presumably have accommodated caretakers in the days of the hospital but are now private homes.

The Angelic, previously The George

We made for home along Liverpool Road. On a corner (opposite Sainsbury’s, scene of our Sunday shopping runs, stands this rather grand pub. These days it goes by the name of The Angelic but was originally called The George. Records of its existence go back to the early 19th century but I am uncertain as to whether this is the original building. It could be, I suppose.

You can see that there is a clock on one of the façades. I have kept an eye on it ever since I came to the Angel. For a number of years it worked but showed the completely wrong time. Now, I think, it has finally stopped and I doubt whether it will ever run again.

To end with, here is a skyscape by Tigger.

Skyscape by Tigger

Today being Sunday, we went off to do our weekly shopping in Sainsbury’s. I was curious to see what difference was made by London’s insertion into Tier 2 of Covid restrictions. As I rather expected, none at all. Many people have grown blasé and are no longer taking precautions. Even businesses, no doubt tired of trying to persuade their customers to behave, are also not applying the rules as rigorously as they should.

Art on a lamppost
Photo by Tigger

On the way to the shop, Tigger photographed this œuvre on a lamppost. It is a schematic drawing in black and red over a sheet of text in Latin. I have no idea of the name of the artist or of the intended meaning of the piece.

Chapel Market

As we usually do, we went through Chapel Market. There was quite a good showing today as there usually is on a Sunday.

Buskers and audience

A racket of electric guitars (surely one of the most obnoxious “musical” instruments ever invented), boosted by amplifiers, announced the presence of a pair of buskers. They seemed to have attracted a pair of fans but I was happy to move on out of noise range.

When we reached Sainsbury’s, we found there was a queue which we of course joined. I thought at first that this was because Sainsbury’s were regulating the flow of customers into the shop but when the queue as a whole started moving forward, I realised that the queue had formed because the shop wasn’t yet open. Now that it was, everyone hurried inside without much regard for social distancing.

Nice idea… if it actually worked
Photo by Tigger

Having completed the shopping run, we retired to Pret A Manger in the Angel Centre for coffee.

Like many cafes and restaurants, Pret displays a QR code to use with your smart phone to record your visit in line with the principals of “track and trace”. A good idea, don’t you think? Well, yes, a very good idea, except that the wretched thing doesn’t work. We tried with both phones and a barcode/QR code app on my phone and all gave the result “Not found”. Refer this to my remarks at the end of the first paragraph.

Update October 19th: We learned today that the reason why these QR codes no longer work on our phones may be because they have been altered to work only on phones that have the official “Track and Trace” app installed. This is presumably a move to coerce people into installing the app. I rather think that the result will be the opposite of that intended.

Dachshund

This rather plump Dachshund (who, if he becomes much plumper will have trouble reaching the ground) was accompanying a family in Pret.

Do you remember, as do I, how dogs used to be strictly forbidden in food shops and places where food was served? At most, guide dogs might be exempted from the ban but all others had to stay outside. These days, I see more and more dogs in cafes and restaurants and wondered how this has come about. The answer apparently, is that the present legislation on the matter was passed by the EU in 2012 (revised 2014) and specifies hygiene regulations for establishments selling food for consumption on the premises or for takeaway. It does not prohibit the presence of domestic animals on the premises, merely requiring the management to ensure that said animals cannot access the stocks of food.

And so to home. We were sitting quietly, minding our business, when I became aware of a clicking sound. Click! Click! Click!… Not being able to see any cause of such s noise, I went to investigate.

Water in an electric switch
Photo by Tigger

I found puddles on the floor of the hallway and bathroom. The clicking was caused by water dripping from the ceiling onto the flooring.

Our upstairs neighbour was flooding us again! Yes, AGAIN!

This is the fourth or fifth time he has done that. How he does it, I don’t know, but suspect he leaves the bath running and either forgets about or falls into a drunken stupeur.

Once again, I hurried upstairs and hammered on his door.

“You’re flooding us again!” I shouted through the gap in the door that he barely opened.

“I know,” came the muffled response, “I’m-sorry-and-will-pay-for-any-damage”, a litany I have heard too many times before to be impressed by.

Because the water is coming from above, it risks shorting out the electrics. The switch in Tigger’s photo is for the fan in the bathroom and an ominous buzzing noise was coming from it until I flipped the switch.

The ceiling and walls will eventually dry out but who knows what invisible damage might have been done? I am half expecting the lights to suddenly fail with a bang and a puff of smoke.

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p align=”left”>One such incident can be forgiven (I myself once flooded our downstairs neighbour) but when it happens again and again, my capacity for forgiveness becomes exhausted. If today’s accident was not the straw to break the camel’s back, any repetition certainly will be.

It’s that time of year when vaccination against the expected bout of winter flu becomes available. We received text messages some weeks ago reminding us to make appointments and, of course, we did so.

Before the pandemic turned the world upside down, we would share an appointment at our GP surgery and go in together. This year, for whatever reason, this was not allowed and we had an appointment each, 45 minutes apart.

Red berries
Photo by Tigger

Mine was first and I toddled down to the surgery, not sure how things would be organised. First, there was a queue for admission but as vaccination takes hardly any time at all, this filtered through quite quickly.

Once through the door, I was met by a nurse who had me sanitise my hands and then sent me to the reception desk to check in. The desk used to be open above counter level but is now enclosed with transparent screens with small rectangular apertures for passing things to and fro – a sign of the times.

The receptionist couldn’t find me on her list and started searching the records. In the event, it didn’t matter because the “needle nurse” became free at that point and I was sent straightaway to her.

Spider building a web
Photo by Tiger

The waiting room had been emptied of all seating and one corner had been screened off as the vaccination centre. A nurse was ready and waiting, like the spider waiting for the fly. In I went.

I had taken the precaution of dressing in such a way as to be able to bare my arm quickly and without completely removing any garments.

“Have you had a flu vaccination before?” I was asked.

Oh yes, many times. I presented my now bare arm and in seconds the job was done.

“Go to the door at the back,” someone instructed me, “and wait for Nichola to call you.”

This intrigued me because the job was done so why would anyone need to call me?

Berries and leaves
Photo by Tigger

I sorted out my clothing and did up my coat, looking around and wondering which of the hurrying people was the fabled Nichola.

“Are you ready?” asked a voice behind my left shoulder.

“Er, yes,” said I, turning to discover who had spoken. Apparently it was Nichola, who had been patiently waiting, unnoticed by me, while I dressed myself in leisurely fashion.

Her job, it turned out, was to conduct me through the corridors to the back door from which I was evacuated back into the outside world, thus avoiding contact with incoming patients.

Then it was Tigger’s turn. I accompanied her to the surgery, joined the queue with her and left when she went in.

We had agreed that I would go to Myddelton’s deli, buy coffee and sit at one of the outdoor tables until Tigger could join me. However, knowing from my own experience how quickly they were working, I deliberately dawdled.

It turned out that I was right because I had not gone very far before I received a text from Tigger saying she was out and on her way. I retraced my steps to meet her.

Together, we went to Myddelton’s where we drank coffee, sitting at a table on the pavement and comparing notes on our respective experiences.

Autumn trees in Friend Street

The pictures of course have nothing to do with the narrative but have been included for decoration. We took them as we went about this morning.

Today is another dull and uninspiring day and we lingered at home until lunch was disposed of. Then we went forth, partly for exercise and partly to buy a few needed items of shopping.

A dull and uninspiring day

But first, as usual, we paid our ritual visit to Jusaka for coffee. That was our first visit. I’ll come to the second in a minute.

Cat in the window

Walking along the High Street, dodging as best we could the crowds of people who seem never to have heard of social distancing, we spotted this window display. “So what?” I hear you say but as car lovers (“cats” including everything from domestic moggies up to tigers), we found ourselves amused by this representation of an arched-back cat.

As an aside, it seems that the shops are already preparing for Christmas and their displays reflect this.

Chapel Market

We turned into Chapel Market and found it quite busy with a good turnout of stalls. The market undergoes busy days and less busy days without me ever managing to work out what the pattern is or whether there even is one.

Iceland

Our destination was not the market itself but Iceland. The supermarket, that is, not the country, though that too is a very interesting and picturesque place to visit as I found out some years ago. (That was pre-blog so I never wrote about it. It was an episode in my previous life.)

What did we see in Iceland?

Mince pies
Photo by Tigger

We saw that Iceland too is already beginning to prepare for Christmas. There were mince pies (above) and…

Christmas cakes

…and Christmas cakes. By the way, does anyone actually like mince pies? My mother used to make dozens and dozens of them at Christmas and I was forced to eat the wretched things. I hated them then and still can’t face them.

Something that is odd about this rush to Christmas is that we have not yet reached Hallowe’en and the shops are also stocking the usual junk for that festivity also.

Orange fez
Photo by Tigger

In our way back to Jusaka, we spotted this man wearing an enormous orange fez. Tigger managed to snapshot him between passing buses. Why the fez? No idea; maybe he’s a fan of Tommy Cooper.

So why were we going back to Jusaka? Because we suddenly realised that we hadn’t paid for our coffee. We sometimes pay when ordering but other times, if they are busy, they wave us to a seat and bring the coffee when they can deal with us. (They know what we want and the order is always the same.) In that case, we pay on the way out. That scenario was repeated today except that we forgot to pay and so went back to rectify the fault.

That short outing was all we managed today. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…