April 13 & 14: London Highlights

Our day today was one configuration of the “perfect” London Sunday. As that is aways weather contingent, I must first note that it was a glorious spring day: fair, bright, with a light that made the colours pop. We had a comfortable lie in while the day warmed, then wandered over to Broadway Market for lunch. Broadway Market is a mass of trestle tables and food trucks offering juices, baking, chai, coffee and food from Asia (East, Central, Pacific), America (North, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, via Caribbean jerk), UK (pies, pasties, cured meats, Europe (Italian, Spanish Paella, Polish perogies). It is a bustle of pedestrians, sauces dripping from various wrapped goodies. There is a nearby flower market and stalls selling farmer’s market preserves and handmade crafts.

We then strolled along the Regents Canal, along the towpath, past the urban moorings and street art collectives, to Camden, where we climbed to street level and joined the throngs of tourists/slightly-out-of-touch youth at the intersection of carnival and the birthplace of British Punk. We moved through swiftly, heading down to Euston, where we jumped on the tube home.

We added to our hatchling count: fuzzy, adorable mallard ducklings, and coot chicks. Coot chicks are the ugliest little things, all poorly-formed feather quills and bulging eyeballs. Their parents are extremely diligent, though. Getting too close for a photo, I was set upon in a startling manner by a chicken-sized parent, who clearly knew he could take me if I put up a fight (I didn’t).

Carey was on a negative roll today. He said of the market: “It’s a shame they don’t have honey”, literally moments after walking PAST the honey stand. His “I expected soap” comment played out in the same way. He also gave thanks that there were no bicycles on the towpath, before almost being mown down by “the semi- of bicycles”, a Skip delivery bike…

I joined my Bible Study Group late afternoon. Then, called my sister from the Florist’s Arms, a traditional neighbourhood pub, on a backstreet near Victoria Park. Carey supped his pint, nestled on a beaten-up leather sofa while I chatted for an hour. We enjoyed the sunset in Bethnal Green gardens before turning in for an early night.

We went our separate ways on Monday. I took the train to St John’s and spent the early afternoon with my wonderful friend Alison in her magical garden. Carey strolled across Tower Bridge and took a tour of the HMS Belfast, the only surviving Royal Navy frigate from World War II.

In the evening, we attended a member’s event after hours at the British Museum. It was the introductory lecture for their new exhibition on the Art of the Living Faith Traditions of India. The talk was excellent, as was the included glass of wine. We chatted a little with the curators and headed home around 8pm, stopping off for a very fine pizza in a little restaurant in the arches under the railway bridge near Cambridge Heath station.