Sunday – arrive at Edmonton Green
early bus – breakfast at Spoons, empty at 08:10 on Sunday – no seat reservations on train but most passengers respect the reservations that would have been – read the new Fortean Times – lunch from the new Sainsburys on Princes Street – pint of Alpacalypse at traditional London arrival pub, the Dolphin – pub busy with folk watching Crystal Palace beat Newcastle and Sunderland beat Spurs – Kings Cross pedestrain tunnel under Euston Road closed – Victoria and Weaver lines to Edmonton Green Travelodge – not the best fried chicken – unidentified building on Bridge Street – Polish coffee biscuits – Salmon Brook walk – allotment bonfire – packed graveyard – black and white cat on riverbank and ginger cat by flats – Jan saw a fox and we both saw ducks
Monday – Stoke Newington to Chapel Market
Fat boy breakfast, beans on toast with egg and sausage – train to Stoke Newington – Abney Park Cemetery – lion tamer, William Booth, finger to the sky – charity shops – Rochester Castle, the third ever Wetherspoons and the oldest that’s still open – Jamaican patty from The Bagel House – West Hackney Recreation Ground – Rectory Road and Shacklewell Lane – more charity shops – insanely cool jazz cafe – lovely Dalston Eastern Curve Garden and beer – Kingsland Road and on to the Regent’s Canal path – beer at The Rosemary Branch with resident cat to get out of the rain – along Duncan Road to Chapel Market – dinner with Christopher at Indian Veg, good value buffet, interior covered with vegetarian propaganda and slogans, lots of cabbage plus bhajis, dal, rice, salad etc. I liked it so much I bought the mug – walk up Upper Street to Highbury and Islington tube – back to the Travelodge for chocolate mint from Lidl and Face The Music on BBC4 – 22k steps
Tuesday – Bethnal Green and Hackney
late start after yesterday’s exertions – train to Cambridge Heath – Mighty vegetarian breakfast at City Cafe 2 (I think) – Sebright Passage and a look at the Sebright Arms recently namechecked by Morrissey (not open weekdays before 5pm) – insane Waste! store (also not open) – Hackney City Farm goats and donkeys – Museum of the Home – Fabrique coffee and kladdkaka – Kingsland Road – Regents Canal path (the other direction to yesterday) – sharks – Broadway Market and London Fields – Youngs beer at the Cat and Mutton: “Prey puss do not claw, because the mutton is so raw, prey puss do not tare, because the mutton is so rare” tiles – insanely hip shop – comics haul at St. Joseph’s Hospice shop – sat on an elephant to browse records at Spittalfields Crypt Trust charity shop – Windrush Generation fruit statues – Bullshit Corner in The Crown beer garden – amazing cherry crumble from Crumble Mania – train back to Edmonton Green, Asda hotel picnic, saltfish patty – 13.6k steps
Wednesday – Clerkenwell to Camberwell
Spoons breakfast in Liverpool Street – to be continued
Thursday – Cheshunt and Walthamstow
train North to Cheshunt – to be continued
Friday – home again, home again
train cancelled, oh noes – to be continued