Cote Brasserie
I had lunch in Cote in Upper Street, Islington yesterday.
I had a very good leek and potato soup followed by chicken and frites from their lunch menu.
I wasn’t paying, but at £9.95 it was good value. They seemed to know what was OK for me, well.
I shall use them again.
Cyclists
The area of Hackney where I live is just north of the City and there are a lot of cyclists. Normally, there isn’t a problem, but they will sneak up the inside of say a bus that has stopped at a zebra crossing for me to cross and a couple of times, I have nearly been run over. Although, I’m a recovering sixty-odd-year-old stroke victim, I can just about cope, but there is a lot of complaints in the shops and pubs from pedestrians about cyclists ignoring the rules of the road and the pavement.
All I think we need is that everybody tries to follow what the law lays down.
Perhaps, what annoys me at the moment, is that there is building work opposite, which means there are extra hazards like delivery lorries and skips, where I cross the road. This would be fine, as usually everything is properly placed to cause the minimum of obstruction. The problem though is that so many drivers and motorcyclists use the road as a short cut and weave in and out of the hazards at speeds over the 20 mph limit for the road.
I think it would help if Hackney followed Islington and went for a borough wide 20 mph speed limit.
McQueen on the Green
I took this picture as I passed the Screen on Islington Green.
McQueen on the Green
It’s nice to see humour and creativity in something as mundane as a cinema advert. I can’t imagine a major chain doing something like this.
Islington Seeks To Ban Chuggers
According to this article in the Islington Gazette, the council is thinking of banning chuggers.
About time too!
Islington’s Hidden Temple
Walk through the back-streets of Islington and tucked away in Gibson Square, you’ll find this curious building in the garden in the middle.
A Curious Building in Gibson Square
So what is it?
The clue is in the roof, as it doesn’t look like the wire mesh would keep the rain and weather out.
But then that isn’t necessary as it is the ventilation shaft for the Victoria line.
The shaft was built in 1970 and has recently been updated to improve the cooling of the line for passengers.
I’m A Male Homo Sapiens
I have just sent Islington Council an e-mail giving them my views on the obstructions in Upper Street, I detailed here. What annoyed me was the details they required afterwards about me. About the only information they didn’t ask was questions on my size, but they did ask some very impertinent questions. I finished with this.
I object to this part of this form. That probably means you won’t take my comments seriously. Some of the questions are downright impertinent. Especially, as I’m a widow, who lost his wife to cancer and then had a stroke. So any questions about sex insult the memory of my wife.
They will obvious take no notice of what I said.
what is really needed is a short scientifically correct form, that will help the council plan services in the future, so questions about age, gender, drinking and smoking habits and height and weight are actually the most important.
I suppose it is deliberately designed to annoy, so that they don’t get too many people filling in the form.
Smokers, Chuggers and Street Obstructions
I go to Upper Street in Islington quite a few times a week. I had to walk from Boots near the tube station to Carluccio’s, which is a few hundred metres towards HIghbury Corner.
It was the usual obstacle course.
For the first part of the walk, the road was lined by smokers trying to commit suicide, dropping litter and making life unpleasant for everybody else. Several smokers even had babies in buggies. If anything should be made illegal, it should be to smoke in the street within five metres of a child under five.
Then there were the chuggers, protesting this time against torture. I can sympathise with their cause, but whilst they continue to plague my life, they are just wasting their time.
and then there were the street obstructions like these.
Street Obstructions in Upper Street, Islington
My eyesight has got better now and I seldom bump into them now. You will see from the photograph, that Islington Council has improved the pavement, only for the banners and bicycle to be added to make it an obstacle course. I would think that a better idea might be to sell the advertising space on the side of the litter bins at the edge of the pavement. At least those are well out of the main walking route.
There was also this abandoned bicycle.
An Abandoned Bicycle in Upper Street, Islington
Or it certainly looks so. I’ll check tomorrow to see if it is still there.
We wonder why people flock to out-of-town shopping centres. You don’t get any of the annoyances of chuggers, smokers and unnecessary obstructions.
In Your Face Advertising
I saw these leaflets on every table outside a pub in Islington.
In Your Face Advertising
It will be interesting to see if it works, as unlike the Wonga ads on buses, you can’t but fail to get the message.
Interestingly, when I had my tooth out, the after-care leaflet they gave me, said I mustn’t smoke. I think the only time, I’ll ever smoke is in the crematorium! And that isn’t certain!
Will I Look Like This If I Eat Beautiful?
I took this picture at the Angel in Islington.
Eat Beautiful
So if when the restaurant opens and I eat there, will I get to look like one of these lovelies?
Checking the web site of the company, itsu, it would appear they are being honest about allergies.
Reading the menu though, I doubt it will increase my 30 inch waist much. It’s been that ever since I left University and the doctor in Hong Kong, thought that my core strength helped me survive the stroke. I’m beginning to doubt that, as I think the stroke wasn’t as bad as it was painted at the time and they gave me the super-duper clot-busting drip in time.
The Anonymous Widower 