Somebody Nicked The Beach
The beach at N1 has gone.
The Beach at N1 Has Gone
Did it get nicked? Or have they decided summer is so terrible, that it just had to go!
A Saturday Morning Routine
There are two radio programmes, I like to listen to on Saturday morning; Danny Baker and the unsporting quiz, Fighting Talk, as they appeal to my unusual sense of humour.
The trouble is that if I’m going to football, as I am today, it doesn’t really leave much time for me to get to the shops, as I have to leave by about midday to get the train.
So this morning, I got to the Angel, by bus at just after 8:30. I actually took a seventy-free, as if you sit at the back and get out of the rearmost door, it’s much easier to walk to the four shops, Carluccio’s and the physio, that I visit at the Angel.
Today, it was just Boots for some rat poison, Marks and Spencer for some gluten-free sarnies for the train and a beef Stroganoff for tonight and Waitrose for two large carriers of heavy stuff like alcohol and Coke. I went to Waitrose first and found that if I shopped immediately, could get it delivered before the start of Fighting Talk at 11:00. I think I rather caught them on the hop, but hopefully it’ll come on time. But I do have two hours of total float in my critical path, so if they come by one I’m OK.
The only problem, was that Marks didn’t have the gluten-free sandwiches, but then I’ll pass three of their shops that stock them on the way to Liverpool Street. If they don’t have any, then I shall complain. If there aren’t any, it’s probably because they are too good and all those food fadists on a gluten-free kick have snaffled them!
I was back home listening to Danny Baker by ten o’clock.
It sounds like I’ll be repeating this on Saturdays in the future.
The routine could be even better, if Carluccio’s opened at 8:00 for breakfast on Saturday, as they do in the week.
Update at 11:20 – Waitrose have just delivered, so I have plenty of time to catch the train to Ipswich, after scouring Marks for some gluten-free sandwiches.
Thinking about this post. When C and I lived near Newmarket we would go shopping early, often visit one of our horses in traing and then we’d generally be back home around eleven.
I suppose, I’m only repeating what we did together by myself. In some ways, it was easier in Suffolk, as Waitrose opened earlier. But then I had to carry the shopping from the car to the hall. Here, that is all done by the van driver from Waitrose.
Who said manners and service are dead.
Save The Children and NSPCC Strike Themselves Off My Charity List
Last week Save the Children were chugging at the Angel.
Today it was the NSPCC.
Both charities are too arrogant to have an e-mail address on their web site, to where I can voice my disgust at their behaviour.
The Black Dog Campaign
According to the WHO by 2030 depression will be the world’s most disabling condition above cancer and AIDS.
So it is to be welcomed that SANE have started the Black Dog Campaign.
The SANE Black Dog at N1 Centre, Islington
This is one of the dogs they are using to publicise the campaign. Even at a mundane level, this dog is giving enjoyment to these kids.
The Beach at The Angel, Islington
I have taken a few pictures at the beach in the N1 Shopping Centre at The Angel.
Note that the eco-friendly deck chairs came made from sustainable timber.
It was certainly busy yesterday in the sun, after a rather wet start.
Chaos Around the Essex Road
An accident, where a motorcyclist was badly hurt, closed the Essex Road in Islington today and effectively shut down the area all the way to Newington Green, Dalston Junction and Highbury Corner for several hours.
I saw the remains of the bike jammed under a van. It looked like the rider hadn’t been going slowly and carefully.
I hope he survives, but surely one accident like this shouldn’t be allowed to cause this much chaos. Whoever was at fault, should face the full force of the law!
As it is, in the end I had to walk all the way home from the Angel in the pouring rain.
Luckily all I was carrying was two ready meals from Marks and Spencer, so it wasn’t a bad inconvenience.
I Don’t Like Polenta
If offered polenta cake, I’d usually say thanks but no thanks.
However, in Carluccio’s in Upper Street last week, because I had time to kill, I popped in for a coffee and asked if they had any gluten free snacks to go with it. The waiter, who knows I am a coeliac and am very particular, then showed me an enormous polenta cake, which he assured was safe for me. Although the slice was quite large, I decided to have one.
I didn’t regret it, as it was very good. It was about three pounds though, but it would have been big enough to share.
So that’s another thing off the list of things I won’t touch!
I did try to buy another slice in their caffe at St. Pancras but they didn’t have one. So if you want to try one, check before going.
Problems with Genius Bread
I like the Genius gluten-free bread, as the texture seems to be just right for me. It also makes very good toast, which I like to have with proper jam or marmelade. I suppose, I’ve been eating it for perhaps a year, since it started to be stocked in Waitrose in Newmarket.
But I’ve been having problems with it lately, in that it tends to grow a spotty mould after only a couple of days, so I have to throw it away. This probably started a couple of months ago.
I thought that it might be me, but then I use the same bread bin as I did in Suffolk, I keep the bread properly wrapped, when I’ve cut it for the first time. I also thought it could be the air in London, which hasn’t been of too high a quality since about CHristmas.
But then in Waitrose in Upper Street, Islington, when I was reaching for a new loaf, a lady was doing the same. So I asked her, if she’d had a problem with the bread and she said yes.
I did report it in store at Customer Services to an assistant, who seemed to know the product well as she said she had a wheat intolerance.
So is this a temporary problem or something more serious?
An Uplifting Moment
There is an old Chinese proverb that says that a long journey starts with a single step. This is actually a mistranslation of Lao-Tzu. A better form is “Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.”
What it doesn’t say is that there are a lot of steps in a long journey.
I was walking down Upper Street this lunchtime and I saw an aircraft crossing over the Angel. Even at that distance, I saw it was a biplane and despite my supposedly bad eyesight, I thought it was a de Havilland Dragon Rapide.
de Havilland Dragon Rapide Over Islington
This picture was taken when it crossed in front of me, as I stood by Barclays Bank at the start of Essex Road.
So why is this an uplifting moment? I seemed to be the only person who spotted this iconic aircraft from the 1930s and despite my dodgy eyesight, I was able to identify it and then take several photographs.
My only regret was that I only had my little Nikon CoolPix.
So perhaps I’ve taken another step along that long road!
Some People Have All the Luck
This pub will be coining it in after the wedding.
The Anonymous Widower 