Going to the Supermarket Past One of Your Heros’ Grave
I said in an earlier post that I preferred to use the Waitrose in the Barbican, as it is less-crowded and an easy bus ride home.
Today I took the bus to the supermarket and found that I could walk through Bunhill Fields to cut the corner off from Old Street. It is an old and famous cemetery, where such as Isaac Watts, John Bunyan, Eleanor Coade, Thomas Newcomen, Daniel Defoe and William Blake were laid to rest.
Bunhill Fields
It also contains the grave of a man, whose legacy touches us thousands of times every year, the Reverend Thomas Bayes. His grave is in this picture somewhere.
The Grave of Thomas Bayes
So why does Bayes touch us every day? His legacy is also totally positive as it is his thinking that is behind Bayesian spam filtering, used in all those programs that attempt to stop all of those rediculous e-mails we don’t want, getting to our computer.
But this is only one of a myriad set of applications of the work of Thomas Bayes. There aren’t many people, who’ve had such a beneficial effect on such a broad front, centuries after their death.
So when it comes to Great Britons, Bayes is in the first rank.
never has going to the supermarket for basic daily needs, been so interesting.
London Takes Charge of One of its Lost Sons
There are cities, mega-cities and then there is London, a unique blend of people, races, buildings, transport systems and history.
Today the city of my birth and most of ancestors took control and welcomed me back and protected me.
The first thing I did was go and get my copy of The Times and have a coffee in the local Deli. I’ve never been able to do this before at any time of my life. But the Deli was selling smoked salmon from the Butley Oysterage in Suffolk,so my adopted county was making its presence felt. If only the rest of the country had only half as much get up and go as London and Suffolk have we wouldn’t be having a recession.
Also in the morning I registered at my new doctor’s. No problems at all and very different to when registration last happened twenty years ago. I should say that there was one small problem in that I forgot to take the urine sample I’d provided in the morning. But even that was quickly solved by a two-hundred metre walk home from the surgery to collect it and a quick walk back. My short term memory may be suffering, but I’ll get it back, by practice.
I then took a bus to St. Paul’s and took a few pictures on the so-called Wobbly Bridge, which is one of my favourite structures.
I then walked through to Carluccio’s in Smithfield to have some lunch.
And then London sent me an angel in the form of a female oriental banker, who’d just arrived in the UK, who was exploring before starting work in the New Year. We chatted for a minute or so and then she asked if there was anything to see in this part of London on a very cold day. So I showed her the wife market description in the meat market, St. Bartholomew the Great, Bart’s Hospital and then the Museum of London. I can still see my sons performing in the Nativity play at the church and my mother-in-law in the hospital after having her heart valve replaced.
We then walked through the city to Leadenhall market before having a glass of mulled wine in a pub. She then went home from Bank and I walked through the city back to the Barbican and the Waitrose in Whitecross Street. When we lived in Cromwell Tower, there were no supermarkets in the area. But it was a pleasure to be in an area with so many happy memories. Luckily we were away for the weekend when the Moorgate tube crash, which killed nearly fifty, happened.
The Waitrose there though is in some ways more homely and much less crowded than those at the Angel or the Holloway Road, but it had everything I needed and it was only a short walk away from the bus home, which ran on a much less crowded route to a stop just a hundred metres from my home.
So thank you London! Thanks also go to my charming companion for a lovely couple of hours in the afternoon.
Not Many Takers for Boris’s Bikes
I took this picture in Bunhill Row in the City.
Boris's Bikes in the Snow
Only five of the bikes had been taken.
But then it isn’t good weather for cycling. I did see a few runners though!
London Water
I’ve never been a great water drinker and certainly not of the bottled variety, but since I’ve moved here I’ve taken to drinking water straight from the tap.
Perhaps it’s a child hood taste, as I was brought up in London.
The Western Curve Appears to be Going Well
At present there is no link between the new East London Line and the old North London Line, so passengers wishing to transfer have to walk down the busy road, that connects the two stations, as I did yesterday, when I needed to divert because of the snow.
But the Western Curve which connects the two lines appears to be a project that is running to time, if you read this article.
Targetting Businesses that Avoid Tax
If you read this blog regularly, you’ll see that I tend to shop and purchase with I hope an ethical dimension. Other things come into it like good service and convenience.
So if I need something quickly here, I’ll tend to use local shops or the two small Sainsbury stores within walking distance. As one has a good Free From section and sells Green’s beer, I use it a couple of times a week.
As I said in a previous post, I never use Tesco, except when it is totally to my advantage, as the store’s attitude gets up my nose in so many ways. But I am a free man and can have my own prejudices towards business.
So when it comes to the protests against the likes of Vodafone and Arcadia, because of tax avoidance, I have a certain sympathy with the protesters. But these two companies have been on my don’t buy list for years, as I don’t like their attitude. My cheaper clothes usually end up being purchased in such as Gap and Marks & Spencer, if possible. But lately, it’s been Gap, as they have a small size that isn’t made for the obese. Fit is important to me.
So if these protests cost Philip Green some money, I’m not bothered, especially, as I never use his shops because they don’t have what I want. I’m also annoyed with British Home Stores for effectively cutting out the dry way of getting from Oxford Street tube to John Lewis, by reorganising their store. But that doesn’t bother me now, as I can take a 73 bus to right outside John Lewis.
I tend to use John Lewis a lot, as I get service and goods that last at a good price. But then could the service be so good because John Lewis is a partnership with everybody’s bonus on the line?
Rear Window
I took this picture, through the rear window of a 277 bus yesterday.
Through the Rear Window of a 277 Bus
I then walked round Highbury Corner and had lunch in Carluccio’s in Upper Street, before getting my provisions in Waitrose at the Angel.
Snow in Upper Street
Home was just a walk to Upper Street, with my backpack loaded with veetables and the other heavy stuff and one of Waitrose’s Quick Check carriers with all the other stuff. Once on Upper Street, a 38 bus took me to within a hundred metres of home.
It was all so easy. And yet there were people still driving around looking for parking spaces.
Living with Pubs
In all the places C and I lived we never had a pub within walking distance, except when we lived in St. John’s Wood and the Barbican. But in those cases we could not either not afford to go out for a drink, or pay for a reliable baby sitter.
Here though, I have four pubs, two restaurants, a deli with a cafe and several other cafes within two minutes walk. I actually have a pub on the corner, but it doesn’t serve my type of drink; proper cider. I’;ve only been there once and although it looks nice, it just isn’t my type of pub.
Last night, I walked two minutes away and found a real pub with what looked like decent drink and food. The building was also in the style of many London pubs, that have been immortalised in East Enders, but it had a rather nice courtyard around it, that will be a nce place to drink in warmer weather.
I had a decent half of Addlestone‘s cider, talked to the chef about gluten-free food and then walked home. I shall try some of the food in the next week or so.
So as I had a nice snack lunch with a friend in one of the other pubs, that makes two that will satisfy my taste within walking distance.
Am I Bothered?
Look at this picture of a Congestion Charge sign.
Congestion Charge Sign
And this parking ticket machine.
Parking Ticket Machine
But then look at this picture of the traffic as I approached the West End on one of the few means of transport still available to me, my feet.
Traffic in the West End
So am I bothered? Not in the least, as I can still walk, use buses, the Underground and other trains and where it is more convenient or a cost saving, I can even use a black cab!
The Anonymous Widower 