Little London Lunch Break: Market Finds and Camden Life

Little London Lunch Break posts will appear every Wednesday around lunch time. I’ll ask a questions or start a discussion, give my answer and leave the comments open for the rest of you the same when you have a minute or two. If you would like to suggest a question, please email me at littlelondonobservationist@hotmail.co.uk.

Question: What are your favourite bits and pieces to pick up at London’s many markets?

My Answer: I can’t resist the racks of dresses, rows of shoes and tables of jewellery if I’m in Camden, Spitalfields or Portobello. Sometimes you find some good secondhand books as well. If it’s Borough, it’s got to be the cheese and olives. At any of them, mulled wine in the winter and freshly squeezed orange juice in the summer. In Spitalfields or Camden, always a stop at the food stalls for some lunch! Camden food goes cheap (about £2 for as much as you can fit in the silver tin) after about 6pm and Spitalfields has the best variety of choices from around the world in the Sunday UpMarket. 

Speaking of markets, I came across a photographer who loves to take his camera over to Camden and has been at it since 1966. Being a bit of a rebel himself, he enjoys the vibe around the market. Here are a few of his photos (the bottom ones from the ’70s!) that he posted to the Little London Observationist Flickr pool. His name is Graham and you should check out the cool collection on his Flickr page.

Fascinating to see how the Camden crowds have not changed too much in the past 40 years…

 

And your favourite market buys?

If you’ve got London photos to share, stick ’em here.

Cheers for the photos, Graham!

Little London Lunch Break: Best Parks

Little London Lunch Break posts will appear every Wednesday around lunch time. I’ll ask a questions or start a discussion, give my answer and leave the comments open for the rest of you the same when you have a minute or two. If you would like to suggest a question, please email me at littlelondonobservationist@hotmail.co.uk.

Question: London is full of green places to escape the chaos of the city. Which park is your favourite and why?

My Answer:
It used to be Hyde Park for the weeping willows and because I lived nearby and loved to feed the ducks on the Serpentine. Blackheath is flat and empty and perfect for sunny summer days, kicking a football around and close by, Greenwich park has some great views of the city. The same can be said of Regent’s Park at the top of Primrose Hill and I do love the little bridge and the flowers around there.

But overall, I have to go with Hampstead Heath where you can completely escape people, the noise of traffic, buildings. There’s pretty trails and wildlife and it’s big enough you can get lost in the trees and open spaces. It feels slightly more private and poetic with the hills, ponds and woodlands. Hampstead Heath also has Parliament Hill and Kenwood House (which always reminds me of Notting Hill), not to mention a lot of cool pubs around the perimeter and the crepe place!

Back in 2007, about 10 months after I moved to London, I wrote a post in my old blog about a walk on the heath.

Photo of me taken on Hampstead Heath a few months ago, by Daniel higgott

And your favourite green London space?

Little London Lunch Break: New Year Exploration

Little London Lunch Break posts will appear every Wednesday around lunch time. I’ll ask a questions or start a discussion, give my answer and leave the comments open for the rest of you the same when you have a minute or two. If you would like to suggest a question, please email me at littlelondonobservationist@hotmail.co.uk.

Question: Which part of London would you like to explore for the first time in the new year?

My Answer:
I think I’ll head northeast to Islington and check out Chapel Market, catch a few bands in the Union Chapel which has been recommended to me by a few people. While I’m over there, I’ll have a stroll along the New River Walk. 

 I’ve heard good things about the Horniman Museum near Forest Hill train station.

After walking past it so many times, I’d like to go see a film at the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road.

Shakespeare in the Park is on the list for Summer and if I can make it before closing, in January I’m going to try ice skating at the Natural History Museum.

Despite being in London for three years, I still haven’t actually been up in the London Eye. Worth it?

Also on the list are loads of delicious sounding restaurants with food from all over the world.  

And you?

Little London Lunch Break: Home

Little London Lunch Break posts will appear every Wednesday around lunch time. I’ll ask a questions or start a discussion, give my answer and leave the comments open for the rest of you the same when you have a minute or two. If you would like to suggest a question, please email me at littlelondonobservationist@hotmail.co.uk.

Question: What does “home” mean to you?

My Answer:
I’m home in New York for Christmas, so I thought it would be fitting to start with the topic of home because the meaning has changed for me since I moved to London.

In a city of immigrants, home needs to become more than a physical place for a lot of people. Instead, it becomes an idea or a feeling. It is easy to feel like you belong to two places and nowhere at the same time when you live in a country other than the place where you grew up.

For me, the feeling of “home” is in laughter among friends, a glass of red wine over good conversation, in waking up in the arms of someone I love on a Saturday morning, wrapping cold hands around a warm mug of tea. It comes in memories, like the sound of songs from my childhood, the smell of rain on a summer’s day, reminiscing over old photographs, watching the odd bit of London snow blanket the ground.

It’s about finding a place in the city – a certain bench in a certain park, a specific corner of a bookshop, a dock along the river Thames – somewhere that is yours as much as anyone else’s but somewhere you can always return to clear your mind. 

Home has become something I carry with me rather than the house I return to every night.   

And you?