Spring in the Gardens

It's Monday night after a weekend of weather we would never have expected this early in the year, lets hope it stays like this throughout summer.

On Sunday I went for a walk to Victoria Park in Hackney, then back through London Fields with the rest of East London enjoying the sun and open spaces.

I missed my model this day and found it a bit weird taking photos of strangers in the park, when do you ask permission without wrecking the scene that a few moments earlier looked interesting.  So I stuck to the wildlife.

Day at the Markets with my favourite model

These photos are of  Broadway Market one of the many streets in London that appear out of nowhere and once found we keep returning to.  Stoke Newington is another area in the east we came accross by accident and were rewarded by funky pubs and the first Dosa we found in London.

Once again Noran's patience shines through, firstly food market shopping (which he does give into without too much effort, particularly given the lure of french soft cheese and parma ham) and then agreeing to be my trusty subject matter.

Happy Birthday Noran

Lunch at Spurstowe, a pub Andrew chose for it's well deserved reputation for excellent pub food, in Hackney near London Fields for Noran's birthday.  Just don't have the wood pigeon if you aren't prepared for the taste.  

Some photos of with friends and some others who joined us from the US.


Then back on Broadway Market at the Dove Kitchen & Freehouse which has a huge range of beers (Strawberry beer and Hoegaarden featured here).

Day at the Football

It is pretty much impossible to get Liverpool tickets so we chose this game to see what Premier League football is like live. So Saturday of the Bank holiday long weekend and Noran and I holding tickets  to the Fulham vs Birmingham City relegation battle headed off to Craven Cottage near Putney in London. But first we needed to eat to give us energy for the match ahead, so it was hamburgers at a cute pub on the Themes, with a number of other fans.

The local security were out in large numbers and there were no major incidents, with unruly fans, they left this one alone.


We took our seats in the neutral area behind the goal and had a great view of the pitch as the game kicked off.

Half time found us with a plastic beer bottle in hand and the score 0-0 hoping the game would improve.  As we headed back in it was a good thing N didn't have to line up in the boys que, which for once was significantly longer than the women's.

The second half brought two Fulham goals and none to Birmingham, steering Fulham away from relegation and a stadium full of mostly happy fans.  

London From the Thames

The Gurkin ...

and the Onion (Boris's new home)

next to somewhat older architecture of Tower Bridge

I took these photos on a weekend we spent looking at areas to live around London Bridge, but luckily now we are going to move into Andrew's place at Belsize Park.   So instead of small studio in an area where you pay heaps to get something small, we will share a terrace house with two bathrooms, a back yard and a great living space.  Yay!   We are moving in on 17 May.

Settree Family History in the East End

The posting of a random photo taken around Shoreditch turned out to be the key to finding out more about Noran's mum's family background in the East End. The photo in a previous post shows St Leonards Church on Shoreditch High Street. After seeing this on the blog Noran's Aunty Janet emailed us to say that this is where their mum's and grandmother's family (Settree and Morrow) were married and baptised.

So inspired by this coincidence and information provided to us by Janet before we left, revealing that James Settree (N's Great Great Grandfather) lived in Hosier Lane near Smithfield Meat Markets and his wife Ann Morrow lived in Worship Court, we set off to discover what these areas now looked like.  The first stop was Smithfield Meat Markets,

and then onto Hosier Lane just around the corner. Unfortunately, the street is now lined with office blocks but still we  walked down street it and took photos much to the concern of passers by.

This park was on the roundabout which leads onto Hosier Lane.

and some street art at the other end of Hosier Lane.

As we walked on toward Worship Street the rain began to fall.  Whilst trying to find shelter down Worship street we saw no evidence of Worship Court.  However, Worship Street does lead onto the beginning of Curtain Road where Noran and I first stayed in Shoreditch, little did we know.  At this point the rain  turned to sleet bringing a prompt end to our history walk back on Curtain Road.

This is the first of a few journey's into the past. We plan to step into Shoreditch Church to unearth some parish records on James Settree, then off to West Ham to see where my Grandmother was born, also a quick trip to North Colchester to visit dad's cousin and a trip to the Lakes District to find out more about the Settree's.

Hope you are all having a fun easter break.

Train Ride to Newbury

Hello, Sunday night and we have just returned from a trip to Newbury to visit Ben (friend of Noran's) and to see some of the English countryside.  We were rewarded by a relaxing weekend, with the pheasants, finches, hedgehogs and moles (only actually seeing two of these four locals).

  

Donnington Castle was built in 1386 and only some of it remains on the top of Donnington Hill over looking the town of Newbury in Britains south.   Approval for its construction was given by Richard II.  Royalist forces held the castle throughout an 18 month parliamentary seige (during the 1644 civil war) which ended in an honorary withdrawal.

Another history lesson came at the antique markets at Hungerford.  They had roman jewellery for sale from the 1st and 2nd century, it was quite something actually seeing these everyday pieces outside of a museum.

Ofcourse we had a few pints, watched a football game and had a lovely Sunday roast home cooked by Ben's mum.

Garden at Ben's parents place - you can't see the mole holes