Oh, The Weather Outside Is Slightly Rainy…

I just had a very nice Christmassy weekend altogether. Saturday afternoon saw me trekking to Stoke Newington to see Mags and Gren and their new acquisition, sorry, arrival, Art, who’s now 4 weeks old, and looks it. Tiny little thing, swaddled up in a highly cool
THX1138 / Logan’s Run-style tunic and cap. Ran into Robin on the way, hardly a coincidence because he was going to Stoke Newington to see them too. You can hardly miss Robin on a tube escalator from the back.

We had a chaotic and very tasty lunch in the bustling Blue Legume on Church Street. I had a delicious sausage breakfast which came with salad for some reason, and we shared a lemon cheesecake which the table next to us were given because their order was wrong, and which they didn’t want. Yum.

After that we popped into Fresh and Wild for some organic coffee. I was going to link to their website, but I’ll spare you the pain of a million DHTML error messages and myriad dead images. Good coffee though.

Latte in hand, we went along the road to Abney Park Cemetery, where a friend of Gren and Mags was leading a trio of musicians (him on guitar, accompanied by clarinet (I think) and brushed snare drum) and a choir made up of his book club in singing some Christmas carols. As we approached, he told us there were extra song sheets available, and he forced us to join in. Robin feigned reluctance, but I couldn’t stop myself, and so we sang along with some standards, to rapturous applause. Sadly the hip flask I spotted never made it to our side of the group.

To remedy this lack of hard spirits, we headed to a hostelry, via the historic depths of the cemetery. I took a few photos of the jumbled-up headstones – atmospheric. Some very ornate columns, celtic crosses, angels and all sorts. Very ostentatious.

Emerging from the tangled ivy of the boneyard, we popped into a toy shop so new dad Gren could indulge his child with the fripperies of modern consumerism, i.e. a coloured rattle. Coloured! I ask you.

And finally, a glass of Maker’s Mark with ‘lots of rocks’, a squidgy leather armchair, and MAN TALK. Mags had long since nipped off for some GIRL TALK. A splendid seasonal Saturday, and Sunday was just as good – watch this space.