Yes, yes. I want to dedicate this post to ANOTHER London Market.
Yes. One of those one-off, once a year, upper-middle class family markets in the yet a bit unexplored Highgate Village. But I must admit, this Saturday was one of those unproductive and grey Saturdays that you force yourself out of the house and all you want is something low key, that does not require much effort to deal with.
Hassle free is what I thought, until going up to Highgate Village required almost an hour from my neighbourhood and some serious up the hill climbing was involved.
Somebody told me once that London was perfect for cycling due to its flatness and stuff... Oh well, turns out that further N6 it really is not. The road from Archway to Pond Square in Highgate is unusually steep, so much that it really reminded me of Mount Washington in America, where you can get a certificate when you reach the top and cars have to stop halfway due to the overheating (a little bit OTT).
But yes, roadworks and steep road lead to almost an hour inside the 210 bus and a lovely smell of clutch from the rest of the drivers, not used to holding in the slope for so long.
Nevertheless, alive, we reached the top, the Square, and the fun began.
For those foodies not assisting Lovebox this weekend, the Fair in the Square was definitely the place to be this past Saturday, and those empty stomachs by 2 pm needed some filling up: and the range of choice was definitely big.
Between the choices of food, leaving aside the mouth watering but probably calories filled cupcakes and pies, the gangsta local stall offered hip-hop pun named dishes like Notorious PIG and Mary J Beans. I just refused to get the Mary one, in case I would end up screaming like her, also, the Notorious one, sort of suggested massive amounts of fat for some reason. Put me off, but laughed a bit.
Are cupcakes the middle-class food of choice lately? Oh well, they all looked amazing...
Whoa! A beehive!
Firefighters, ignoring the hosepipe ban and embracing the pressurised water with the kids. I would have loved that when I was little...
A local choir, some mega-safe rock climbing, contact-less massages and aloe vera moisturising and all that jazz... oh, and a raffle and some home made dessert contest.
The second prize here really experimented with the physics of the muffin' mix. Just for the science and the colour combination should have won the first price, but hey... (Not sure how appetising is really a green sponge cake though)
And then we found the awkward part of the fair: Tea Party in the church.
I am not sure about where you guys come from, but from where I am, this sort of festive things just don't happen. Churches smell like incense, they are cold, solemn and quiet, very quiet. St Michael Church of Highgate turned out to be open, bright and fun and fairly pagan. Actually, this was the second time of the year that I actually sat on the benches of a church with a cup of tea for non religious reasons and still felt odd (I happen to see Russian Red and The Futureheads at the Union Chapel back in Winter - now, that was properly spiritual experience). After an oddly cheap tea and an some chit chat about the weather, it was time to move on.
Nice balloons!
What? I did not know there were Pearly Kings (and Princes) from Finsbury (Park?). How come I have not seen them before? John and Darren apparently.
We managed to skim and scan the whole of the fair without missing the good bits just in time for a well deserved cream tea from the portable from Braithwaites, that was strategically positioned in the centre of the main square to my delight. Let's admit that cream tea was not invented to be served in garden chairs and off a paper cup (from a white little ban), but as per religion (trying to link the spirituality from the church above with the banality of the take away food) has to evolve to catch up with the evolution of society, so has to do the Afternoon Tea: be advertised on Twitter, have a pop-up presence in strategic points of the city and be served in paper boxes.
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And then, as the song says, and then -the weather- comes and spoils it all, by blowing a lot of air.
17 pm at Pond Square was definitely not suitable for allergics.
So we headed home. And I finished my delicious scone in my own living room.
Out of the paper box.
And Summer is around the corner apparently... but that's another story.
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