Sunday Roast

First stop on this brisk but sunny Sunday was the flower market on Columbia Road. We are amazed at the size of the crowds and the East Ender flavour of all the flower sellers: get ya tulips.. 2quid a bunch..why take less when you can get the best etc etc..very Cockney yeh!

And it made me realise how different the preferred colour palette is in Britain compared to Australia. Those exquisite bunches of palest pink tulips only cost around $AUS13

The little side streets around Columbia Road were filled with people lining up for their coffees - a ready audience for musicians. This one had a distinctly Irish flavour-just wonderful.

We kept walking further South West towards Shoreditch, around the tranquil and classy Arnold Circle......

to the eclectic and (somewhat) seedy Brick Lane.

The Sunday market had attracted a huge crowd of local hipsters and arty types, bargain hunters, crooks and shysters and everyone else in between. This area was once a Jewish enclave. There are two famous bagel bakeries that date from those times. We had to try the famous Brick Lane hot salt beef bagels with (British) mustard!

We loved the Brick Lane markets. There were young designers markets, vintage outlets, craft stalls and a huge focus on food and music.

I captured a magic moment in this shot. The woman on the right of the frame had just joined the performance with an unbelievably good soul sister voice.

The crowd loved it!

So much great food on offer.

There is nowhere to sit and eat so everyone takes over the kerbs to tuck in. Great for people watching!

We were lucky enough to be invited to Sunday lunch back at Victoria Park and our first opportunity to meet Mal and Pat. It took us about 45 minute to walk from Brick Lane.

Davey had prepared roast pork, rhubarb and plum relish, roast beetroot and a gorgeous fresh coleslaw salad. It really was a party when the bottle of Majella appeared.

Eddie being the perfect baby he is slept through lunch and then woke up afterwards ready to charm everybody and be cuddled by his (other) grandparents. I have heard that this bib came from Harrods!

Davey and Cath are gorgeous hosts and Mal and Pat are lovely company. The time passes very quickly so it is late afternoon by the time we get going for Eddie's daily walk (and an icecream in the park for us). Victoria Park is crowded but so genteel, green and pretty in the late afternoon light.

It's getting close to 7.00pm by the time we walk back to London Fields. As we neared Broadway Market (a few minutes from our place) we could see an enormous gathering of people at the corner. It turned out to be the Cat & Mutton pub crowd "going off" as a final celebration of this warm, sunny London weekend.

Cath says the Cat & Mutton is considered a focus of the London street fashion scene. We didn't capture it in this photo but there were some amazing outfits to be seen on the corner.