Pottering

Today was such a lovely day. I woke up pretty early, well, when I say early, it is for me on a Saturday, 10am. My blinds were down and I lazed in bed for about half an hour, enjoying the feeling of being not quite awake and blurring the realms of dream and reality. When I finally poked my feet out from under warm sheets and rolled up my blinds, I was greeted with vesper blue skies dotted with cotton candy clouds and a bright warm sun. What a wonderful way to wake up.

Pulling on jeans, a white T, a jumper and comfortable red shoes, I took a little walk up the common to a little cafe situated on the edge, ‘cafe in the common’, it’s simply called, and a perfect name for it I think. It almost felt like summer, healthy people jogging a well worn path, a bunch of footballers in the distance, dogs and kids running all over. There was however, a rather nippy wind that stirred up the leaves in circles and whipped my hair in front of my face. Still, I was content.

The cafe is an odd mix of hippy remnants and posh clapham folk. They serve up excellent vegetarian and vegan food, and trust me, I’m not a big fan of veggies but this place is most certainly drooy. Their outdoor furniture is a jumble of bits and pieces, toys and buggies litter the grounds and a cheerful mosiac made up of broken tiles and shards of mirrors cover the outer wall. They have a menu that changes daily but today I had a brunch from their fixed menu. Ciabatta bread with melted brie and fried mushrooms, a side of red olives and fresh spinach leaves in a dressing of herbs and olive oil...mmmm...

From there, I headed down towards Northcote Road in Clapham Junction. I love the area. It consists of a mix of unique cafes, bars, street markets selling feta cheese and sundried tomatoes, little shops selling trinkets, glassware, jewellery and babies clothing, sporting colourful names like ‘The Boiled Egg and Soldiers’ and ‘The Hive Honey shop’. The street was marred only by the presence of Starbucks, but one can always just walk it by. I had a cup of coffee in a little cafe with leather sofas that had the marks of comfort through constant use and watched families, lovers and individuals potter by, stopping now and then to buy flowers form the street stores or pick up garden ware and baskets.

I wanted to get me a nice leather bound note book that was red with cream textile paper sprinkled with flower petals and tired together with string. But Oliver Bonas had sold them out. That was a little disappointing, though not for long. Instead I popped into the honey shop and took a look around. It is the most lovely shop with little pots of honey, each hand written labeled with ‘English Honey + Orange’, ‘English Linden Blossom Honey’, ‘English Honey + Fresh Ginger’, ‘English Honey + White Chocolate’...They had a living glass hive in the shop with bees wild with honey making and when the frames were filled with honey combs and oozing with honey, you can buy them wrapped with a red ribbon round the middle. They also sold bees wax candles and Winnie the pooh soft toys., one hung from the ceiling a little red fluffy balloon with Winnie hanging on to the end and when you pulled him away, a string of bees pulled him back up to the soft playing of baby music. I got me a generous glass bottle of ‘English Wild Flower Honey’, subtle in taste, rich in aroma.

Arriving back home, I was just in time to catch the delicious golden sunset, staining the rooftops a warm golden-yellow as if someone had spilled some of my honey over them. So now I sit and have some yogurt, walnuts and wild honey, having caught the sun on my cheeks and savouring the taste of the sun on my lips.