To Market, To Market to Buy a Stolen Bicycle

So yesterday, Chizz & I went to the Columbia Road Flower Market. Every
Sunday, they close up this road and vendors set up shop. Sort of a farmers market for plants and flowers. You can buy bedding plants, houseplants, trees, cut flowers. All for pretty good prices. We had to buy some plants for our flower boxes up front. It is all very hectic, hundreds of people pushing through the street, vendors screaming about their bargain plants "3 for a 5er" etc. I thought it was great.

After that we went for a walk around the area. Bruce took me to one of his favorite bagel shops. Really good bagels are something we miss here. I know that the kids have Noah's on their "hit" list for the summer.
Hmmmmmm. I think I figured out why they aren't that popular here. Actually this is the yiddish word for bagel. See? Wind the Frog is educational as well as mildly interesting. This shop is in an area called Brick Lane. Brick Lane has always been sort of the immigrant neighborhood in London. It is where people first arriving in London seem to end up. Way back, it was pretty much a Jewish neighborhood now it has morphed into a huge Bangladeshi(?) neighborhood. I have never seen so many restaraunts specializing in food from Bangladesh.
Amazing. The streets signs even reflect the ethnicity of the neighborhood. I think that is 'Brick Lane' in Bengali. Brick Lane also has a market on the weekends. There are some food stall and fresh veg and food stands, very farmers' market like. But further up, it is sort of flea market like. I thought it was kind of sad because it wasn't like a flea market I am used to where the vendors usually sell collections of sort - like the guy who sells all the old records or the person who sells vintage clothes or old furniture. This seemed more like people selling their possessions. Like they looked around the kitchen and said "hmmm, wonder what this sugar bowl or wooden spoon would sell for?" Maybe there are other parts that were better but I just found it kind of sad and creepy. Speaking of creepy, there were stalls and stalls of stuff that looked like they had just fallen off the truck if you get my drift. Generators, power tools, dvds, and bikes. Some people had actual areas of loads of "used" bikes for sales. But the strangest thing were the guy standing on a corner with a single bike for sale. Selling £400 (according to them) bikes for £20. I wouldn't have been surprised to see the broken lock attached to the bike. If I had a bike stolen in London, this is where I would go look for it the very next weekend.

We went to lunch at an "American" bbq place in Spitafield's Market. It was pretty good but not as good as home. Also on the list, BBQ. Afterward,
we walked by the Ten Bells Pub (I know! You are surprised we didn't go in but Chizz had to stop in the office and put some finishing touches on a presentation. And when he goes to a pub there isn't just 1 beer, there is usually at least 2. And that would put a whole new spin on that presentation!) Anywhoo. . . The 10 Bells pub is notorious because it was supposedly frequented by many of the victims of Jack the Ripper. He focused mainly on prostitutes and apparently these women hung out here. Inside it is supposed to be pretty close to the way it was in those days. Something tells me that we will be back. Or at least Chizz will. Soon.