Yesterday I got on a train for the first time since November. Forest Gate to Liverpool Street, 12 minutes of pretty empty, masked up carriage riding followed by the most rejuvenating wander through Spitafields, Brick Lane and Arnold Circus to my friend Jen’s plant filled abode in Columbia Road. We then ambled to Haggerston Park together to meet more old friends for an al fresco birthday drink.
So many lovely missed faces and memories of living and working in these parts for the first 12 years of my London life. I’ve now lived in Forest Gate for the same amount of time so it’s definitely home but I ached for this part of town for a long time. For the cafes and the bars, the shops and the parks, the galleries and the happenings, the people and the buzz, and the ability to walk or cycle anywhere or just rock up to an event when you felt like it rather than having to plan everything.
I didn’t stay too long as I had booked in my Covid vaccine first thing this morning but even two hours in a different neighbourhood making new memories with different folk made me feel so restored. A little walk past my old flat looking over the park and up Broadway Market and through London Fields under the most beautiful blush sky and I was soon driving home with another Forest Gate dweller. Always feel glad to drive past The Flats – and Wanstead Park where me and the boys also saw our first spring bluebells today – but glad I can get out and about a bit more now.
Lucky I only had one Negroni as I then had my Covid jab today. Another marker on the road to freedom. Hopefully I won’t feel too rough later and then can make tracks to start catching up with my folks again. Feel better already… although maybe that’s cos I also cycled to the Olympic Park and back in the sun and also feel a bit high for the vaccine!