The first thing we did was go to this very, very cool yarn shop. You don't get yarn shops in Newcastle. Well. There is a yarn selection at John Lewis and Fenwicks. But they don't stock a very exciting range. You couldn't really call them Yarn Shops.
It is a worsted weight organic cotton from Blue Sky Alpaca, in case you need details. I will use it for some crochet cushion covers for my study, I think. It wasn't a bargain at all. It was REALLY expensive and I was glad for that "significant public salary". It was a totally extravagant treat.
Oyster card didn't get any yarn. He's a bit upset because his mum said that from now on she's only going to give him money for essential travel. But he quite liked looking.
After nosying around the Islington outdoor antiques market for a while, we headed up here:
I was going to treat Oyster Card to a cake and a cup of tea and a little sit down. But Ottolenghi Islington turns out to be pretty small. Or at least the counter area is small. It was absolutely heaving with people. All cramped and noisy and busy. So I just bought a cake and decided to take it to the park to eat in the fresh air. They didn't want me to take pics inside, but I thought you might like to see the cake display from through the window. The savoury display was just as gorgeous.
A little flustered by the general busy-ness of the place, I found selecting a cake a bit difficult. This was my choice:
Cherry chocolate cupcake with sour cream and pistachio. Outrageously, it cost almost as much as a skein of yarn. But it was a pretty good cake. Very good quality chocolate, a good quantity of real cherries in the actual cake, and the sour cream provided a nice, sharp, clean contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate and cherry. Frankly a significant improvement on the cherry chocolate cupcakes in one of Nigella's books. I might try and see if I can work out how to replicate....
Reinvigorated, we pushed onto the main business of the day: The Foundling Museum. Oyster Card made me walk. He reckoned it wasn't "essential travel" and so he probably shouldn't spend money on transport.
The Foundling Hospital was established in the mid-eighteenth century. Apparently it was one of the first places for abandoned children in the country. It pre-dates Barnardo's by about 100 years. It was set up by a guy called Capt. Coram with the help of, amongst others, Hogarth and Handel. This little remnant of the original infirmary houses a small history of the Hospital, plus a Handel collection, and some other foundling related art.
It was great. Obviously some very sad little objects, letters and poems left by mothers with their babies. But also some rather uplifting tales, paintings and photos. The whole enterprise was dismantled between the wars and the Hospital building torn down. But the community managed to save some of the land - now Coram's Field (after Capt. Coram). This is the reason that all adults have to be accompanied by a child in order to go into Coram's Field. It's the same Coram as book and play Coram Boy.
Although clearly very institutional and regimented, apparently the regime was rather enlightened for the time. All children were inoculated against small pox (there's a Jenner Street around the corner). They were also provided with a 'healthy' diet - although this didn't include any fruit or vegetables. Children under 6 were placed with families. No explanation was given for why they couldn't stay with those families.
In one place a display said "seventy-five per cent of children in London died before the age of five". No details given about when or what was counted as London. But this seems unbelievable to me. Surely this can't be true?
Now home, Oyster Card and I are both a little exhausted by our adventure. I don't think he'll be going out again for a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment