Leyton and Hackney Wick

Yesterday was another marathon photography day! I took the tube eastward to Leyton, in the E10 postcode, which badly needed depicting for Bleeding London. I meandered around for three or four hours and got several shots I really like, including the orange extravaganza above. Leyton is an interesting neighborhood -- heavy on immigrants from all over and therefore colorful and unpredictable.

At one point I found myself on the street where our coworker and friend Gordon lives with his family -- which was a little weird. I was afraid they'd look out the window and see me and think, "Why is Steve stalking us?" But they didn't. As far as I know.

Here's a photo that made me think of my blog pal Ms. Moon and her friend Billy. I'm not sure what this place is, but there are signs on the porch advertising free items and boxes in the window, so I wonder if it's even open anymore. It looks like something you'd see on a roadside in the American South. A local greasy spoon, maybe.

Speaking of which, after several hours of wandering I ducked into a cafe for a rather greasy vegetarian English breakfast. (That's become my lunch of choice when I'm out and about. Well, not the greasy part.) Then I hopped on a bus intending to go to east Hackney (E9), but I got off the bus again almost immediately because I passed several photo opportunities that were just too good to miss. I spent another hour or so in Leyton before getting back on that bus.

I got off in Homerton, on the other side of the River Lea, and walked south to Hackney Wick, a major center for street art. I've photographed this building before, but it's evolved quite a bit since then!

I wandered around "The Wick" for another couple of hours. All told, I covered 96 streets and was quite happy with my haul at the end of the day.

I caught the train in Hackney Wick (station platform above) and came back not long before sunset. In fact, by the time I walked through the door at our flat it was completely dark. (My trip home took a ridiculous amount of time because there were numerous rail and tube closures yesterday for maintenance -- a long and not very interesting story!)

Dave spent the whole day gardening, and when I got home he'd abandoned his plans to make a lasagne. We ordered Chinese takeout instead and I edited pictures until just past midnight. I hope I can stay awake at work today!